Forgive my tardiness in replying, but being a coward it takes me a while to screw my courage to the typing place and compose an email.
Bill wrote:
> You are being blackmailed into voting for the Democrats, you say you must
pay the blackmail, or be responsible for what the blackmailer will do if you
do not pay.
I see the situation as Bush having a gun to the head of America, especially women, blacks, queers and children, and there being an urgent need to disarm the maniac.
We also have Kerry, who is your blackmailer and Nader, the con man -- he can't win, but he is going to run anyway. Like masturbating without any hope of ever having an orgasm.
> But how are you responsible for the blackmailer's actions if you refuse to
be blackmailed?
I am responsible for the destruction the maniac with the gun will cause if I do not take advantage of an opportunity to stop him.
> A far more serious burden of guilt as it indefinitely postpones the
prospect of freeing yourself and others from bondage to the blackmailer.
I leave guilt to the the Abrahmists. As for being free, I already am, but thanks for your concern.
> The Democrats are not a neutral inoffensive choice, being the lesser of
the two evils is s/till evil, but an evil you will be complicit in.
Evil -- more Abrahamic chatter. But to use your terminilogy -- where does a snake oil salesman like Nader fall on your continuum of good and evil? He who runs but cannot win? He who helps the greater evil to victory? He who appears every four years, a political vampire, to feed his vanity and then returns to his crypt?
> You need to realise that responsibility involves thinking ALL the
consequences through, for yourself.
I have. I cannot accept the continuing destruction of the black and queer communities, the shoving back of women into postures of subservience, the further Christianization of America. I could shrug my shoulders, vote for Nader and maintain my purity like Fred MacMurray in The Caine Mutiny. Instead I chose to try to stop the maniac.
And then I go to work on the wacko guy I replaced the maniac with.
Brian Dauth Queer Buddhist Resister