I was a die-hard libertarian when Gore lost to Bush II. We told ourselves from our high ideological horses that the one was no worse than the other.
I don’t know what Gore would have done in the short time before 9/11 and I don’t know what he would have done after it, but I’m reasonably certain we wouldn’t have gone to war in Iraq, because that was an invention of the Bush II administration as payback for what Saddam did to Bush I; or alternatively, as establishing the beachhead that the Republicans had always planned on executing with Iraq at some point. Were planning to inflict on Iran in the years following. Fortunately those plans were foiled by the complete lack of substance in conservative and libertarian economic ideals, and the collapse of the housing bubble in 2007.
In any case, I’d give almost anything, as an American who voted the wrong way in 2000 (fortunately not in Florida) to be able to go back and change my vote in that election. Give Gore the chance he should have had instead of dismissing him with the throw-away line “They’re both the same”. How hollow those words seem now.
‘I might be old, but I’m not stupid. And I suspect that a lot of other members of my generation feel the same way. We remember when we were impatient. And we remember the mistakes that our impatience created.
David Gerrold
“Old people don’t tell young people what to do and what not to do because we want to control your lives — we just want to warn you not to make the same mistakes we did.
“But you will. Or you won’t. Because it’s your choice. Always.”
