By the time you read this Election Day 2012 will over. Thank God! However, I am writing on Tuesday morning. Patty and I have already squiggled in our ovals and fed our ballots into the optical scanner by 7:30 this morning.
Either Barak Obama will be rehired or he will receive his pink slip. Mitt Romney might have a new job on January 21th or he may need to chart another course. If Obama loses he will get a heck of a book deal and will receive several hundred thousand dollars per speaking engagement. If Romney loses, he will probably be some sort of consultant. Both men are worth millions and will still make more millions. They will be just fine, but what about the rest of us?
By the time you read this, half of us will be seriously disappointed. It has been like we have been watching two different movies for all of these months, but it in reality, it is the same one. The difference is in our heads. How can we possibly move forward in a country that has been so deeply divided for so long? Let’s remember….
Relationships are more important than politics. My parents still preach at me every chance they get about how my politics are wrong and theirs are right and how I better think about it. I wish they didn’t do that, but I still love them the same.
Our nation is resilient. We have survived all kinds of tests: wars, depressions, scandals, and several bad presidents. If you think the guy that won is a loser, please don’t think it spells the end for our republic. I hope that you have more confidence in our form of government and in the American people than that.
Presidents don’t usually finish well, anyway. The two termers are the worst. Johnson had the war in Viet Nam. Nixon had Watergate. Carter had the Iran Hostage Crisis. Reagan had the Iran-Contra debacle. Clinton had the Monica Lewinsky/Impeachment mess. George W. Bush had the missing weapons of mass destruction and lingering wars in Iraq and Afghanistan .
Administration workers get tired with all of the crazy hours and they get sloppy. Each administration takes a little more power and the people lose a little more of their influence. The point is, your guy is not “all that” and he will make mistakes and will disappoint. Don’t try to make him the Messiah.
We need serious reforms. Campaigns, the two-party system, and the Electoral College all have major issues that diminish our form of government. Last night, I tried to find some information on the Internet about some local candidates and I couldn’t. It wasn’t there. I just wanted some basic stuff, like where they stood on the issues and I couldn’t find it. I get stupid campaign propaganda all the time, but I couldn’t get any real information. That and a bunch of other things about system have to get fixed to protect the integrity of our government.
We have got to start talking to each other, rather than about each other. The camps are totally calcified and they each have their own little culture that contributes to even more strident views. In order to find the best possible solutions, we have to talk to each other about very difficult and complex issues.
We have to negotiate. It seems that on the rare occasions Congress acts that it is so late the problems are way out of hand and their “solutions” are pendulums that swing one way and then another, depending upon whoever is in power. That’s unacceptable for them and for us. We must be able to have civil conversations about the issues.
Suggestion: Develop a friendship with a liberal or a conservative (which ever takes you out of our comfort zone).
Peace
Glenn, Had to steal a portion of your blog. Your words were golden.
Tyla – It’s all in the family. Thanks!