Outside, it’s cold. In the 30s. As it should be in November. The trees, except, of course, the evergreens, are bare, brown, and leafless. Yet the sky is that deep morning blue. And it feels like it will warm up. Even though I’ve been enjoying the warmth lately, almost a week in the 70s, it’s a disconcerting warmth, almost scary in being so unseasonable.
Last night, election night, I kept checking in on the results until around midnight, when I went to bed. And then I had an interesting time watching my mind.
Rachel Maddow and others from MSNBC had earlier talked about surprising results showing that Democrats could possibly hold onto Congress. And many DJT picked candidates, awful and unfit for office, like Herschel Walker in Georgia, Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, and Lauren Boebert in Colorado, could all lose. And these losses would show the GOP how much of a liability DJT was. And this would, ideally, lead the GOP to renounce DJT and all he represents.
For too many GOP, all that mattered was their power. Absolute power with an absolute ruler. Competence didn’t matter to them. Ethical behavior didn’t matter to them. Serving the people, and working to “establish justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common Defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty…” ⎼ the constitution didn’t matter to them.
Many didn’t seem to realize that if they served an absolute ruler, their power would depend on HIM (if it’s a him, and it would be). They’d lose any independence. Their future, their character, their well-being, all up to HIM.
And for me, in the dark of night, there was such a wondrous desire to say “we could win this. We could maintain control of Congress. We could hold onto the chance to promote justice and domestic tranquility, and act to benefit the welfare of all the people.” But I couldn’t say that out loud, not even out loud for only my own inner ears to hear. I couldn’t risk jinxing it. What ego, to think my thoughts so powerful! So, I listened as deeply as I could until the sound of moonlight filled the room.
Then thoughts of the worst scenario showed up. I felt afraid. My stomach tensed, my hands reached up, knocking off the quilt that covered me. I heard lines from different GOP, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, saying the first action of a new GOP House would be to impeach Merrick Garland. Then maybe impeach President Biden and destroy the remnants of democracy. The whole legion of DJT followers, election deniers, spreaders of disinformation, were all ready to deny any elections they’ve lost once again. All working to take away health insurance protections, Social Security, voting and abortion rights, working to turn the US into a a wasteland of lies, resentment, and hate. All to serve the mad quest for absolute power.
Then I breathed that in. Somehow. It was difficult. Painful. And soon the moon, a moon so different than usual, whose light, the day after an eclipse, was as gray as fog, filled not only inside the bedroom but outside, creating trees, bushes out of gray fog. I felt strong again. And I fell asleep.
Today, the deep blue sky. Today, and in the coming days or weeks, the Democrats will, hopefully, hold the Senate, but first a run-off in Georgia. And counting continues at this moment in Arizona and Nevada and we can still help protect the result.
In the house, we also won’t know the final results for a few days or weeks, but the GOP will probably and narrowly gain control. And anyone, maybe all of us who care, will take a moment. Rejuvenate. Realize we overcame tremendous odds favoring the GOP⎼ the history of midterm losses by the President’s party, inflation, the GOP voter intimidation and disenfranchising, the gerrymandering. And the corporate and GOP media (and their questionable polls) predicting a Red Flood and ignoring or under-reporting all the good coming to us all from Democrats⎼ in terms of increasing jobs and wages, worker power and safety, reducing healthcare costs, improving infrastructure, addressing global warming, and simply caring.
We need to realize and celebrate what we won. Hopefully. And realize what we didn’t win. And we will not cease from working to counter the GOP in the House and their program of chaos.
Election fatigue? We can’t let it stop us. Unfortunately, such fatigue is just part of what it means to be a human being right now.
In December, we will do all we can to support and get out a massive vote for Senator Raphael Warnock in Georgia. And in 2024, we will work to create an even deeper victory. We can also study our own minds and hearts, and thusly learn how to better persist in the struggle, and to better understand and care about the hearts and minds of others and of all living beings.
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This Post is republished on Medium.
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Photo credit: iStock