Election Over Yet?

“AHHHH! I hate elections. It’s driving me crazy!”
“So don’t think about. It doesn’t matter anyway.”

Such was a conversation at work this morning. It caught me off guard almost. Why do I care so much about this country? I mean does it really matter? I think I care because I lack the ability to be apathetic. I care. This is my country. If every American suddenly became apathetic, the country would fall apart I think. Granted the politicians would have less to say because no one would care. And the laws would be irrelevant because no one would care. No one cares, then life would end. So I am one of those non-apathetic people. I care. And I want to know who is going to be President. Enough already. Count the damn votes and get it over with. The results should come out in about 2 weeks. All the provisional ballots from Ohio need to be individually reviewed and then counted. JJ, an attorney in my office, was complaining too. An Ohio law professor was talking this morning, saying this is new territory for Ohio. There are federal laws concerning provisional ballots, but not state laws in Ohio. Didn’t Florida go through this four years ago? Wouldn’t someone have thought – Oh look, Ohio’s going to go through the same thing. Let’s make some laws and procedures with how to deal with this. But no. We have to wait another 2 weeks before we know who is the next president. I really sympathize with her and agree with her. This happened excatly four years ago. The news stations have mostly reserved their pronouncements of who won. Those that have said something, say it looks like Bush won. But they still don’t know for sure. Kerry could come back and upset the election. But I kinda doubt it.

So, I’m just tired of it all. Name the President and get over it. Let’s move on. If Bush remains, I don’t believe anything is going to change. If Kerry actually wins, I’ll be interested in seeing what and if he changes anything. Most of the things they will change won’t affect me right now. I’ll still have bills, car payments, high gas prices and work. And politicians wonder why people feel so disconnected from the President. So why do I still care? Because this is still my country and I still have to live here. What do I want from my President and my country? I want the war to be over. I want peace. I want the gas prices lowered. I want better healthcare, lower taxes and lower crime. But none of that is going to happen. The war is going to continue. America will forever have troops in foreign countries. There is never going to be peace. Am I a pessimist for saying that? I think I’m a realist. There is not going to be peace in the Middle East until the Anti-Christ comes. And then I hope I’m dead. The gas prices are not going back below $2 much less below $1.50. Healthcare will still suck, taxes and crime will still be high. Its life.

So I’m so depressing aren’t I? Actually that doesn’t depress me. I depress myself. I’m 20 years old, high school graduate, living with my parents and working in a law firm as a secretary/support staff. I have no steady boyfriend (Mike is a good screw. That’s about it right now.) and no plans for the future. So make a plan for the future, dumbass. Yeah, I tell myself that everynight. So the future….what do I want in life? What would make me happy? What do I want to be when I don’t grow up?

*********************************************************

As I finished writing this, the news came in. Kerry conceded and Bush has won. Oh, great. Four years of the same old. I’m scared. I’m really kinda scared.

nst.

BOY 1: What about the IRA?

SAM: The Brits are still there. The Protestants are still there. Basque extremists have been staging terrorist attacks in Spain for decades with no result. Left Wing Red Brigades from the 60s and 70s, from the Bader-Meinhoff gang in Germany to the Weatherman in the U.S. have tried to take over capitalism. You tell me. How’s capitalism doing?

BOY 2: What about non-violent protest?

SAM: What about it?

BOY 2: Well, it worked for Gandhi.

SAM: Yeah, it did. Who else did it work for?

BOY 1: The Civil Rights Movement.

SAM: That’s right.

GIRL 1: Yeah, but weren’t we terrorists at the Boston Tea Party?

SAM: Nobody got hurt at the Boston Tea Party. The only people that got hurs was some fancy boys who didn’t have anything to wash down their crumpets with. We jumped out from behind bushes, while the British came down the road in their bright red jackets, but never has a war been so courteously declared. It was on parchment with calligraphy and “Your highness, we beseech you on this day in Philadelphia to bite me, if you please.”

GIRL 1: Can I go back to what you were saying at the beginning?

SAM: Yeah.

GIRL 1: About it being 100% ineffective.

SAM: Yeah.

GIRL 1: They’re still doing it anyway.

SAM
Yeah.

GIRL 1: They’re not frustrated by the failure?

SAM: No.

GIRL 1: Well, what do you call a soceity that has to just live everyday with the idea that the pizza place you’re eating in can just blow up without any warning?

SAM: Israel.

CUT TO: INT. DARK OFFICE – NIGHT

Leo is now seated across Raqim Ali, doing the questioning.

LEO: Can you tell us about the wire in your backpack?

ALI: My apartment is in an older building. It’s for my computer. I needed the older telephone wires so I could upgrade the M-waves on my motherboard.

LEO: You’re an expert in circuitry and wiring?

ALI: My father works for the phone company.

LEO: I want to talk about the applied mathematics degree.

ALI: Yeah?

LEO: What are you doing working for a White House staffer secretary?

ALI: I-… What do you mean?

LEO: We don’t do a lot of math around here.

ALI: Well, my interests shifted, I became interested in policy.

LEO: You’re aware that the intelligence agencies routinely recruit top mathematicians, oftentimes out of M.I.T. and train them to be cryptographers.

ALI: Sure.

LEO: And those cryptographers are the ones who, on a daily basis, code and decode messages sent between the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon.

ALI: Yes.

Leo puts on his glasses, picks up the papers on the table and looks at them. A moment later, he takes off his glasses and looks up at Ali.

LEO: Last year, your father made a contribution to something called the Holy Land Defender. Were you aware of the contribution?

ALI: Mr. McGarry, I understand the need for these questions, and I hope you notice I’ve been cooperating, but if you drag my father into this pitiful exercise, I’m afraid I’m gonna get angry.

LEO: I don’t think you understand the seriousness of what’s happening right now. He puts on his glasses again and looks down at the papers.

ALI: I don’t think you do.

Leo looks up at him for a second, then down to the papers again.

FADE OUT.
END ACT TWO