Oh, the doom and gloom! Good grief, Charlie Brown. People are unfriending people on social media. Others are moving to Canada. Others think
this is the 2012 apocalyptic demise that's been foretold.
Our government is a pretty snazzy one. We have a Constitution, three branches of government, and a system of checks and balances. Though I'm not a fan of the 2-party system in general, even that has inherent checks and balances. We alternate, throughout history, between Republican presidents and Democratic ones. And somehow, all of that helps even things out.
I woke up, on this first post-election day, to a LOT of texts from Dave Johnson and they just made so much sense (see, I told you he was smart). I begged him to write a post about his perspective and I really hope that he does. In the meantime, a combination of his texts, today's headlines, and some of what I see when I peek at Mark's Facebook page have my thoughts racing to such a degree that I feel like I
must write them down, so I can carry on with my day.
As I got ready, my mind raced and I kept stopping to write notes. I
hate getting ready in the morning. I just don't like it. I feel like it's a tedious step I take daily to get on to what I really want to do. Sure, I do it anyway and I try to have a different, more positive perspective of mindful appreciation and while I can attain that sometimes, I find myself, just about every morning, wishing I had one of those conveyor belts like they had on the Jetsons, where George, Jane, daughter Judy, and their boy Elroy sleepily rolled out of bed and just sort of stood there while they were showered, dressed, and generally cleaned up. I want one of those! Maybe Obama can make that one of his hand outs, she says with her tongue firmly in her cheek.
And I have a book to write! No wonder we didn't start NaNoWriMo until 2009. It wasn't an election year! So. Many. Thoughts. Must. Write. Down.
Here's the thing. Sure, I'm glad at the outcome. Yes, I wanted Obama to win. And sure, I'd be disappointed if Mitt had won. I don't like Mitt Romney. But even leading up to the election, as I considered what would happen if Mitt
did win, I thought he'd do good things, too (even if he doesn't care about 47% of us). I didn't think the world would end and I didn't make a contingency plan to move to Canada (socialists!).
I've seen words today like "devastation," "evil," "dependence," "bondage," "disappointment," "handouts," "idiot," "depressed," "Muslim," "revolution" (that one, courtesy of Donald Trump), and "Overlord." If I didn't know what time of year it was, it would all read like a Zombie-based
50 Shades of Gray.
One person even predicted that though we are all going about our days normally today without riots and gunfire (hurray for living in a democratic republic!), that someday it will come to that if we keep snubbing our noses at God much longer. What?? Yes, seriously.
Now, someone please explain this to me. If a person starts shooting (thank you, 2nd Amendment) at another person in the street because they disagree with the outcome of a democratic election process, how exactly is that God's will? Because generally, when people hear voices telling them to do things, it's considered mental illness.
I don't understand this line of thinking that people use when they couch these things in religious terms. Either what happens is God's will or it's not. You can't have it both ways depending on how you view the outcome. It's dichotomous thinking. Like when I hear people say, "God spared me" after something like Hurricane Sandy. What does that say, then, about those who were not so fortunate? You lucked out, but God "got" them? That's pretty sick and twisted. But that's another rant for another time. Focus, Stacy. Focus.
Election results. We are clearly a divided nation. The two-party system is not my favorite. I don't fit neatly in either party. There are things I like in both parties and there are things I dislike in both parties. And there are some issues over which I am torn. But the anger and outrage that exists when people don't get their way is a problem. We're modeling behavior for our children. People are angry. Rampant bullying is a problem in this country and it exists from the top down, adults to children.
We need to come together and stop this vitriol. Two years ago, members of Congress banded together around what some of them claimed to be their #1 goal - to get Obama out of office. Seriously? How is that working for the good of our country? You're going to spend TWO YEARS focusing on making the president the bad guy and fighting him at every turn? Not exactly helpful. And
then, you're going to gripe that he didn't get stuff done?? Well, duh.
And despite all the hatred and animosity, he
did get things done. He's ending wars, he caught Bin Laden, he saved the auto industry, he repealed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," he cracked down on Corporate suits and Wall Street, he's making sure everyone has access to health care, he bravely stood up for gay rights and for kids who are having a hard time out there because of their orientation, he worked for student loan reform, he signed the Lilly Ledbetter Act - assuring equal pay for equal work - a huge win for women, and much, much more. Sure, he's had some stinkers, too. No question. I don't agree with everything he does or says. And I don't mean to focus on specific political wins. I'm simply saying that he did all this and imagine what else he could get done if we'd stop the damn in-house fighting! Hey Congress, your #1 goal shouldn't be to get him out. Your #1 goal should be to find a way to work with him for the good of everyone in this country.
Conservative, right wingers have a penchant for quoting our Founding Fathers. Well, guess what. Thomas Jefferson said, "I never consider a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend." It's good to have friends with differing opinions. It challenges us and makes us expand our minds instead of being thoughtless drones. It's a GOOD thing. And you have serious insecurity issues if you can't handle that.
The elitist attitude of "we're right and everyone else is wrong" is problematic. In either party. I think so much of it is steeped in religion. Just look at the Electoral College Map if you don't believe me. That red/blue divide is pretty obvious between the Bible belt (and Utah) and just about everywhere else. The divide was stronger along those lines than anything else. People voting
against someone, whether or not they like who they ARE voting for, is not a good approach (hint: Southern Christians aren't big fans of Mormons, but they voted for one anyway, because he's not Obama). And while I'd love to see religion taken out of politics completely, both sides do it to some extent, the right particularly. I saw an excellent post about what Jesus would do in this election and
why he would never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever vote for Mitt Romney. Whoever you champion, Obama or Romney, this post kind of calls out everyone who professes to be a Christian while denying exactly what Jesus himself said. It's an excellent read.
The amount of money spent on the presidential campaign, from both sides, is obscene. Mitt Romney's strategy of TV ads didn't work (they both used them, but Mitt spent far more on them). Obama had far more people working on the ground and that did work. Money doesn't buy everything, Mitt. He didn't even win his home states of MI and MA, where he had
been governor. Ryan didn't win Wisconsin. This should tell us something. But either way, the level of spending on the campaign, by both parties, was obscene. We could've fed hungry nations hundreds of times over with what was spent on TV ads and other propaganda.
Where is the party that is both fiscally conservative and socially liberal? Because I would be a fan of that party. Republicans are always touting their conservative financial ideas, but they don't always align with their party stances and actions. Overseas wars are
expensive. The war on terror. The war on drugs? Also expensive. These things cost a lot of money. Notice the common thread - "war." Not exactly coins in the coffers. Firing Big Bird, but heading into war over imaginary weapons to impose your form of government in an area steeped in thousands of years of cultural and religious history isn't a recipe for financial solvency. We're in this economic mess in the first place because of those wars as well as a housing problem where people spent more than they had -- Republicans
and Democrats - and where there was deceit from the top down. Both of those things happened on Bush's watch. And yet people blame Obama. Brilliant.
See, both parties have good ideas and misguided ones, too. Things cost money. We simply have to decide what we'll spend on and what we won't. I got SO sick of hearing people talk about how much they hate socialism. Guess what. If you dislike it so much, I sure hope you don't send your kids to school or drive on roads. Things. Cost. Money. So, instead of constantly blathering on and on about saving money. We need to talk about specifics. BOTH sides.
Look, Obamacare? It's flawed. But it's a start. And perhaps we need to start with an imperfect plan to at least get the ball rolling. I give mad props to our President for taking action on this. I'm married to a physician. We could get hurt by some aspects of Obamacare and we could lose money, too. But you know what? People need access to healthcare. Lack of money should not be a reason people can't get help when they're sick. I've been in that situation and it's scary as hell. What kind of elitists are we to say otherwise and deny people's suffering pleas? As human beings, we should see that it's the right thing to do.
I think social progress equals financial and economic progress. Eventually. Yes, we may have up front costs, but so do all investments. And social progress is an investment in our future and our children's future. You can't go around legislating your own religious or moral agenda just because
you think you're right. This country was founded so that people could have a place to be free from a religious government (American History 101). Everyone is free here, believer or atheist. So, unless it's hurting someone else, Let. It. Go.
That money problem our country has? Legalize pot. No, seriously. Legalize it. Just because it's legal, doesn't mean more people will do it. I have no interest in smoking pot. But I think legalizing it is a smart move. I mean, really. Guns are legal in this country, but not pot? In our country, alcohol and guns and cigarettes are legal. Pot is, I would argue, less dangerous than all of these. If someone wants to smoke pot, fine. Yes, don't harm others while doing so (not unlike "Don't Drink and Drive"), but making it illegal doesn't make people magically not find it and use it anyway. And this way, we won't be locking people up just because they have or smoke some weed. Talk about a waste of time and resources! Our jails are filled to overflowing (thank you, Nancy Reagan) with pot smokers due to the famous "war on drugs" (there's that term again). I think the space in our jails is much better served to incarcerate those who are a danger to society. The money we'd save from this one act alone is enough to significantly lower our deficit. Legalizing it means you can tax it, too. You think it's wrong to smoke pot? Don't do it.
Next, legalize gay marriage. For crying out loud, it's the right thing to do. I saw a great quote the other day that said, "Claiming that someone else's marriage is against your religion is like being angry at someone for eating a donut because you're on a diet." If you don't like it, then don't do it. But stop trying to push your views on others. Again, you're trying to legislate your own morality. What are we, in the stone ages? When I was growing up, people considered it an outrage to see a black man with a white woman or vice versa. It used to be illegal even for them to marry. That was wrong. And people learned to be more accepting. They can do the same with this issue.
People have GOT to get over themselves. Just because you're not used to seeing something, doesn't make it wrong. It makes it, sadly, hidden away because of the intolerance of a society. I, for one, am SO glad for the "It Gets Better" campaign and for TV shows and movies that are shedding light on this issue and showing gay couples as exactly what they are -- loving couples like everyone else trying to make a go of it like everyone else. It does no harm to me, my marriage, or my children if gay couples want to marry. It doesn't threaten my marriage or my relationships. If someone in my family were to come out to me as gay, I'd embrace them with open arms and with absolutely no judgment. Total acceptance.
People should be able to live true to themselves.
Believe what you want, but don't try to make everyone else believe it, too. Though, in this case, like I said before, it's simply the right and fair thing to do. Listen openly to logic and you'll see it's just not fair otherwise. Best explanation I ever heard that completely opened my eyes to what is FAIR in this was given by Ted Olsen in a television interview. If you can
listen to this (it's brief - click and scroll down) and give me a LOGICAL explanation as to why you still think gay marriage shouldn't be legalized, I'd love to hear it. Because this guy nails it. Think what you want, but it's unconstitutional to deny gay people their rights. It just IS.
These are just two examples. There are many more. Many people feel high and mighty in their morality, beliefs, thinking, whatever. They want to make the whole world conform to their views. I read about a college professor who builds on this for a fantastic object lesson with her students. They come in, many of them privileged white kids from well-to-do families, full of ideas on what laws should exist and what should be dismissed. They want to get rid of Welfare and Medicaid, diability and Medicare, deny civil rights, impose religious viewpoints as law, get rid of affirmative action, ease up on ADA restrictions, etc. They know JUST want to do to make the world run better.
So, this professor gives them a really cool assignment. They get to create a country and its laws from scratch. Whatever they want to legislate, they can. They get to make their country from the ground up and whatever they say goes. These students get so excited, rubbing their hands together in anticipation of finally,
finally being able to set things right. They are going to lay down the law and big things are going to happen. She puts them in groups and they get to work. About an hour or so into their planning, just when they're feeling pretty good about themselves and their laws, she throws in a caveat. "Oh, one more thing," she says. "This country you're making? These laws? You haven't been born yet to this country." The students are fine with this. And then she adds, "And you don't know if you're going to be born black, disabled, gay, a female, mentally challenged, poor, or drug-addicted. Carry on." The students faces fall. Suddenly all their laws don't seem so stellar. BIG lesson on putting yourself in someone else's shoes and considering the cost of legislated morality and being a hard nose.
Mark is always saying he thinks most of America is actually moderate, but that the two parties have become so very polarized and extreme. I think he's right. We need to meet in the middle, all of us. And it needs to start with our rhetoric. I've heard otherwise intelligent people say things like, "All the natural disasters we're having are because gay marriage was legalized in some states." What?!? What kind of logic is that?? Seriously flawed logic, that's what. Remember 2nd grade cause and effect lessons? That's like saying, "If Taylor Swift sells another #1 album, it's because the Taliban is evil and hides in caves."
We need to start using our brains. We need to embrace LOGIC as the method whereby we move forward. So much of what everyone freaks out about is based in fear, often fed by religious and media frenzy. It needs to stop.
So, really, if your candidate didn't win, chin up, deep breaths, and look around. The world needs help. You know why? Because it's the right thing to do. Remember that the President is ONE person and really can only do so much. We have three branches of government, a Constitution, and a system of checks and balances. It will all be okay. Those topics about which we all feel passionately - abortion, gay rights, gun control, etc. - there is really only so much the President can do about those things anyway. It's up to far more than him to decide what happens on such big issues, so voting on those issues alone really ignores the big picture that we MUST see.
The world has REAL problems. Malala Yousafzai, a young 15-year-old girl, was shot in the head and neck in an assassination attempt by Taliban gunmen,
because she's a girl who wants to learn. Do we not see a problem with that?? She is a CHILD. She is a
girl who wants to
learn. This is an outrage! Just because a group of thugs doesn't value education, feels that women are inferior to men, and believes their religion is superior to others
doesn't make it so. And it damn well doesn't give them the right to try to make their beliefs the law nor does it give them the right to circumvent laws to try to
make it the way. THIS is a real problem. Let me repeat. A child was
shot because she is a
girl who wants to
learn. We had an election that didn't go your way? People need to pull their heads out of their asses and look around at what really matters.
We, in this country, need to take a good hard look at ourselves and make sure that we, in our own perhaps less-violent ways, aren't doing the same kind of thing. We need to make sure we're not imposing our morality on everyone else just because we think we're right. There is a general morality upon which most people agree and laws about those things -- not killing each other or stealing from each other -- are generally agreed upon as a good basis of laws on which to govern ourselves. You know, in general, don't hurt other people. But some of the ways we try to go beyond basic morality into legislated religiosity is not right, nor is it Constitutional.
We need to come together. We need to stop this divisiveness. We need to work for the betterment of our country, our present, our future. We have a troubled economy. We have real problems in the world. We have people who are suffering. Both sides need to give a little. We need to be logical. We need to be fair. We need to be kind.
We all have certain rights. And we all have the freedom to believe what we want (decent or not - reference the Westboro Baptist Church), but there is also an inherent expectation that we act in a way that respects those rights. So, think what you want. Believe what you want. But unless something really harms someone else, leave it alone. You have the right to think you're right, but you don't have the right to impose your right.
