And a bitter pill to swallow it is.
The GOP lost their bid for the White House last night.
A well-fought race, and one most closely-watched in recent history ended just hours ago. We collectively wake as a nation with a leader in place for another four years.
This post is not about political analysis or election minutiae. It’s about common sense. It’s about waking up in a different country than the GOP woke up to 60 years ago. Gone are the lily-white days of yesteryear. We are a country made up of all races, all creeds, all sexual orientations. We are single mothers, single fathers, blue-collar, white-collar, and every color collar in between. We are middle-class, working-class, working poor, and wealthy. We are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and atheist. We can love another vagina, another penis, or both.
We are not, however, homogenous.
Those days are long gone. Grieve if you must, but move on. The time has come.
Stop aligning yourselves with hatred, bigotry, misogyny, and misinformation.
Why?
Because it’s simply not working. And it quite possibly, never will.
As Paul Begala said in his article on the Five Stages of Grief for the GOP: “But if you’re smart about it, you should be angry at your base. Sure, they’re committed (or they would be if we had a fully functioning mental health system). But they’re killing you with moderates. They nominated people who believe in “legitimate rape” and that a pregnancy resulting from rape is a gift from God. It may feel better to vent your anger at the left, but it makes no sense. They did their job; they won. Your base let you down; they led you astray. Here’s the dirty little secret: if your base is increasing in ideological zealotry and decreasing in size, it’s not a base. It’s a fringe group.”
Time to wake up, smell the coffee, move on, and make a new, better party. The country needs that. We deserve that.
For a party that clings to their civil liberties, a great deal of time, money, and energy is spent squashing those who may be contrary. Seems ridiculously ironic. And hypocritical.
I’m proud to be a part of change. I’m proud to be associated with a party of tolerance and yes, shared responsibility. I’m tired of the old freeloading stereotypes, too. Plenty of close friends and family have worked hard, yet found themselves in the predicament of relying on those public safety nets to which we all contribute. Are there people out there who work the system, refuse to better themselves? Sure. Do they constitute the majority? I highly doubt that, and honestly, that’s a risk I’m more than willing to take.
I’m proud to align myself with a party who believes that a woman’s right to govern her own body is more important than policing it. We are vaginas. Hear us roar.
I’m proud to be a nurse that is working with a broken health care system that is trying to find its way down a better path.
Most of all I’m proud to be an American, living in a time of change, hope, and limitless possibilites.
And Mr. Cleaver? I’ll let YOU make MY martini tonight.
