Not too long ago, there was a thick, black line drawn across our country. Democrats and Republicans were pitted against each other in an all-out-war of words and manipulative gobbledygook. At points it was entertaining, other times it was scary. The lines, the defining characteristics of each party, blurred as they struggled to convince a diverse constituency that their candidate was, in fact, better than the other guy. But when the bells rang in unison, the lefties saw their hopes – their drive – fade as the poll results blazed, burning and bright, across our television screens. Right-wingers cheered. The conservatives wet themselves with glee. I almost cried.

Does this happen every four years? According to many news outlets, this presidential race was one of the most fervent in years, with a higher percentage of people piling into booths than have in a long, long time. We cared, so we acted. Some set to the streets in droves, tooled with registration papers and an endless supply of ink and anecdotes. I remember long, stifling conversations with rabid Republicans and their touts of sanctity and patriotism flinging from their saliva-encrusted lips. I wanted to drag them kicking and screaming over the line, into the blue – the comforting sky of our salvation from misnomers and ongoing international alienation.

And now, thanks to poignant events like the Presidential Inauguration, it’s official: The devil’s lackey is commander-in-chief – again.

What happened to everyone’s gusto? As you sit here, reading these words written in haste, Bush and Dick continue to pilfer our national pride, righteously dumping the residual goo down the White House’s garbage disposal. God bless America: land of the free, home of the quitters? It’s understandable. We lost the battle, so we ran and hid in our holes like little Saddam-clones – we were hurt and we needed healing.

If you keep doing things the same way, you’re going to get the same results – the president of Mt. Hood Community College, Dr. Robert Silverman, said that last week.

I implore you – friends, peers, mentors and strangers – to keep trudging through the good fight. Bush is still fucking up, royally. Soldiers are still dying in a hot, distant place, education has been placed on the back burner and country after country continue to line up in the “We Hate Americans” category.

The presidential term is limited to four years – times two – for a reason. Remember your history classes from high school? A dictatorship may form when there is enough time for it permeate, to grow. Bush is finite, fallible – who says he doesn’t have the capacity to fail us all?

As the next four years unfold, what travesty, amid the many travesties committed thus far, will be the final straw -- when will we practice abstinence?