I Don't Want to Write This Again

I just came across the email I sent out to friends the day after the 2004 election. Putting aside the pomposity of the 25-y-o Dan (and the bit about thousands of women dying in back-alley abortions), I think it's an interesting read. I especially like the sign-off:

Folks,

The American people made a sad and fearful decision last night. This proud country's lust for revenge and its suddenly warped morality (domestically and internationally) were laid out for the whole world to see. I love the ideals of this country and believe in its profound potential to lead the world. But where once conservatives and liberals alike saw the US as a shining beacon of hope and optimism, the American people showed last night we are, in fact, afraid and petty and vicious. I, too, believe in the transformative power of democracy, Mr. Bush. I do not, however, believe in the transformative power of the bayonet, except to destroy and inflame.

This will be a difficult four years, my friends. A Bush administration unrestrained by a coming election and buoyed by a substantial popular vote win will be more dangerous and less accountable than ever.

As you say hello to a second Bush term, just remember to:
1 Say goodbye to two centuries of American political thought aimed at leading the world to freedom, not choking it with bombs.
1. Say goodbye to a foreign policy rooted in respect for basic human rights, achieved through the hard work of avoiding war, not starting it.
2. Say goodbye to an economic policy that seeks to protect the nation's most vulnerable, not enrich its most comfortable.
3. Say goodbye to any semblence of minority protections, ranging from sensible affirmative action to gay rights to equal pay in the workplace.
4. Say goodbye to the thousands of young women who will undoubtedly die in the coming flood of backalley abortions.
5. Say goodbye to the untold thousands of men and women who will be sacrificed on current and future foreign battlefields by a man who insists the "toughest job" of the presidency is deciding to send other people's children to war without realizing that choosing war is often the easiest and most cowardly thing a president can do.

Take care and take heart...Edwards-Obama '08,
Dan