I know that there is still work to be done. But I was seriously worried the other night, that with all the voter suppression tactics going on swing states, that the GOP might win. As a result I got all weird and tense, and now I have muscle spasms in my neck and shoulders. It sucks. You would think that when Obama won, that I would relax, and I have to some degree, but the damage has been done.
I think perhaps the reason I haven't relaxed enough to stop the spazzing out is perhaps because the GOP has been making noises that it's going to try and keep blocking the President if it can, from the Senate. I know I am not the only one when I say, "Cut it out already!"
You know if our military had to operate while occupied by such divisive, petulant ninnies, we would be a colony of some other country by now. Our military is comprised of citizens of every conceivable race, gender, religion, political party and nationality, and everyday, when I was in, and it appears to be this way today--we got up, we put our uniform on and our differences aside and accomplished the mission.
Whatever the mission was that day--that's what we focused on. You could quietly think your fellow members were no better than drunken lemurs with weird mental fetishes, but --whatever---just let them do their job and you do your job and at the end of the day, the Big job was accomplished through, !Gasp! Teamwork.
What a concept!
With so many bumper-sticker patriots in the upper eschelons of the GOP, perhaps they need to be sent to bootcamp so they can learn how to function in a team. I would pay money to see that. Extra, if they make Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton, Drill Instructors.
Yesterday, The Day After! Oh the strange things we were told by friends over the phone about the post-campaign apocalyptic fantasies of the Republicans and their extremely Low Information Voters.
Yesterday a friend told me that her coworkers [who shall all remain un-named] told me that Obama is the antichrist and will surely bring about the end of the world. That he will fulfill the prerequisites needed, to put the Dec 21, 2012 prophecy in motion that will lead to the Earth being bounced down the black hole in the middle of our galaxy, like a stray basketball, or some such.
My spouse came home and asked me if I had heard the rumor yet that Obama was going to outlaw hunting? We all had a good laugh about that one. He hadn't changed any gun laws in this country at all. And yet, still try and buy bullets for target practice, the prices are still high from the run on ammo by those who were convinced four years ago, that Obama was going to declare Martial Law and disarm the populace.
Some of you, in blue states are going to whistle while you work. You are going to have a sparkle in your eye as you wink and nod at fellow Democrats, with the shared glee of having helped your candidate win the election.
Those of us in the red states, well it's still a sweet victory, but the after party is quite a bit different. For us, it's having to either ignore, or quash the insane conspiracy theories that are so common in these places, regarding the constant, almost compulsive need to find a new and different interpretation of Revelations and therefor the End Times!
You see people ain't happy out here, unless their god is trying to kill them--for their own good of course. And that means any suspiciously powerful person in this country could be the Anti-Christ.
I can remember arguing with them that Bush Jr wasn't smart enough to be the anti-Christ. They even turn on their own from time to time. So it's always here, but during stressful times, it bubbles up like magma where the crust is thin. It bubbles up and it stresses me out. Because with these insane conspiracy theories come insane behavior. That all by itself is enough, but when large portions of the populace become obsessed with these narratives, they ignore completely, the actual, important things going on around them.
The anti-Christ is oh so much more immediate than the environment, or the gambling house that we still call Wal*Street. And with that feeling of being threatened from within, it makes people more aggressive and hawkish towards perceived threats from outside. It causes an uptick in bigotry and xenophobia.
So I guess I am still holding my breath on some level, waiting for the crazy to break out. I hope it doesn't. I hope that I feel stupid shortly for worrying about something that is either going to resolve itself quicker this time or not solidify at all. The Crazy up til this point has been bad enough, but I worry that it might get worse in red states.
This irrational fear that huge segments of our population nurse, that we as a nation have been infiltrated by something [fill in crazy conspiracy blank] has got be nipped in the bud.
I don't really care about reaching out to the GOP in the Legislature. They are in large part, the problem right now. On an individual level though, we do need to reach out to our neighbors, and become ambassadors of good will, and help repair this rift that has been created by the powers of greed and avarice.
And with that--I want to offer my personal gratitude to all of you who worked so hard to get people registered to vote, who drove people to the polls, who worked phone banks and polling stations, who canvased neighborhoods.
Thank you very much, because of you, we have gotten a victory that will be that second step to fixing what ails this nation. We can do better, without parasitizing our blue collar and our poor. We can all have better lives, we can have better educational outcomes. No one has to be left behind.
That is not a prerequisite for victory or prosperity. That is what I like about the Democratic Party right now. They seem to get that, that no one has to be left as a sacrifice on the alter to success.