Here is my concession speech. Though, technically, the election has not been declared, it seems to be all but over.

Prior to the election I told many people my opinion that, regardless of the outcome of the election, it is pretty clear that it is not a free and fair election, and it is certainly not democratic. This is not necessarily due to voter suppression or intimidation or fraud, rather it is due to the fact that our electoral system is fundamentally, structurally flawed. The electoral college, the winner-take-all spoils, partisan gerrymandering, single party districts, campaign finance, absence of equal time, barriers to ballot access, etc. - all of these things and more ensure not that elections are a reflection of the mood or will of the people, but that incumbents are protected, the status quo is maintained, and that the tyranny of the majority goes safely uncontested.

Unfortunately, as in years past (though it seems to be getting much more blatant) there is growing evidence of massive programs of voter intimidation, suppression, misinformation, and manipulation. Political operatives approach elections not as a process of determining the will of the people, but as a highly technical game played to win at all costs - the ultimate goal not being democracy, but consolidation and control of unprecedented power. This election was illegitimate not because Bush will (in all likelihood) be deemed the winner, but because we do not live in a democracy. Perhaps we should stop pretending like we do, take our collective head out of the sand, and fight to reclaim what is ours - the right to determine our own lives and our own government.

That said, I am more than a little disturbed by the reported outcome of yesterday's election. Many have made the case that there is little fundamental difference between many of the policy positions advocated by either Bush or Kerry. I am inclined, for the most part, to agree. But I think, still, that this election was vitally important. I think that we, the American people, have been given a free ride by the world community for the past few years. Yes, our government is committing atrocious and barbaric acts - but that is the result of the government being hijacked by the Bush cartel; once given the opportunity, the American people will surely replace him. Yesterday's election represented for much of the world a referendum on the policies and philosophy of the Bush cartel. With a Bush re-election, our free-ride is over. We are now complicit in the crimes against humanity being perpetrated by this government and its people. No more excuses, no more complaints that "he doesn't represent me!" - we had our chance, and we failed.

Furthermore, all 10 of the ridiculous, hateful, anti-gay ballot propositions passed by huge margins. 80% of those who voted for Bush said that "moral values" was the dominant motivator for their vote. Moral values? Are Bushites suddenly an army of Kantians? Of course not. When they say "moral values" they are referring not to any coherent philosophy, but to the same vicious, knee-jerk "values" promoted by their so-called enemies in fundamentalist theocracies. What is the difference between American fundamentalist law making and Taliban Sharia? Degree? Perhaps. But only because there has been a viable opposition to keep the forces of hateful, apocalyptic fundamentalism at bay in the U.S. Make no mistake - there are in this country well organized cabals of fundamentalist religious zealots who plan to drag this nation down into the cultural and social cesspools created by the most repressive regimes. Yesterday, we voted to remove that much more of the crumbling barrier separating church and state. The Roy Moores and Khomenis of the world are winning.

Where is the opposition? The Democratic party has proven yet again to be a soulless, spineless machine. The Kerry campain pandered to fundamentalists (gay marriage bad!) and promised an increase in carnage (more troops! more war!). Decades ago the Democratic party made the strategic decision to run on the platform of the Republican party - one of law & order, militarization, and neoliberal economics. That allowed far-right, antidemocratic forces to shift the Republican party platform to the extremist position that we see today. The Democrats have made themselves irrelevant, and now, I fear, there is no viable opposition to the powerful Republican machine.

All of this I will concede. I am not convinced that it is untrue, and so I make this my concession. But with my concession comes a promise - a promise to fight this violent machine fueled by greed and hate; a promise to look to the past to learn its weaknesses and to exploit them; a promise to struggle to protect the fundamental and inalienable rights of the people, not of the United States - a figment of our imagination - but of the world. I pledge allegiance to my humanity, nothing more and nothing less.

Who's in?