Election Night, 2014
My liberal friends are apoplectic tonight. Despondent. The Republicans have taken control of the Senate, and consolidated their control of the House of Representatives. They have taken a number of governorships, taken or extended control of a number of state houses, and who knows what they might have done in myriad local races.
One might be excused for expecting my conservative friends to be ecstatic. I have not seen much evidence of this, though.
I imagine that part of the reason my conservative friends are not rejoicing is that they know control of the House and Senate will not mean much so long as President Obama has the veto.
I not so secretly hope that another part of the reason they are not rejoicing is that they recognize that "stop Obama" is not a policy agenda that will propel the U.S. into the future; that stomping your feet and yelling that the President is ruining the country without offering any alternative plans for improving the lives of average people is not really governing; that having majorities in both houses of Congress without anything resembling a solid plan for legislating a better future isn't something to celebrate.
I am proud of my country for a number of reasons. Is it perfect? Far from it. We are crippled by partisanship, haunted by our race issues, weighed down by nonsensical, inconsistent pseudo-morality, and entirely too much in love with the idea of American Exceptionalism. Too many of us have blind-faith in the wisdom of free market economics. Too many of us are apathetic or worse, feel defeated before we even get to the polls. So what am I proud of? I'm proud that we have an unbroken history of peaceful transfer of power between rival parties; I'm proud that we continue to extend the franchise to all Americans, even when we stumble along the way.
To all of my friends, on both sides of the aisle, I say huzzah. If your candidates lost this year, take heart. Get involved in your local politics and make sure that the first layer of politicians, those that have the greatest effect on your day-to-day life truly represent your interests. If you didn't vote this year, make sure you do in 2016. If your candidates won this year, be vocal in demanding that they actually do something useful. Get involved in educating your friends as to why your ideas make sense, why they should support your agenda, and why your way will be better for all of us.
The most important thing to remember is this: America can be great only if each of us takes the initiative to make it great. Get involved. Find the issues that matter most to you, and then DO SOMETHING about them. If you don't know how to get started, reach out. Get organized. Get organizing. You have the opportunity to make the world the way you want it to be, but it won't happen if you don't start somewhere.
One might be excused for expecting my conservative friends to be ecstatic. I have not seen much evidence of this, though.
I imagine that part of the reason my conservative friends are not rejoicing is that they know control of the House and Senate will not mean much so long as President Obama has the veto.
I not so secretly hope that another part of the reason they are not rejoicing is that they recognize that "stop Obama" is not a policy agenda that will propel the U.S. into the future; that stomping your feet and yelling that the President is ruining the country without offering any alternative plans for improving the lives of average people is not really governing; that having majorities in both houses of Congress without anything resembling a solid plan for legislating a better future isn't something to celebrate.
I am proud of my country for a number of reasons. Is it perfect? Far from it. We are crippled by partisanship, haunted by our race issues, weighed down by nonsensical, inconsistent pseudo-morality, and entirely too much in love with the idea of American Exceptionalism. Too many of us have blind-faith in the wisdom of free market economics. Too many of us are apathetic or worse, feel defeated before we even get to the polls. So what am I proud of? I'm proud that we have an unbroken history of peaceful transfer of power between rival parties; I'm proud that we continue to extend the franchise to all Americans, even when we stumble along the way.
To all of my friends, on both sides of the aisle, I say huzzah. If your candidates lost this year, take heart. Get involved in your local politics and make sure that the first layer of politicians, those that have the greatest effect on your day-to-day life truly represent your interests. If you didn't vote this year, make sure you do in 2016. If your candidates won this year, be vocal in demanding that they actually do something useful. Get involved in educating your friends as to why your ideas make sense, why they should support your agenda, and why your way will be better for all of us.
The most important thing to remember is this: America can be great only if each of us takes the initiative to make it great. Get involved. Find the issues that matter most to you, and then DO SOMETHING about them. If you don't know how to get started, reach out. Get organized. Get organizing. You have the opportunity to make the world the way you want it to be, but it won't happen if you don't start somewhere.
Comments