I know we're scared. We wouldn't be human if we weren't.

Unfortunately we are the small minority that knows what is happening. Right before our very eyes, we are being told that up is down and day is night. Since we haven't drunk the kool aid, we see clearly that a whole lot of people are buying it. Good people. People we live and work with, who are, in every other area of their lives relatively rational. And it is frightening.

Watching the Republican Convention I was struck that that must have been what it was like for some people in Germany to watch Hitler's rise to power. To watch him say things that were so obviously vile and disgusting, and so opposite from "actual" reality. Now, I'm not comparing McCain to Hitler. What I AM comparing is a group of people who are blindly allowing themselves to be led to slaughter. I watched people being told the exact opposite of what they were being told just a few short weeks ago, and buying it as the truth. I watched a whole bunch of people listening intently s they were being told that the party that has caused the problems of the last 8 years should be re-elected so they can fix the mess that they created, with no new ideas, just more of the same.

The leaders believed that because they took down all the Republican signs, and made George Bush stay away, people would forget that the Republican Machine caused the problems, and the Republican Machine was asking to be re-elected. And you know what? They were right! I watched a whole lot of people buy it, hook, line and sinker.

I listened to people cheering and whooping it up because this new hot chick Governor from Alaska rock star, pit bull, hockey mom had come to save them. They have no idea who she is, or what she believes (except that she is female and opposed to all abortion, except to save the life of the mother) and that is all they need to know. Nicole Wallace and Rick Davis have told us that we will learn all we need to know about her in her canned speeches. They will put her out to take questions from Marvin Milquetoast reporters if and when they think it is necessary. She will do NO hard-hitting news shows. And the press is accepting it. Just like they did w/ Obama, right?

Why wouldn't we be scared?

So what do we do with that fear?

If we hunker down and divert our attention, if we take walks and commune with nature, if we disengage to protect our sanity, they win.

We have to stay focused, work harder, make more noise, fight back, educate ourselves, our friends and families, donate, volunteer, enlist others to the cause, raise money, be vocal, write to the newspapers and other news outlets and INSIST that they stop covering McCain events if they aren't allowed access to Palin, scream bloody murder when we see unfair coverage or lies accepted, be visible, support each other in addition to the campaign, work the phone banks, register voters, DO NOT ALLOW OURSELVES TO BECOME DEMORALIZED, and above all,

        HAVE FAITH IN OUR CANDIDATE!

If he cannot figure out how to beat McCain, then he cannot figure out how to make the changes in this country that need to be made, and doesn't deserve the job. If we can't figure out how to help and make it happen, we deserve the government we get. I doubt there is even one of us who can honestly say we are doing everything we can do.

Continue to be afraid, but channel that fear...