And now, for your entertainment, witness Michele's loss of innocence, crumbling before your eyes:

Via IM:

Me: this sucks: http://news.google.com/
Jake: not surprising
Me: i know. But still.
Me: Wait---aaaaugh, no filibuster after all? and i called, and faxed, and emailed, and still he decided not to? what an asshole!
Jake: he didn't?
Me: Laura said he didn't do it after all--not enough support from his colleagues.
Jake: hmm, i haven't gotten that...
Me: hmm.
[pause]
Jake: sigh, yeah. i saw him on cspan earlier, but now some other dude's speaking in the senate.
Me: fuck. we are doomed.
Jake: i've assumed that for some weeks now. no one in the government is interested in what i think
Me: what will we do, jake? :(
Me: i thought we had a voice. naiively, i thought that at least blatant self-interest in their own reelection would cause congress to listen to the overwhelming numbers of their own constituents. i guess for all my cynicism, a big part of me believed that "the process" worked. It doesn't.
Jake: the only way to pressure politicians is to make them feel that disobeying you is more threatening that obeying you
Jake: i don't know what kind of threat we can offer
Me: voting them out? :(
Jake: yeah, get yourself a voting bloc that will vote them out based on this sole issue and you've got something
Me: I smell cynicism in yer text there.
Jake: i think they're thinking 'if i vote against this, my opponents will call me unamerican next election and i'll lose'
Me: can they really be so dumb? God. I'm asking stupid questions, aren't I?
Jake: no, they're probably right
Me: Ignoring their constituents is the ultimate in being unamerican. But I guess that's old-fashioned of me to think so. This is the least democratic thing I've witnessed in a long time. Well....maybe not.
Jake: actually, like a third of the house voted against the iraq resolution. i'm surprised
Me: yeah.
Jake: and even if they did, do you think that would stop bush?
Me: :( I don't know. Something HAS to stop him. He's supposed to do what the people want him to do. Most of the people don't want war. God. I am arguing this like a child. I am so stupid.
Jake: sorry i seem so cynical, but i went through what you're going through a few weeks ago. anger and powerlessness
Jake: basically feeling, 'wow, i have no say in my government'
Me: Yeah. that's exactly how I feel. I might as well be in effing Iraq myself--I'd have just as much input. Wow. I hate them all. Oh, look, now I'm in the "anger" stage.
Jake: yup. and terrorists from other countries are gonna bomb ME for shit the government's done when i have no say in what my government does?
Me: god. You're right. And we are going to do the same to them.
Jake: like i said way back when, cheney, bush and hussein in a locked room with chainsaws: limit the harm to the people who are have the conflict.
Me: god. I agree. But really, they don't have the conflict. They couldn't care less, could they? it's all an elaborate dance to engender war fervor and political / financial success.
Jake: yeah.
Me: I am brokenhearted.
Jake: sorry, ive got to get going. i'm meeting tom for the michael moore movie. Call me later if you need to.
Me: ok. have fun.
Jake: will do.
Me: :)
Jake signed off at 5:28:43 PM.

Michele abdicated her faith in the United States government at 5:28:44 PM.