First of all, your disgust with the Democrats generally, the Obama administration specifically, and Rahm Emanuel and Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson even more specifically, is completely justified. That bit of legislative sausage-making that was the health care debate was ugly to behold. And, far from investigating and indicting the obvious criminals in the previous administration, the Obama administration has doubled down on Constitutional abuses in the name of "fighting terror." It makes my blood boil to think about it.
I understand how liberals might feel that voting is nothing but a civic placebo. After all, the 2008 election swept in unprecedented majorities in both houses of Congress for the Democrats who, nevertheless, surrendered to the minority on key issues, time after time after time.
But believe it or not, this election offers real hope. Here's my reasoning:
The GOP is incredibly vulnerable. With all the political winds at their back, they have set the expectations for this election precariously high. If they do not make significant gains in the Senate and actually win control of the House, their huge 2010 effort will be viewed as a failure. In that case, the Tea Party insurgency will erupt into full scale war. Tea-baggers, already angry with "establishment" Republicans, might actually split off from the party. The deeply-ruptured Republican party, now deprived of its Know-Nothing base, could simply cease to exist.
Allow yourself a moment to savor that thought.
But then...
"Great!" says disillusioned Lefty. "So now the Democrats are in control!"
But that's just it, my left-wing comrades! If the GOP ceases to exist, it will kill the Democrats! If the Democrats are deprived of their ability to define themselves against the Republicans, they will fracture into their component parts: labor unions, environmentalists, racial and religious minorities, blue-collar workers, et alia.
New alliances and coalitions would necessarily form, unrestrained by the corrupted two-party system. At long last, progressives would have a chance to make real change. We'd have to do it the way liberals always do: by bringing people together, building coalitions, working with others. But we'd have a better chance than we have now.
So, let me urge you to vote, lefties. The GOP is like a hooded cobra, trapped under the handle of a rake. Now is the time to bash its skull in! If we can prevent the GOP from gaining control of the House, we can kill it!
Like John Lennon said: You may say I'm a dreamer... yadda, yadda, yadda.