Ramblings, rumblings, grumblings, and rambling grumbly rumblings.

Giving this its own space, more for posterity than anything else.

My major problem with the Tea Party as a movement is that few of it's most vocal individuals are defending the constitution, per sé: they are defending what they wish the constitution was but IS NOT, the First Amendment in particular. We are not, nor have we ever been, a Christian nation: our first citizens were Christian, true, but almost to a man denied that the government should have any authority to mandate that.

Remember, our first immigrants (not the profiteers of the East India Trading Company, but the other guys, with the buckles on their hats and shoes) left Europe for these shores so that, among other things, they could worship as they pleased, without the king - or the Church, for that matter - dictating their faith to them.

If I want to live in a theocracy, I'll go to Afganistan: we all know how well it works there.

The economy was buggered at least two years before Obama took office, and two years is not enough time to repair it. Americans are extremely impatient and short sighted: when we don't get instant results, we refill our nation's capitol with the very people who got us here in the first place!

I don't agree with the current administration, but swinging the pendulum all the way Right so hard it cracks the plaster isn't the answer either.

We are a nation of drive-thrus and 30 second sound bites: as a group we have no patience for thoughtful research and discussion, which is what is required in a world as complex as ours. I am, as you probably are, disappointed in the electorate.

To quote "Men in Black": a person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals, and (diverging here) never moreso than when we start letting our emotions, or God forbid, our religion, drive.

So, for a statement of belief: at the voting booth, I am not Christian or Muslim or Jew or Pagan: I am an American. I'm strongly anti-religion when it comes to politics. Church where you will, believe what you must, but keep your god (or gods, or goddess(es), or random energetic fluctuations of space/time, or whatever logical construct comforts you when the lights go out) out of our government. We must do what is right for our world/society/species because it preserves us, not because {insert deity/non-deity here} says so.

L-O-bama-L...
( Funny...snipped for language. )

It's going to be an interesting few days at the office here until the dust settles.  I'm the only Obama supporter - or, at the very least, anti-McCain - in the office.  Grim times for MoneyMan and DataGuy.

Edit: I was partly mistaken.  Our salesperson, Molly, is glad of the outcome.  I hope I get the opportunity to ask her why.

Of course I have thoughts about the election. Do I want to write about them? Not really, no. For my own future reference, though, I ought to.

History making? Of course. Am I relieved? More than I expected I would be. The republicans - led by Dubya - and the "Christian" Right have trod on this country's freedoms in a my-way-or-the-hiway power-grab. We have been told what to be afraid of, and who we should hate because of it, for eight years. That is finally over.

Last night, I watched the campaign figurehead of that divisive group concede to a crowd of 3000.

Last night I watched a brown-skinned man¹, a relative newcomer on the political stage, begin the process of unification and hope-bringing, to a crowd of over 100,000. His speech was moving and, I believe, honest.² The speech was sober, with none of the self-congratulation he would have been fully entitled to. He reached out, made it about this country, and I am guardedly hopeful that once again I can be proud to be an American.

Cynically, I almost hoped to hear a news story about Dubya lying on the floor of the Oval Office, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The republicans and radical right took a huge hit last night, and I am glad of it. Take your theocracy and shove it, Mr. Bush, it ain't workin' here no more.


¹ Katie calls him "the tan man", because of his mixed-race parentage.
² On a lighter note it took me forever to figure out where his teleprompters were.

Another reason to like where I live: our polling place is a small church at the end of our street.  No lines, no pollsters, no one handing out fliers or picketing with idiotic and oversimplified political platitudes.

I walked in, signed my name, punched my card, and walked out.

For the first time in my life I voted a (mostly) straight democratic ticket.  (Yes, Obama was in there, if you're interested.) The republicans had their chance and they fucked it up, and now I'm ready for a growing economy and a secular government.  If I want a theocracy, I'll go to Afghanistan: it seems to work for them.