Earn it! SheSaid: Haddayr Copley-Woods’ cynical take on the elections
by Haddayr Copley-Woods
I asked to write this column. I begged for a chance to turn it in five days late, a day after the election, just knowing that I would have something to say, regardless of what direction our country turned. I would be passionate: thrilled and bitingly smug, or angry and filled with despair, loathing, and hopeless despondency. Either way, great column, right?
After all, after years of protesting the Bush administration in the streets, I was overjoyed when Clinton won the presidency in 1992. My husband Jan and I volunteered at Democratic headquarters, stayed up late into the night watching poll results breathlessly, and followed the speeches with jubilant, uncritical adoration. Although we were on an insanely tight budget, we ordered take-out to celebrate. I truly believed a new era had begun in the U.S. We were in charge now. We would make a difference. We would change the horrible direction the Republicans had set us in.
But when things started to happen, all with Democratic support, I was horrified: Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell. Mean-spirited welfare "reform." NAFTA. The ridiculous "Defense" of Marriage Act. As Republicans ascended to power, most Democrats happily embraced a newly conservative rhetoric, a new list of priorities, and a blinding, no-holds-barred fear of taxing the wealthy.
After Bush II illegally stole the presidency and terrorists he had pooh-poohed took down the Twin Towers, the vast majority of Democrats wholeheartedly approved of and funded an unjust war they're only now pretending to have abhorred. Hardly shining and noble. Hardly looking out for the little guy.
So this time around, even in the face of what I truly believe is an administration so corrupt, so incompetent, so evil (yes, I said "evil"), and so contemptuous of basic human rights and decency that I fear for the future of my democracy if their power remains unchecked, I didn't knock on a single door. I made nary a phone call.
Intellectually, and practically, the election was important to me if only to check the Republicans' frightening, Darth Vader-like grip on our country and the world, their astounding, swaggering hubris, the creepy gay-bashing and fervent desire to bring about the apocalypse so they can strum their harps and ascend on their purple clouds, leaving us Muslims and atheists and pagans and hippies and homos and Mexicans and feminists down here to drink from the bloody water fountains.
And I found myself quietly cheering Keith Ellison and listening with genuine happiness as a friend described his euphoric speech at his primary win. But afterward, I sat back and narrowed my eyes. We'll see, I thought. We'll see when he gets to Washington how much of a "progressive" he is.
Perhaps I'm just afraid we'll lose, I told myself. I'll feel something strongly when it becomes real; I'll be swept up in the drama and the hope or the pathos and the destruction, and I'll really care again.
But when my friends began tap dancing in glee at encouraging poll results leading up to the election, I felt … nothing. And when I woke up this morning to discover that they had, in fact, taken the House and eliminated the Republican majority in the Senate with a real chance at Democratic control, I felt … nothing.
(OK. I felt a small bit of irritation at the Minnesota voter. Yes, Hatch is arrogant and unpleasant,, but why would you vote all DFL for every other race but his? That's just spiteful, that is. Pawlenty is affable. But "affable" isn't good enough. I prefer honest, truly concerned for public school education and quality health care, and less stupidly homophobic. Also? There's no excuse for Michele Bachmann. None.)
So, not "nothing." Irritated, confused, ambivalent, and cynical.
I did stay up until 1:30 a.m. in a hopeless attempt to follow the election results-I am genuinely proud of some of our local DFLers: Linda Berglin, champion of MinnesotaCare, Amy Klobuchar (or should I say "Senator Klobuchar?" OK, I'll admit that felt good): sharp, dedicated. I'm darn proud Minnesota is sending the first Muslim to Congress; I really am.
But if anyone in the DFL or, more pointedly, the Democratic Party, is reading? I don't feel the breathless, hopeful euphoria I would have years ago had such an enormous power shift occurred. You have slid too far from your progressive foundation, betrayed too many. You want my love? You want my volunteer hours? You want my money?
You've got the chance now. Earn it back.
Haddayr Copley-Woods is a mom and writer living in Powderhorn Park.
