Wow! 🎉 Wow! 🎉 Wow! 🎉
So this is what it feels like to breathe and smile and laugh and live without the ambient stress of chaos, corruption, cruelty, and the daily slip/slide into life under an authoritarian wanna-be regime.
I have written posts about politics a fair amount over the years. How could I not? I am passionate about the promise of the United States of America and our democracy. We have never formed a "more perfect union" (yet) for all our inhabitants, but we also have never come so close to losing even the ability to imagine it as we have over the past decade.
But Tuesday night's historic mid-term election was an enormous rebuke of the current president and his administration. It was a rebuke of the anti-democratic violent vitriol, racist, misogynist messaging and abusive actions we have witnessed with growing dismay. Many of us felt that way from the very beginning with the loss of the 2016 election. We had a bit of a reprieve in 2020, but not without the constant drumbeat from the loser that he'd actually won, and so inspired an insurrection against our democratically elected government. And when that new president was thwarted at every turn by the opposing party's control of Congress, the electorate decided to go back to their "Dear Leader", believing his lies again, and re-elected him. Demoralizing is putting it mildly.
But over time, even his some of his supporters grew weary. New wars, crippling tariffs, unfettered corruption and laws passed to reward the ultra-wealthy with tax cuts while average Americans saw prices for gas and groceries and most everything go through the roof. Immigration secret police invaded cities rounding up and sending to internment camps anyone they decided was an "illegal" whether or not that was true. Many were killed outright or died in those fetid camps. Some protestors were also killed while trying to defend those being rounded up. Racist language became commonplace and only women who were young, slim, and mostly blonde with obvious cosmetic surgery were given government public-facing positions. No one was qualified to do what they were doing in government -- former talk show hosts and influencers leading the military and intelligence and CIA and FBI. A civilian billionaire donor was appointed to take a sledge hammer to our government agencies and collected private information about every citizen under the guise of "cost-cutting".
At the same time we went about our lives. We worked, raised families, did all the usual life stuff, but with the background noise, every day, every single day, of a government we did not trust and one that was only getting more and more unrecognizable. Many of us tried to fight back, peacefully through protest and organizing around elections. But it often felt paltry to me. I tried to remember that tyranny only wins when we give up. But admittedly there were times I gave up. Then came back. Then retreated again. We learned we had to care for ourselves to care for the country. (Big gratitude for my friends at Indivisible and League of Women Voters!)
Finally, on Tuesday, most Americans said, "Enough!" Democrats won everywhere - in deep blue states, in purple states, even the deeply red states. Democrats won in the urban areas and the rural areas. They won elections to national offices and state wide offices. Record numbers of diverse people won -- large numbers of women, black candidates, hispanic candidates, Native candidates, gay and trans candidates, a Muslin candidate, a wheelchair using candidate -- a true reflection of America. My 17 y/o granddaughter summed it up: "Representation is important. We won the midterms!" (Frankly I didn't even know she was following any of this or that she cared. She was and she does and I am a proud grandma! )
Of course some areas remained Republican and some people remain firmly in this administration's camp -- about 30% of the electorate will not budge. Maybe they are thriving under his corruption or maybe they believe his lies and promises, all evidence to the contrary, or maybe their values actually do align with his.
Nevertheless, come January three-quarters of Americans will have Democratic governors and just over one-half of Americans will have Democratic legislators. Not so long ago (like on Monday), that was a pipe dream.
What will happen now? Well, in Washington D.C. Democrats will have control of he House and Senate. That's important. But he's still president and his inept and ideological administration still has power. With determination, the Democrats can still move some agenda pieces forward to bring order, rationality, and some relief to the American people, as well as hold some of the most egregious perpetrators of corruption and ineptitude accountable. The damage done can't be turned around immediately, but even if he vetoes all legislative attempts, the American people will know for sure who the obstructionist is.
So, we will take the win and run with it to try to undo some bad and enact some good. And some of us will breathe and rejoice and let the feeling of relief and lightness wash over us. It's been awhile.
And while I'm not usually a praying person, I do have my own practices that I turn to when I'm reaching beyond my egoic self. I turn to those practices now, with humility, gratitude, and dare I say my dreaded word -- "hope". It's my desire that peace will prevail and that we have good days ahead, with compassionate, intelligent, qualified leaders in place who will move our country into some semblance of that aspirational "more perfect union".
At least, that's the view from here...©
Photo Credit: pixabay.com
