How profoundly has the last 4 years of Bushit & Co changed you?

[serryjw]

This is not about 9-11. It is 3 years of 18 hour days trying to defeat him on Tuesday. Regardless of the outcome( I feel very positive) how is your life different?
I have major career decisions to make on Wednesday. I am not the same person and I don't think I can go back to my old life in the corporate world..I realize how close we came to losing it all and still 45% ++ will think we are wrong. I have been single for most of my life ( thou a couple of LTR). I profoundly have a need, I have never had before, to find the LAST LTR. I am starting to feel my mortality and no one to go alone.
I'd be interested in hearing how you've been changed

[rsmith6621]

1. A Couple Of Ways

I nearly lost my Home to F-Closure and my Car to the repo-man.

I also am making $4.00 less an hour than I was in 2001.


Also filed Chptr 13.......


Life has SUCKED with the Chimp on the WATCH....

[alittlelark]

2. Very little - if we're talkin' REALITY'

We got an awesome tax break from the shr*b - but it is soo bitter. We spent all of our tax savings in erredicating the shr*b,

[helnwhls]

3. i miss having a job

[Rjnerd]

13. Me too.

Spent a couple of months unemployed under his father, but this time is just absurd.

[murielm99]

4. What is an LTR? nt

[Carrion]

9. Long Term Relationship

[pocoloco]

10. Long term relationship

http://www.urbandictionary.com

[Carolab]

5. I have next to no faith in the future

I fear for myself, my children, my family and my friends. Much of my joy and hope has gone.

[Hog lover]

6. My view on our country has changed a lot.

I no longer think the two parties are pretty much alike as far as what actually will happen (vs. talk) when extremist Republicans are in control of the government.

I now believe that our country could be easily made into a fascist regime and that we might not be able to reverse this course for a long time or without some sort of major upheaval.

Bushco has made me feel LESS secure by far. I think Gore would have handled 9/11 much differently. At the very least he would have paid attention, AND DONE SOMETHING, DAMMIT, when he was given a report that there was a terrorist plan to use airplanes in an attack.

I am very afraid for my country for the first time in my life. Granted, I was not living during WWII, but I think we had more confidence in our basic goodness and strength then.

and that's just for starters.

[realisticphish]

7. i used to think politics didnt matter

i didnt really care in 2000(granted, i was 15). but these 4 years coupled with college have turned me around completely


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[Heidi]

8. Don't lose hope . . .

and don't lose sight of who you are, serryjw. Five years ago, I was working in corporate journalism, in a Republican resort town less than 90 miles from where you are. I'm different now I've found that I can make a bigger difference outside of the mainstream than I could when I was swimming against the current 24/7. Life's more challenging now, in some ways, but I sleep better, and I'm keeping better company.

'. . . Never forget that you come from a long line of truth-seekers, lovers and warriors.'

[serryjw]

11. Happiness is more important than money and position

I was going to delay my entry into animal care for 2 years, but I don't think I can. I have been thinking all day and I think I am going to start working in it very soon, while I study...even if I continue to be poor for another year.

Fear of the future? It will take a long time before I can feel secure again. Much of what they want to do can still happen with Tom Delay andf the RW congress.

[tsuki]

12. I went from a Democratic

to a rabid Democrat.

[CassiesCorner]

14. Sucks...

I haven't had much change as far as job status (I'm still basicly a starving artist) but I care more about who is the head of our country.
The last election was the first I was able to vote for and I was given loads of crap at the polling place for voting against Bush, all I knew is that I didn't like him(but I wasn't sure why, even if I didn't like his dad). I swore that it was somehow my fault that he won and that it took so long to find out who won(and the winner didn't get to lead us!).
I've payed attention to how things have been going for America and know all through myself that we can't continue like this for another four years!
If something happends like it did last time I can't imagine what is going to happen. I can't believe or understand all the "undecided" people out there either, it's almost voting time and they have not been swayed one way or the other, have people not been paying attention?!
Right now my cousin is in Iraq, he is a reservist and was not supposed to be shipped over there but Bush is playing like the spoiled kid he is and we need help getting him out of the lead seat.

Anyway, my life has changed more in awareness then anything and unfortunetly there are still people who are not aware.

-Cassie

(p.s. If anyone goes to my online shop and is interested in a design but can't pay the listed price just contact me and I'll knock it down asmuch as I can... the political things are in the custom section)

[saracat]

15. I have gone from upper middle class almost poverty.

Hubby lost his job after 26 years and we had no health insurance. I got sick and we bought health insurance and eat less. I can't even afford to go out for coffee with my friends.
I used to vote the man and not the party but no longer.I will never vote Republican again. Their avarice and contempt for the average person and, the phoney patriotism they have used to destroy this country ended that. I have been ashamed of my country. That was a very new experience for me. I have always been proud of being an American. Bush made me ashamed and I will never forgive him for that. I hope that with a Kerry win I can get back a little of my self esteem.
I have been forver changed. I have become politically more active than I have ever been before, but I have also become cynical. I see how hard work is not rewarded in either party and it is still who you know, or how much you donate that will get you preference or respect. In politics ,anything can be bought. I was,despite everything, a bit more idealistic in the beginning, but that is another thing that was left at the wayside during Bushco.
The good thing that has come out of all of this is that I feel like I have been purified by fire and have been reduced to my most basic essence. I have a much better knowledge of myself, and that can never be taken away!

[serryjw]

20. How did your hubby like the info I sent you?

You never wrote me back?

[saracat]

31. He hasn't said. He can be difficult. But thank you!

[hecate77]

16. Almost lost hope

I've been in this fight since the 60s and even though I almost despaired in the Reagan and Bush I years, I regained some small hope during the Clinton years.

Then Bush stole the country. My partner and I were ready to leave the country in disgust and fear. At 61, I'm not sure I have the patience to wait another 4 years for a decent chance for decent people to have a voice again. We have barely had a voice since they killed King and the Kennedys in the 60s. These vile Rovians have destroyed much of what we all fought for so strongly in the 60s. I've watched our gains be slowly eroded by selfish and greedy Republicans over most of the last 35 years. Even when we had a Democrat for president, the Repugs had a lock on congress and kept up with the reactionary movement back to slavery and feudalism.

Now, however, there is a glimmer of hope. I really like Kerry. I like the fact that he is a Vietnam Vet who turned against the war. I was part of the Resistance in Boston in those years. I think it will take someone who understands those years and the roots of the situation we are in now to have much hope of helping us heal from all that.

I think I came close to giving up all together. Despair is not my favorite emotion.

On a more personal note, my company was almost destroyed by the Bushits and is just now starting to come out from under the mess those criminals made of the economy.

Fortunately, I live in the great State of California, in one of the most progressive parts, so I have been somewhat insulated from the horrors of the Bush Fascists.

Here's hoping we can have hope again. You can see how far down things have gone, when you have to hope you can have hope......

[NEOBuckeye]

17. I'm a Teacher without a Classroom

Four years of Bush and Every Child Left Behind have left me working in a bland, life-draining corporate office because it's the only damn job left that pays something resembling a living wage in Northeastern Ohio. I can't get a job that I would actually look forward to getting out of bed each day to do, because all of the school systems in the area are under severe financial stress due to state cuts in funding and Ohio's wretched levy system. I couldn't even afford to go back to college to pick up broader certification or another degree altogether because of skyrocketing college tuition costs, which have more than doubled over the past 10 years. My first love and entire profession are under heavy attack by rock-brained ultra-conservative zealots who want to keep the entire country as stupid as they are, and close any means for anyone to advance upward through society to challenge them.

Granted, the Ohio GOP is to blame for our collapsing, criminally underfunded school systems throughout the state, but Bush has done nothing but heap more coal into their fire with NCLB and his worthless Education Secretary Rod Paige. If I was a moderate-leftist before, I'm a fire-breathing Liberal Democrat now, and damn proud of it.

After four years, I'm beginning to strongly consider doing something that I thought I would never -- and thought I should never -- have to do: Leave my state of Ohio to find a teaching job, because it's just so ridiculously bad for finding anything here these days. For the longest time, I've wanted to get into politics here to try and improve quality of life conditions for people here. But since I can't even establish my social and financial independence from my parents within this state, I've got to move somewhere else where I can. I hate it, because I care deeply for my family, and never wanted to move more than a couple hour trip away from my parents. I'm looking at North Carolina now, which is a 12-13 hour trip away by car. And I've never been fond of planes.

Wherever I have to go, whatever I must do to succeed, I'm coming back to Ohio someday with a vengeance, and I will do all that I can to knock the ultra-conservatives out of power for a very long time. :mad: I am a firm believer in cycles, however, and I think this too shall pass. But it is going to require MANY people on the Left to finally become angry enough to push the Right back into its place. This will happen much, much sooner than later, however, if Bush steals another four years. But I'm not foolish enough to believe that Kerry will be able to take us more than a step or two back from chaos if he wins. The current conflict between opposing interests won't end until the common people are willing to admit that we have a major problem, and face up to it.

[FizzFuzz]

35. you are so so so right.

that last sentence is the kicker:

"The current conflict between opposing interests won't end until the common people are willing to admit that we have a major problem, and face up to it."

[leftofthedial]

18. very profoundly

family
career
financial
perspective
"friends"

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. My husband was on patrol on September 11

I spent that day conforting people

Then a year later my husband left on a second war patrol to war without no justification. I have spent my time in politics. Now I understand how the 1932 Generaton caused life long deocrats, I am now one of them. I will never again vote for a republican. I also now understand the rise of fascism... in more htan just a theoretical manner... and as a historina this was not the kind of knowledge I wanted

I also fear the Right wants a hot civil war, as this will be the last resot they will have.

Have I changed, absolutely... in significant ways...

Oh and my husband is now out of the navy and we are still looking for jobs in this great bush economy.

[REP]

21. My Kidneys Began Failing in 2000

That was also the year I became diabetic. Coincindence? Perhaps, but I blame Asswipe anyway.

[Skittles]

22. I have had to put up with GWB for ten freaking years

TEN YEARS. You cannot imagine the horror I felt when I realized WHY "THEY" were running that evil, stupid f*** for governor - "THEY" were gonna make him president. I saw the horror of war and debt unfold in my mind before he was even elected governor. To watch it all come to pass in the past four years - knowing the bastard stole the election - has been extremely painful.

[FizzFuzz]

37. Skittles, this post really makes the hair stand up on my neck.

:cry:

[rot0r_head]

23. What respect I had for the GOP is gone

as it is now a front operation for the PNAC dominionists and their puppet king. So much for ideals, small govt and fiscal conservatism be damned.

[ahem]

24. Total agreement -nt

[flygal]

25. I've lost respect for so much of America...

How could so many people follow this guy and still continue to do so. They can't see what impact he has had on the US globally. Why don't these people want clean water, air, public schools. Are they all F*cking millionaires?!!!

[Iris]

34. You said it, flygal.

It kills me to hear "ownership society" as if any of us can survive on our own if we destroy the environment and ignore social ills like crappy public education.

[LiberalAndProud]

26. I have become less gullible. More sceptical of motives. And

more certain that what happened in Germany 60 years ago is not an anomoly. It could happen here too easily.

I will never again put my faith entirely in political leadership. As much as I like and admire Gore, if he had led in protest against the unforgiveable hijacking of the people's will, I would have followed. If it happens again, I will not wait for outside leadership.

[lady raven]

27. name it...

I've become fearful for our safety and our privacy, I've felt my freedom of speech be stomped, I've become distrustful and disdainful of all things conservative, I've become a tad more paranoid and suspicious, and I've gained about 50 pounds!

[ahem]

28. The impact has been huge...

In 2000 my husband and I were both working in what had been the booming tech field and making good money. We had dreams of moving into our first home and starting the American Dream. In January of 2001 my husband was laid off. In February, while hubby was still out of work and in a deep depression, I was laid off. His unemployment wasn't enough to pay the rent and bills and food, and since job options were bleak he took a job washing dishes in a restaurant. Not exactly where he expected to be in his 30's, with a college degree. I made do with odd jobs, not making much but it helped keep a roof over our heads. Before long our credit was ruined. We borrowed money where we could and grew a debt that still haunts us.

He now works a better job, but still only makes a fraction of what he made before. I'm unemployed once again as the last company I worked for went out of business (and didn't pay me for my last two months of work.) I hope to start working for myself in the near future. We now have another mouth to feed--no, not a baby, rather my own mother. She and my father have now divorced, and she is ill and penniless. We are in the midst of year two of trying to get SSDI for her.

We're still living in the same little dilapidated old apartment building, and the dream of owning a home seems further away than ever.

The good news is that despite the hardships that have been visited upon us during this administration, my husband and I are more united together than ever before. Our love has stood the test, which is an awesome thing.

I've found that there is an activist alive and well inside me. No matter where life takes us, no matter how much it improves for us and the world when John Kerry is elected, I'll never forget the lessons I've learned over the last four years. I have found my voice and deepened my long held convictions. I am a liberal American, and I will fight for myself, my family, and my country.

[freeplessinseattle]

29. I'm self-employed, been hit hard

every year of the past 3 or so have been worse.

more tension in my family

more headaches when reading the news

become closer to mere acquaintances who share the sentiment. even my dental hygenists have been sooo nice to me after I brought them some political buttons, and one even gave me a hug after a horrendous 2 hour ordeal a couple weeks ago because I'm "just so nice". The warmth and compassion from dems gets me all verklempt.

[LiberalPersona]

30. I woke up

and realized that I can't take things for granted. And that this country as the founding fathers wanted it to be is hanging by a thread, which the right wing are poised to cut and send us all plummeting to death. I now have a constant fear that I didn't have before, and it eats at me on the inside.

It also made me change from a regular liberal to a strong liberal, and partially a socialist.

[proud patriot]

32. I will never take anything for granted again

I'm a Gen Xer MetalHead

[misterphelps]

40. kick

[ReadTomPaine]

33. The hardcore progressive liberal that my parents raised to be vigilant..

... found the opponent they warned me we would face one day. I am honored to stand among so many friends and fellow patriots in this battle, whatever may come.

RTP

[bobbieinok]

36. sickened

I was in grad school in CA in the 60s. Beginning in 94 I've watched the RW machine work to undo all the gains from the 60s...civil rights, women's rights, right to question the govt, etc.

After 12-12-2000, I no longer feel in any way that MY government will protect and help ME; that in fact it has NO intention of doing so.

So many things have happened I could never have imagined in my wildest nightmares.....the right of US citizens to vote for president stolen by the Supreme Court....a US with secret trials, people being arrested and held for long periods with no access to family and friends,

.....and a US that now stands for torture of prisoners in the mind of the world.

W and his cohort of republican supporters and enablers has destroyed the constitution and the US image perhaps permanently.

Yes, I know the US has not always been 'good' and 'fair' domestically and internationally......but at least there was a core that at least I felt like was my US and my government....and that just isn't there for me any more.

[tilsammans]

38. Ditto . . .

. . . to much of what others are posting on this thread.

At least I have a job, and I am thankful for that. But I work long hours for ungrateful people, and the work I do is a very poor fit with my skill set. Also, the money isn't commensurate with the effort involved or the stress endured. My background is diverse, and I have a solid track record of success and great references. Yet I've been job hunting for a couple of years with no luck. I do occasionally get calls from recruiters, but for jobs that pay half of what I make now. And we all know employers will find people to fill those slots because so many job seekers are desperate for anything at all.

Although there was a lot of turmoil in the sixties when I was growing up, I always felt optimistic and hopeful. And I did again during the Clinton years, and I expected the same with the Gore presidency. It was all not to be.

Whatever happens, I'll survive, somehow. Keeping it in perspective, there are so many people who are so much worse off than I. But four more years of BushCo could kill them. Literally.

:scared:

[Ladyhawk]

39. In the year 2000, I wasn't paying attention and voted for the shrub.

When I finally figured out I'd been punked, I lost every bit of respect for America. For the first time in my life, I was ashamed to be an American.

I felt all alone. My family and friends were gung-ho right-wingers. I had a secret, a secret that separated me from everyone I knew. That secret was I now HATED my country. Everyone had American flags flying from their cars and houses and it made me sick.

During that time there was a ubiquitous commercial playing on television. It showed a typical American street. "The terrorists thought they could change America," the narrator begins. Slowly, American flags fade into being, hanging from each house. "Well, they were right."

In my mind, every time I saw that commercial, the American flags morphed into swastikas and I thought I would go mad listening to the scream that never left my lips: "Something's wrong...something's wrong...something's wrong...something's wrong!!!!"

I grew angrier each day, feeling like the last real person at the end of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Didn't anyone see that something was wrong?

One day during this angry period, I saw something in the road. At first I thought it was a snake and slowed down to avoid it. When I saw it was an American flag, I sped up and hit it on purpose. I was so angry. The flag, my country--everything--had been taken from me.

I was already on disability for severe, recurring treatment-resistant Depression. I'd called HUD to ask about section 8 housing and they told me I'd have to wait five years just to get on a waiting list...if there was a waiting list. I was trapped in the same house with my right-wing fundamentalist mother and I could see no way out.

Then one day as I was walking down the street, my hands went numb. It took Medi-Cal six months to finally approve an MRI...budget cuts thanks to the Rethuglicans in Sacramento. When the MRI results finally came in, I learned I had herniated discs and would probably require surgery.

I tried to get help from the county, but the Rethuglicans struck again. Two of my social workers were laid off, one after the other. Then the budget cuts necessitated a lay-off of 30 social workers. I had nowhere to go, no one to turn to.

No one told me that some local apartments were subsidized, so I didn't apply until about three years ago. Finally, after waiting seven years for adequate, affordable housing, I have it. But if the Rethugs privatize social security, I'll either be dead or living in the street. I will not live with family again.

My herniated discs have grown worse. I am now in constant pain. I've been waiting a full year for approval for an MRI because Ah-nold thinks budgets that approve health care are for girly men. Or something like that.

I'm no longer angry at the flag, but at the man who stole it for his own purposes. I think about inadequate housing and the sub-standard health care I've had to put up with and I want to slap that twisted smirk right off *'s face. It was he I had symbolically flattened on the road that day, not the flag.

"Look in his eyes it's all lies
The stars and stripes, they've been swiped, washed out and wiped
And replaced with his own face, Mosh now or die" --"Mosh" by Eminem

It's our flag, too. Maybe someday it will represent something I can be proud of. Let us all work toward that day.

P.S. Agent Mike, I do not run over people, even if they are despotic giggling murderers. It was a completely symbolic gesture.

Hi, Agent Mike! :hi:

[Jose Diablo]

41. Its changed me

From a Mean, Rotten Bum
To a Mean, Rotten and Angry Bum

[natrat]

42. cynical and i hate those

fuckers out in the country w/ there */cheney stickers and there fake country music and there pathetic and gullible little minds ---no i think alot of Americans are pure shit--and that is not a healthy outlook

[Ladyhawk]

44. Yeah, I hear you. I have become something of a misanthrope.

I don't like it, but it's true. :(

[greblc]

43. I was laid off.

I worked in the Medical Technology Industry. The Federal Grant Money dried up. Sales went flat. Payroll was cut 30%. My wife lost her job. I'm employed now. She is not.

I went from having Good Medical Insurance to Crap Insurance. My Co Pays
are driving our household to poverty.

[SammyWinstonJack]

45. I have become very cynical

and yet, not. I thought four years ago that I would be homeless because of bush* and yet we have managed to survive. I don't think we will survive another 4 yrs of bush*. My husband is in the car business, which has been extremely slow since bush* was selected. Especially slow the past six months even with the giveaways and 0% financing. He is a Used Car Manager and the sales for used cars is practically non-existent, precisely because of the giveaway of new cars. I have been very bitter and if not for DU, I don't think I would have made it through these past four years. I am hopeful now. I think we have a shot of taking back our Country! I hope you find a LTR, your last! Keep the faith! Oops showing my age there. :-)

[Ladyhawk]

46. Oh, and did I mention I will never vote Republican again? :)

And a LTR would be nice, as well.

[sr_pacifica]

47. No raise since early 2002

I'm deep in debt with no health insurance. Maybe if SOMEONE(S) ELSE had been elected, I'd have insurance still, or my workplace would have hired me on as a regular employee, rather than keep me working for a temporary agency. But, see, the economy STINKS, thanks to ASSHOLE.

Also, in public, I am more wary of criticizing the government because I now feel I live in a more hostile environment in which my freedom of expression has been compromised because of paranoia about terrorism. Put simply, I am afraid I may get punched out, or have my car vandalized, or in other ways vigilanteed because of the insanity in my country.

Generally, I live in a meaner society where the cold, impassionate "haves" place blame on the "have nots" for having not and where one's material well-being is considered a reflection of your goodness or badness.

[Sebum]

48. I've lost hair, gained weight, lost sex-drive and energy

[SudieJD]

49. Gosh, Where Do I Start

We have no health care: I have RA, COPD, Severe Osteoporosis and no money for medicines. I can barely walk or sleep through the night.
At least 2x per month - pay less paydays - Money has to be spent on high cost of fuel for our truck. Last week: $2,980.00 for fuel.
Last year income, after expenses - $9,000.00
I've been looking for work for the past year. I have a 4 year degree, but no jobs in our area.
The area where we live depends on tourists in the summer. This past year over 25 resorts closed due to the lack of visitors.
No money for Christmas presents this year. If we didn't live in the woods, there wouldn't even be a tree.
Our local school is closing due to lack of funds. They'll bus the kids 30 miles away.
Mortgage foreclosures are at an all time high for our county.

I'm sure that there are more, but I'm getting pretty depressed right now just listing the above.

Sudie in MN

[PassingFair]

50. Are we having fun yet?

We gotta get those bastards outta there!
My husband just tallied up the year-to-date gross billing of our small business (graphic design).
It's less than $20,000.00!!!!!!!
5 years ago, we paid almost double that amount in TAXES! And we had the money to pay them.
Luckily, I got a sales job for a local company, and am making pretty good money and benefits, but I'm working my BUTT off and its a stressful environment.
I want to puke every time that treacherous little freak says "John Kerry wants to raise your taxes."
Jesus Christ, I didn't mind paying taxes when I was making money! Why don't the myopic freeptards want to help support our infrastructure? Our roads, our schools, our seniors, our health? Do they hate America? WTF!!!
I am definately angrier than I have ever been in my life. I naturally tend towards sadness when I see a wrong, now my stomach twists in knots when I see a W bumpersticker.
Make sure you're talking to as many people as possible and don't just vote, make sure your friend do, too.

[allalone]

51. 3 things come to mind

My little pet-sitting business crashed because it depended on people that traveled a lot.
I found I knew a lot more swear words than I thought I did.
I'm shocked to find so much hate and bitterness in my fellow citizens. This nightmare time has brought so much to the surface. Like a burst boil. I've always operated under the assumption that people are basically good. Still do, but I'm having a little trouble with it lately.

[CelticWinter]

52. Its changed in a number of ways

most people who worked making a good wage now have to work 2 or 3 min. wage jobs to make ends meet. I was laid off from my job had no health insurance. But come to the realization that gone are the days of the good paying jobs its time to take matters in my own hands to make a better life.
I have to learn to live within my means, no more 'power shopping' trips ugh, I learned to can and freeze food (and its fun) and I raise Himalayan cats which I find great enjoyment in.
I will return to school and hopefully find a job that I enjoy, that I can do for myself and not make someone else rich from my sweat.
I firmly believe in karma, and there is no way that I would want the karma that this administration is going to get.
Blessings
~~Celtic