To all my conservative friends and family-
Yes. Romney lost and Obama is OUR president for another term. And yanno what?
The sun came up this morning.
As it would've come up if Romney had won.
Last night I went to bed at 1:30. AM. As of that time, there wasn't a peep on either the Romney page or from any of my right-wing Facebook friends (other than admonishing each other to "PRAY HARDER")
Now, of course, the horrible news is settling in and it's everywhere- "Today we are still free to worship Jesus and buy guns and ammo, but not for long". (That's the RATIONAL one- it goes downhill from there).
I'm sorry. I am not religious and do not attend church, but I will fight for your right to worship freely and express your Faith- just as I fight for that right for everyone, because that's what it says in the First Amendment. This administration has passed ZERO laws limiting the expression of Faith. What you refer to as 'persecution' has to do with the expression of YOUR Faith in venues that are not exclusively attended (or funded) by people of that same Faith. Also trying to make YOUR Faith's morals the laws of our land, which is expressly FORBIDDEN by the same Founding Fathers who wrote all those amendment thingies.
If your main reason to oppose Obama was "He's a Muslim"- you are yourself persecuting someone of another Faith (Even though he's not. He's a Christian. But if he WERE). Think about it. But have some coffee first.
Speaking of amendments, this administration has also passed ZERO laws limiting our freedom to own, buy and sell guns and ammo. I said "our" because I'm a gun owner. Not a gun ENTHUSIAST or a gun NUT, I own 2 guns that are tools.
If your main reason to oppose Obama was "He's fixin' to make a gun grab right after the election- the NRA says the fact that he's passed NO GUN CONTROL LAWS is proof", you need more coffee. Seriously. Maybe a little Zoloft as well.
To my progressive friends and family-
I know you think we caved to the anesthetizing cauldron of corporate propaganda and fascist machine of never-ending slavery by walking into the voting booth. I know you feel strongly that we should've opted out- that voting for the lesser of 2 evils is still voting for evil.
I'm sorry. Women before me were beaten and jailed, ridiculed and spat on for fighting for the right to vote and I refuse to disrespect them.
Also- the fact that there were many races won by liberal progressives- REAL liberal progressives like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Alan Grayson and Sherrod Brown means it DID matter- A LOT, to step into the voting booth. Just as the Tea Party wins of '10 caused a (horrific and embarrassing) shift in Washington, so too will the election of these people- but in a good way.
Because here's the thing-
Just because the election is over does not mean I and people like me will sit back and wait on our government checks and free cell phones (that's a joke, conservatives- have another cookie).
I and people like me will remain vigilant, will consider this a BEGINNING that needs to be tended and watched and will apply non-violent pressure when things seem to be going off-course. Things like Social Security, the ACA, women's rights, LGBT rights, veteran's rights- all must be preserved while at the same time getting OUT of wars we don't need to be in, doing a better job of getting away from fossil fuels and into not only clean and renewable energy sources but educating a nation in changing how we live so we don't USE so much- we are a very wasteful nation and that's not something to be proud of.
Because here's where the Tea Party Congressmen went wrong. They swept into DC and instead of pushing their stated agendas of fiscal responsibility and small, accountable government they got swept up in Mitch McConnell's "Our number one priority is to make Barack Obama a one term president" and knee-jerk voted against anything that could've helped themselves and their constituents just because it had his signature on it. Everything. Jobs. Economy. Everything. For two damn years.
They instead glommed onto anything Fundamentally Christian- limiting women's freedom by restricting access to health care- not just abortion (which isn't funded by taxpayers or the government- just reminding ya'll) but also access to ANY birth control. By trying to re-define rape- what the fuck is THAT about??? By making sure that In God We Trust is still our national motto (ya- since the '50's and McCarthy, not George Washington, but whatever) and that "Sharia Law will not become the law of the Land" (of course BIBLICAL Law is fine. Think. About. It.)
They did nothing to fix the economy or produce jobs and everything to make government BIGGER, MORE intrusive and MORE restrictive. Well, not for the guys who crashed the economy in '08, just for the rest of us. Especially if we're female, brown, young, old or disabled.
I believe the people I named above- who are now headed into office, WILL stay focused on the tasks at hand, not because they're liberals or progressives or college professors, but because they're not riding a tide of anger born of fear and mis-information, they're continuing to fight for what they believe in and doing what they've been doing for years- mostly out of sight and under the radar of the corporate-owned media. This will not be a sparkly new adventure to "storm the castle"- it's a new and important venue for their already-instilled personal goals for America.
I said before the election that voting 3rd party right now for president would not be a good idea, that what we needed is to fill some seats in Congress and the Senate with progressives who will then show America that they are NOT scary communists who want to take everyone's money and give it to those who don't deserve it. Only when America is shown that this will NOT cause the End of Ages and the coming of the Zombie Apocalypse will enough people seriously consider a 3rd party for the highest office of the land...and that there will be enough support in the other branches of the government to allow that person to function without constant and crippling opposition of the punitive kind (cough *Tea Party* cough).
Finally-
I understand that if Romney had won, it would've been very difficult for him to do all the bullshit things he promised "On Day One". Things that would've caused my own family irreparable harm and the nation to go into absolute bankruptcy and chaos (not my opinion, that of many economists of all stripes- NO ONE could get his tax plan to add up, NO ONE).
And in two years you would've been very unhappy with how little of his grand promises he would've accomplished and been just as disillusioned and dis-satisfied with him and his WonderKid Paul Ryan as you are with Obama. Really. Trust me.
Because that's the way our government is set up- to sort of ensure that we don't have a dictatorship takeover. The way around that, of course, is to own all the media and skew the information to allow it to happen.
Yesterday, all around the country Americans stood in long lines, some in the freezing cold, for hours. I was so proud of them. They did not give up, they did not say, "Geez, this is gonna take FOREVER- screw this, I'm going home". They stood in line. They made sure their ballot recorded correctly and they made damn sure they voted.
I don't even care who they voted for.
They voted.
Today I have hope that there will be change. And it ain't anyone's motto I'm quoting.
Now. Lets all get to work, PULL TOGETHER- acknowledge OUR president and OUR government and lets fix this shit.
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