I'm still standing

A message to Democrats-and-Repubs-are-all-the-samers and other progressive non-voters.

I, for one, am proud to vote for the likes of Al Gore, John Kerry, and Ted Kennedy.

If they are something short of gods, they are men who truly want to make the world a better place.

Look, we've been kicked around a lot in recent years — by the soulless Bushes, Cheneys, and DeLays, by a media that's either co-opted by the right or scared to death of "liberal bias" claims, and by a populace that cares about nothing but kicking some Middle Eastern ass.

Yes, in this climate, the Dems have often been bullied into acquiescence.

It sucks. It would be great if everyone had the balls of Russ Feingold. I wish they did.

But who thinks the Dems, if in power, would be pushing through bills to torture people and revoke habeas corpus? Would Democrats have suddenly stopped going after the terrorists who killed 3,000 of us in favor of a war of whim in a completely unrelated country? Would they be drawing up plans to nuke Iran, saying "bring-it-on" to Armadeddon?

The Democrats are the party of conscience. The vast majority stood up to last week's awful bill, despite a national mood where they're in constant danger of being run out of town on a rail for being "soft on terror" if they stop short of personally drawing and quartering every Muslim they encounter.

These times are fucked up, and Democrats are imperfect, but they are so massively more sane and humane than the alternative, it makes me sick to hear talk of shrugging our shoulders and not voting.

You can be sure that every dickwad who uses his vote to make sure gays can't marry and that the disenfranchised don't get a helping hand will show up at the polls. They always do.

So, how about us?