The beauty of American politics

Obviously if you've read my blog before today you know that I am very happy with the outcome of last night's presidential election. After 2 elections of not feeling that way I could certainly gloat and crow about yesterday's election but I won't. Those of you having heart attacks today and threatening to move to Canada, welcome to my world in 2000 and 2004. But that's the beauty of our system. It goes back and forth. Before Bush we had Clinton. Before Clinton we had Reagan and Bush. Before Reagan and Bush we had Carter. I think you can see where I'm going here.

Our government works because we can make these shifts and changes when necessary. And in general, if you're not happy with the current political state, it will correct itself as necessary. No one individual, or party, is going to ruin America entirely. Even George W. Bush couldn't manage to do that and with only a 27% approval rating I know even some of you Republicans think he was doing his damnedest to run us into ruin.

And as much as I did do a little victory dance that not only do we have a Democratic President-elect but that the Democrats cleaned up in Congress as well, it also worries me a little bit. I don't believe that one party should be entirely in charge. But that was up to the people of America and Congress can't even be blamed on the electoral college. The people of each state put who they wanted into Congress (and kicked those out that they no longer wanted). And I fully believe it will correct itself. It ALWAYS swings back the other way eventually. A few years ago the Republicans controlled both the White House and the Congress....look where they are now. The same will happen with the Democrats.

This country, and our government, was designed to self correct. It was also designed so that we CAN fight back and forth for what we believe in and still function as a country. That's the beauty of it.

Whether you think the Bush years were a "dark" period in our history, or you think the Obama years will be, our country has been through dark times in the past and we've always come through on the other side. The key is to learn from the past. As the famous saying goes: "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." I feel that is where we are now. The charges of "socialism" and "Marxism" against Obama seemed a little too McCarthyism to me. Do we really want to go back to the days of people being blacklisted and the House Un-American Activities Committee? The female politician from Minnesota who said that all elected officials should be tested for their patriotism was just a little to close to that for my liking.

The same goes for discrimination - we need to learn from the past. Men used to be "better" than women and we fought past that mentality and admitted we were wrong about that. Whites used to be "better" than blacks and we fought past that mentality and once again learned we were wrong. Let's learn from history and just jump to the end of the story this time. People should not be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation. The fact that a number of ballot questions passed yesterday discriminating against people for their sexual orientation is very disturbing to me. Have we learned nothing from history?

The good news for me is that I'm straight and happily married and enjoying the benefits of such a union. How long it takes this cycle to play out doesn't have much impact on me. But it does on my friends. And I firmly believe that some day we will eventually learn that we were wrong once again when people believed that straight couples were "better" than homosexual couples. The generation that is being born right now will hopefully grow up without these prejudices. Hopefully they will someday look at discrimination against gays and lesbians the way that my generation looks back at societal discrimination against women and minorities - as a thing of the past. And they will shake there heads and wonder "how the heck could society not see that they were wrong to discriminate?"

I will close this political essay (one that I never intended to be quite so long) with a conversation that I had with Hannah at dinner prior to her school's mock election the other day. It's a conversation that gave me great hope for this new generation.

Mommy: No matter who you vote for in an election it is always important to vote. You want everyone to go out and vote - even if they don't agree with you. It's important that everyone have equal rights under the law and an equal voice no matter if they're a man or a woman or black or white or latino or asian or gay or straight.

Hannah: What's straight?

Daddy: Straight is two people in a relationship that are a man and a woman. Mommy and Daddy are straight.

Mommy: Gay is a man and a man or a woman and woman. Mommy's friend Melissa is gay. She has a girlfriend.

Hannah: Oh. Okay. Can I have dessert now?

That's right. To her the idea of someone being gay is completely natural. It's not strange or unusual. It's not right or wrong. It's just another lifestyle that is different from hers. This conversation then went on to discuss how years ago it was illegal for blacks and whites to marry. This hit home with her because some of her favorite people in the world, the Walker's, are an interracial couple. I explained it is now the same for gays and lesbians.

I will now get off my political soapbox but to circle back to my point at which I started....for you Democrats out there: Congratulations! We got the change we wanted. Now it's our job to make the most of it. For you Republicans out there, the government won't collapse with Obama in the White House. If he succeeds our country just might be in a better place. If he fails, we'll vote him out and try again. That's the beauty of American politics.