Election 2012 - final thoughts

We just had Election Day the day before yesterday. Let me put all my cards on the table before I begin. I am an Obama-supporting, left-leaning cradle Democrat. I think President Obama made some mistakes throughout his first term, and would have liked to see more progress made in legislation passed, especially in the issue I am most concerned about - Climate Change. I have had to come to grips with the fact that people in Washington just don't know what to do about slowing it down without pissing off the masses with company layoffs or higher energy/car prices. The legislation that has passed is a bandaid to cover a giant, growing wound. But small steps are better than no steps at all, and are definitely better than moving backwards to reverse legislation put into effect over the last decade (which is what Romney was threatening to do). On my Big Issue I only had one choice. 

The other issue I care deeply about is health care, and skyrocketing costs, for obvious reasons.  I have taken Joel to the doctor 4 times in the last three weeks. I've taken Gabriel twice. That's 6 co-pays. I've picked up 4 rounds of antibiotics for Joel, and now one for Gabriel. Jav has been twice and has had 2 rounds of Z-pack and now a stronger antibiotic. This total is MUCH more than we can afford in one month. And to top things off, I have missed two days of work, so far, so no pay for me. I don't think there are many candidates on either side that run for higher office who understand what kind of stress a parent (especially a working mom) is under when you try to put off doctor visits until they are absolutely necessary, hopefully not at the expense of your children's health. I think the addition of more and more women to our Congress is wonderful, because there's more of a chance that they "get it".  I think President Obama has more empathy for this than Mitt Romney ever could.  One of Jav's friends, who is conservative, put it this way on Facebook this morning: 

"Someday maybe Republicans will realize that you have to pick a candidate that has cut his own grass after working all day, ran to the grocery store at 10 pm to pick up cold medicine for a kid, or actually had to think about whether or not he/she can afford a vacation this coming summer..."

My husband, who is an independent from a Republican-voting family, thought he hit the nail on the head. Gone are the days of the country wanting to elect the rich white guy in the suit to run things for us, known now from commercials as "The Man". That was back when many minorities still couldn't vote, and women darn sure didn't organize themselves or have much of a voice. That was back before Hispanics started to immigrate in such numbers that they cannot be ignored or silenced any more. I can't believe what the Florida governor and legislators got away with by trying to enact so many rules to keep certain facets of society from voting. But it backfired anyway, because when you try to keep people down, they will rear back in your face, more organized, with more numbers, and with more determination than every to get their voices heard.

 I think the Tea Party is stuck on the idea that the past was a better time, and I'm sorry, but these people are just stuck in the fifties way of thinking. My Marketing professor when I was in college in the late 80's (a graduate student who had hair like young Peter Frampton and was hawt, as they say these days), told of the wave of Hispanics moving in this country even back then. He told us that the days of Whites running things would eventually come to a close as Minority numbers grew in the middle- and upper-classes. So you have been either living under a rock or in a state of denial if you think these people are going anywhere. The fact that Obama carried swing states that Romney was expected to win proves how powerful the Minority vote is. If the Tea Party tries to draw the Republican party more and more to the right, moderate Republicans better get used to nights like Election night. Their rhetoric is hateful at worse and divisive at best.

I also feel like the concept of "pulling your own self up with your boot straps" could be becoming a bit outdated. I know this is the ideal that made this country great over 200 years ago. But with a tax system that is out of whack, hungry children that don't know where their next meal is coming from, and Seniors forced to choose between buying food or medicine, the majority of middle to lower-class Americans don't want to hear that they just aren't trying hard enough. I know it offends me.  We are in a strange electorate since we are middle class and trying to put two kids through private school.  But everything is relative, and our monetary situation, although much more comfortable than some, is much more of a struggle than many people we know.  We are working HARD and still have a struggle to get it all paid for every month.

Another issue that is standing out in my head today: Campaign Financing is OUT OF CONTROL. All of that advertising money spent to get those hateful messages out about the "other side", but either nobody is watching (have you heard of DVRs? They're quite popular nowadays), or the American public take the ads with a grain of salt now and don't pay any attention to them. There was an ad that ran on primetime CNN repeatedly in the weeks leading up to the election. An older gentleman with a heavy accent pontificates about being from an immigrant family and starting his own business, and the evils that will befall this country (more loss of jobs, more poverty, etc...) if we don't all vote Republican. And he paid for this out of his own pocket. Can you imagine the wonderful things he could have done for the poor and out of work people of this country with that money?  Food banks could be filled to the brim, medicine for the uninsured and on and on and on. Instead most people didn't watch it more than once, out of curiosity, and then it was fast forwarded or ignored. And the same goes for the gazillions of dollars the campaigns themselves spent. What a colossal waste of money. The Grass Roots efforts of the Obama campaign was much more effective (and cheaper) in getting him re-elected. Something needs to change.

And I have had it with certain Republicans who assume certain things about me because of my political leanings. Even though I am a liberal Democrat, I have morals and values. I am deeply spiritual and believe in God. I don't really approve of war as an answer to things, and think defense money could be spent on more important things, but I appreciate the sacrifice our men and women in the military are giving to preserve our freedom, and I pray for them to stay safe.  This may be the worse thing that far right- and left-wing radio and TV talk show hosts have done to this country.  They've made big groups of people absolutely hate the other side.  No listening to each other, no compromise is acceptable.  But as long as they have huge audiences and are getting rich by ruining the country, I don't see this getting any better.  

Despite all of this, and knowing that his road will be a long, tough one to get anything done, I'm still over the moon that Obama has been re-elected.