That Hope And Change Thingy

Election day is next Tuesday. Foreboding, disappointment, a feeling that things aren't as they should be and aren't likely to get better soon, are fairly common on the left; I share them myself. We got a taste, if only a tentative, perhaps illusory taste, in 2008 of what it feels like to cast a vote for someone you'd like to see in office, and not just a lesser of two evils. Many (myself included) felt positively, despite a recognition that Obama wasn't as perfect as I'd have liked, and that he'd more than likely require pushing from his left. I wrote a flaming bit of optimistic prose about how I felt voting for him. Reread that the other day; it felt good to write that, and a little sad to recall it.

So next week, i'm voting for two perfectly decent state house incumbents, and a perfectly decent congresscritter, all of whom are relatively sure things. Were I in just about any jurisdiction in the country, I'd vote straight Democratic, an action I'm uncomfortable with, not feeling myself straight anything (in a manly, heterosexual way, of course, not that there's anything wrong with any other way, of course). I'm unhappy with Obama about some things, while grudgingly conceding the political climate arising out of crazed, bigoted, destructive, implacable righty opposition. Not a subject for soaring prose, the country as it stands. Not hardly. Nor, though, a situation a fit response to which is cynicism, withdrawal and concession to those who'd attack everything decent about the country.