November 8, 2012

• Thoughts two days after the election...

  The election is over.

  For some, it was terribly disappointing.  For others, it was very fulfilling.  For many, many others, it was one big WHEW!

  So, here are my thoughts two days after the election.

  I am glad that the onslaught of commercials, robocalls, endless junk mailings, and fevered discussions are over.  A few days more and I might have done the hermit thing.  As it was, I put all the mail in a box, ignored the phone, left the radio off and muted the television every time a commercial came on.  There was no escaping it.

  The media reports that a billion dollars was spend on this election and nothing changed.  Mr. Obama is still President, the Democrats control the Senate, and the Republicans control the House.  All that for no change.

  So, where do we go from here?  Hopefully we go, not to coin the election slogan, .....forward.  For heaven's sake (and ours) we need to quit the blame game of who got us into this mess and why it's (fill in the blank here)'s fault.  Get over it.  The time has come to fix it.  That requires a lot of people putting their hands out to work together and a lot of uncrossing of arms.  It's called work, and we citizens need to hold the Congress to it.

  What did we learn from all of this?

  In America, we have a lot of diverse thoughts about things.  Before all of this, I would have sworn that rape had universally been described as a CRIME of ANGER and not something that happens and the results of which merely had to be endured.  I realize that some older white guys are out of touch, but I never realized that some of them were such great snake oil salesmen that some area elected them.

  In America, the idea of fairness still seems to stand, except for a small group who, I think, would be cranky no matter how life treated them, as in, if they had a million dollars, it would irk them that it wasn't two million.

  In America, women don't get outwardly angry, they get back at you.  Men, it seems, have not yet figured this out.  A minister friend of mine mentioned that on his Facebook page, young women who share his interest in beagles and hunting were commenting that they were voting for Obama because of reproductive freedom.  Good choice, I think.  The local paper shared an obituary just the other day of a mother who died in childbirth.  There is an astonishing amount of people who think that childbirth death, or near time death after childbirth, has been wiped out.  It has not.  Being pregnant is a lot of things-joyous, astounding, fulfilling and wonderful.  But it also puts women's health at risk.  Healthcare and culture need to acknowledge that in the discussions about women's healthcare.

  In America, people of color vote.  People who want to return to the 1950s seem to have missed this shift in the population of this country.  It's time to notice.  Unless, of course, you want to be set aside as irrevelant.

  In America, faith still matters.  Pastors defied law/tradition and spoke from their pulpits about who their congregations should vote for.  People of faith voted their conscience, not necessarily what they were told.

  In America, rural and urban came together to vote what they thought was fair and what they feared.  The economy was not far from most people's minds and often was the reason for their vote.

  In America, people got passionate about their vote.  No matter the color of the skin or the age of the voter, people voted.  Even if it was in the rain, even if they had to wait three hours, even if it made them late for work or dinner.  That's one of the beauties of America-we vote because we understand what a blessing it is to live in a country that allows it.

  In America, rich and poor both had voice to their concerns.  Whether you were the 1%, the 99%, the 47% or the 53%, people voted.  We didn't need to have ink on our fingers, a little sticker was enough for us.  We showed those stickers proudly, almost as a challenge for those who had not yet voted.  We showed it mattered.

  In America, we got up the next day and life went on as best as it could with all the storms and destruction.  Mother Nature may have caused violence, but the public did not.  There were no riots, no revolts (even if a couple of twits wanted them, eh Trump?  eh Limbaugh?) and no reason to barricade yourself in your house.  There were no overturned cars or fires in the streets.  We voted and we moved on.

  In America, we take our freedom to vote seriously.  We take our growing family with all of it's warts and weird ideas and we come together.  We are noisy, we are vocal, we are, sometimes, weird and wrong.  But we are family.  And we go on.

  We have a long way to go.  Our economy needs fixed, we need to address healthcare and immigration and a whole host of issues that challenge us.  But, hey, we are Americans.  We love a good rumble. 

  Bring it on.  In America, we take on all comers, even when they are in the family.

   

   

  • 8:22 pm
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