I hate to cry, ya know... being a man and all. I'm not embarrassed to admit it when it happens and I'm an absolute rank amateur compared to John Boehner, but on the day after Election 2008, I shed a tear for America. Just a couple, one or two, but the emotion that caused it was real enough. It was hope. Hope for this country, hope for the world. I shed a tear this morning too, for different reasons altogether.
Tears are odd things. Like most, I can simply think of how much I love someone and feel a tear well up in my eye. I can recall a lost family member, or some special event in my life be it happy or sad and that recollection can still muster a tear to this day. This morning, after seeing the results of Election 2014, I shed a tear for America, and what lies ahead. Only one and a half tears, but enough to cause me to remove my glasses, to wipe them away.
This is bad. This is real bad in Florida, but it's real bad for so many of us this morning. I grieve for your losses as well. Expect the coming overreach, with all it's ugly implications for so many Americans. I'm no political science major, but I try to pay attention and for the life of me, I don't get this one. So many surprising losses, in so many surprising places, I figured there would be a lot of close races but didn't foresee this level of victory coming for their side. The worst part personally may be my total lack of understanding of how this has come to be, a feeling of seeming stupidity on my part, a feeling I find depressing as I try to understand what is happening around me in the world. I just can't stand my own ignorance, I don't like to feel like I'm oblivious to my surroundings, yet I got waylaid by this election cycle.
Don't believe any of the graciousness of their victory speeches, expect the fight to be dirty and harmful the very second they get back to DC in January. Expect the coming attempts at impeachment, expect the barrage of bills put forth by the ALEC and the Kochs, expect them to try to end safe, legal abortions, expect more income inequality, expect their attempts to create a Christian nation, led by God himself, expect an increase in the violent police state, expect a future marked by harmful indifference to the environment.
My congratulations to those of you who live in areas of a smarter electorate, my condolences to those who are suffering along with me this morning. We'll all need to work to figure out the whys. I know I'll process all this eventually and I'm certain I'll re-energize soon but for now; sad, confused and depressed is as good as it gets, with a reluctant tear or two.