The divisions in this country have been turned to cement in just the past few weeks. My daughter had a horrible day at school, my neighbor down the street seems to have decided the election didn't really happen, and the right wing pundits are claiming we all just got a huge temporary warm fuzzy for black people, but we really didn't vote the issues.
Ummm... and is someone really suggesting Sarah Palin start a "government in exile?" How UNAMERICAN can you get?
We just had an election, folks. I had to suck it up in 2000 when you repugs stole it, so how about you do the AMERICAN thing and suck it up now that a landslide has carried Obama to the White House?
"We already have too many black people in this country. We don't need one in the White House."
That's the first thing my 16 yr old daughter heard at school today, from a girl sitting beside her. Would that it had been the last she heard of that kind of sh*t. But no. She took it on the chin for Obama all day, listening to racist, hateful attacks, hearing that he was a commie... oh, heck, I don't need to go on. You get the idea. The election is over but the hate is bigger than ever.
She listened to people announce they were moving to Canada or Germany. Hmmm... last I heard, Canada's far more liberal than we are, and 80% of Germans would have voted for Obama if they could have.
See, there's no sense in it. They don't have any logic other than hate, and you really can't argue with that. Anyway, by the time my daughter got home, she felt battered. She tried to stand up for what was right,objecting to the racism and lies, but she came home looking like a horse had dragged her across the field.
She flopped on the couch and started dumping about how ugly people were being, and I tried to assure her that they were just sore losers, and then I suggested that if they wanted to leave the country they ought to all move to Alaska, where the Palin would see her "socialist" royalty check from the oil companies considerably diminished as the population grew.
That got a smile. Then she iced the cake.
"Oh our neighbor down the street? The one with the McCain signs?"
"Yeah?"
"He's put up a whole bunch more of them." And yes, I saw when I took her to work. The day after the election, in violation of HOA rules that allow political signs for exactly 2 weeks BEFORE the election, he had further decorated his yard.
If I hadn't already listened to my daughter's tale of hatred and racism, I probably would have shook my head, decided the guy seriously needed a few screws tightened, and would have given it not another thought. But after what my daughter went through today, I decided to strike one blow for democracy.
The election has been decided. Put up, shut up, the way I had to in 2000 and 2004. That's the fundamental truth of democracy. That's a basic American value. One of those things Palin was always talking about.
So I'm notifying the HOA that those signs are now an illegal eyesore. I want them gone. Then the guy who doesn't believe elections matter can sit in his yard and suck his thumb. Because the rules apply to everyone.
McCain lost and conceded like a gentleman. To bad the other hateful people out here didn't get the message.