The Democratic convention is over, and John Kerry is now, officially, the only person who has any chance of beating George W. Bush, the worst President in the history of the United States, and the most reviled internationally in the last hundred years. What can we say about this convening of the major opposition party and the acceptance speech of its nominee?

Let us put aside the chauvinistic masturbation that travels under the heading “patriotism”; the cheesey “feel-good” pop psychology about America’s “can do” spirit; the implicit, and sometimes explicit, condescension to all other nations and all other peoples of the world; the romanticization of the last great immoral and criminal war by the United States–one also based on lies–in Vietnam; and the pandering to the lie that only the godly are righteous, and the erasure of the 40 million or more in America who are not “people of faith”. Let us put aside, in other words, the simple fact that the entire display was an offense to truth, reason, and decency. How could it be otherwise? After all, we are only human, all-too-human.

Put that all aside, and we have this: John Kerry gave a better speech than one might have expected: less dreary, more animated than this citizen, at least, had thought possible. He pressed all the right “buttons” of the “undecided” voters, individuals who must be so ignorant as to almost defy comprehension to those of us who inhabit the realm of facts and reasons.

If, with their performance these past several days, the Democrats can not defeat the current fascist theocrats and criminal war-mongers in Washington, then America is doomed, and every nation of the world ought to arm itself in self-defense accordingly.

As one simple but plainspoken American observed::

“Kerry is sometimes described as Bush-lite, which is not inaccurate, and in general the political spectrum is pretty narrow in the United States, and elections are mostly bought, as the population knows. But despite the limited differences both domestically and internationally, there are differences. And in this system of immense power, small differences can translate into large outcomes.”

If you live in Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Missouri, or Michigan–the states likely to decide the next election (assuming votes are counted)–please vote for John Kerry. Do it for my kids. Do it for yours. Do it for the Enlightenment. Do it for humanity.

UPDATE: “How They Could Steal the Election This Time.” Read it.