Wolves at the Polling Station Door

Yesterday morning a terrorist attacked my city. Again. That evening the Bush administration announced they were worried about possible terrorist attacks centered around the election. I then thought of the three am commercial and the administrations tactic of using the terror alert system to manipulate the polls during the last election.

I am angry. The shrapnel of cowardice turned to violence littered times square yesterday. For the next few months, and again in November, fear will translate to votes. Hillary will use it to destroy Obama. McCain will use it to destroy Hillary. She’ll counter with the prospect of Americans starving to death.

I think back six and one half years. I refused to be afraid that day and after. But the American public has embraced fear and ignorance as viable tools in the decision making process. It allows us to separate ourselves from responsibility.

There may be an opportunity for a break in the cycle. But it requires the naming of our fear. It requires accepting that fear itself has won. We need to be willing to take the responsibility that accompanies risk. Congress can hide behind the war powers act or vote to “authorize the president to use force” in lieu of declaring war officially. They can wash their hands later. We’ve allowed them to get away with this kind of behavior for so long our own hands are stained. Let us not be afraid. For those who remain afraid, take comfort in the fact that we are beyond the point of saying, “Yes we can!” and are at the point of asking, “How can we not?”

The problem isn’t the negative campaigning on a personal level, it’s about the negatives with which they weigh down the citizenry. Red phones. Wolves. Terror. Lock your doors. Bar your windows. Hide.

We don’t want a president, we want a messiah.