Thoughts on the Next Election

In 2000 I was a post-doctoral fellow in the neuroscience department of a major university. I'm not always so good with dates, but I specifically remember where I was in November of that year. I was in New Orleans, attending the annual neuroscientist's convention. The convention was held at the Morial convention center, next to the RIverwalk, right on the Mississippi river. I stayed at the Prince Conti hotel, a half block off Bourbon. I didn't have much money, so I'd usually go to the casino and drink cheap for a while before going to Bourbon street and wandering around. There was a guitar player at one of the bars, there, named Charlie. The bouncer recognized me (even though I hadn't been there for a year), told me what night Charlie was playing, and I made sure to come back that night. I picked up an autographed CD, even though I was still broke after years in school, and I still have it. It reminds me of New Orleans, and how good the people there treated me.

There are a couple of inter-related reasons why I remember the month and the year. One is, this was the last time I've attended a convention at the Morial center, after spending time in New Orleans every year for about 4 in a row.

The next time I saw the Morial Center it was because television cameras were filming outside it. People were dying there while Bush and McCain shared a cake in San Diego. Seeing it on the television, people lined up in the same place where I'd sat outside to have a smoke, hoping there was a way out or at least some water. I'd sat where they were sitting, but I knew I couldn't imagine what they felt like. This isn't really the story I wanted to tell, though.

At that same convention center, the night I arrived, Christopher Reeve was speaking about the importance of stem cell research to "thousands of people like me". The room he spoke in was large. It must have held several hundred people, but it quickly filled to overflowing so I had to watch him speak on a monitor set up in another large hall. I don't remember everything he said verbatim. My memory's not what it used to be. But I remember two things like it was yesterday.

One was the way he breathed. He couldn't move. He sat in a wheelchair to speak to us. Periodically he'd grow short of breath, pause, and his whole body would heave while he gulped in some air. I'd say "it looked painful", but I'm sure he couldn't feel it. He couldn't really feel anything from the neck down. Before that night I hadn't really realized that difficulty in breathing was part of the result of a devastating spinal cord injury, but I'll never forget it, now.

There was one particular thing he said that I'll never forget. The votes hadn't been cast, yet, but it looked like Bush might beat Gore. This probably isn't an exact quote, but it's pretty close: "I'm counting on you to help people like me. I fear what might happen if George Bush is elected."

That's part of the story I want to tell you. That we all knew, all of us in those large halls, that if George W. Bush became President he would set scientific research in America back years if not decades. See, most scientists depend on funding to do their work, and when the only thing the government is interested in is "better" bombs and guns, "mundane" things like curing disease compete for a smaller pool of cash.

There's a bit of a side story here. A day or two later, as I walked among the posters that the scientists had put up to show their peers their research, I spent some time looking at one about regenerating spinal tissue. The researchers had severed the spinal cords of rats so that they couldn't move their back legs. Then they injected them with stem cells. EVERY ONE OF THOSE RATS regained the use of their hind legs. EVERY ONE showed evidence of having regrown the neural pathways from brain to legs, and all signs were that it would work in humans.

I thought about what Chris had said while I looked at that poster. "We" were on the verge of helping him get out of that wheelchair and breath normally. I was sort of proud to be at that meeting, right then, even though I could take no credit for that work. At least I got the chance to shake hands with people who cared enough to try.

That was 8 long years ago.

The reason I specifically remember that it was November is because I'd had to vote absentee before I left home to attend. The election of 2000 was happening while I was there. Rumors were pouring in. Someone in the hotel lobby said "A Florida highway patrolman took off with a bunch of ballot boxes, but returned them later." I never heard if that one was true, or not. My room mate was from Iowa, and he was proud when that state went to Gore. (Nearly everyone at this gathering of scientists was for Gore.) People were gathered around the televisions watching the aftermath while it was still undecided. They were hung from the ceiling in the convention center in sort of an upside-down flower arrangment, all tuned to CNN.

When I flew home no one knew who our next President would be. We wouldn't know for nearly a month, until the SCOTUS over-ruled the Florida Supreme Court's order of the FIRST complete recount of all votes in Florida. Despite what people have come to believe, there was never a complete recount of those votes. There never will be. The damage was done the day Scalia said he didn't want to "cast a cloud of uncertainty" over the election. The arrogant bastard.

So, to make a long story short, we let Chris and people like him down. We didn't protest when the SCOTUS handed down their decision. We didn't raise holy howling hell when Bush vetoed stem cell research the first time, or the second time. Really, "we" let our children and grandchildren down when we decided to let that monster leave office unscathed. No impeachment, he won't be turned over to the ICC for war crimes. He'll just go back to "the ranch" to "clear brush" with our money in his pockets and the next President will assume the powers he's amassed for the executive branch.

So, that is the story I wanted to tell. I'm not sure why. Maybe I just needed to remind myself how far we've fallen, and how important it is that we get back up. But I want to say one more thing before I go.

I've been watching for what feels like months now as the supporters of one candidate demonize the other candidate, the other candidate's supporters, and basically anyone who doesn't think their candidate can walk out onto the Red Sea, part it, then turn it into wine.

Lemme clue ya, folks. Neither one can do that. If you use the brains God gave you, you're going to disagree with both of them once in a while.

I'm pretty sickened by the whole thing. It's the selfishness of it, I guess. It's as if the world will come grinding to a halt if "that other candidate" becomes a Presidential nominee. "My way or the highway" at it's best.

I try to remember that one of them will be running against the guy who's promising the fundies whatever they want if they'll just make him President. The other will return to the Senate, and probably continue to vote for things we want most of the time.

I fear what this President McCain might do. I fear who his nominee to replace Stevens or Scalia might be, and I already fear what this SCOTUS might do. I really don't think this country will survive another 4 years of Bush/McBush. Not as anything we'll recognzie, anyway.

So here's what I'm asking;

Be good to each other. We're all we've got. Try to remember who the good guys are. Even if it hurts, try to find some good in both Democratic candidates. Either one would be better than the alternative. Either one is a better Senator than the Republican.

I guess that's all I have to say.