Where do we go now?

Like many people I know, I am very disappointed in the outcome of the presidential election in the USA. I am disappointed that we still have a culture that doesn't recognize the equality of women to men. I am especially disappointed in the women who voted against a very well-qualified woman who was by far the best candidate. 

I enjoyed the lack of chaos this past four years with Joe Biden leading the country. How nice it was to have a man of good character in charge. He has had fifty years of experience in government and could work with both sides of Congress and he did. He worked to help all people against a Congress that fought him and still, he passed laws that created more jobs than anyone had in years. Everywhere I go, I see businesses begging for help. They need workers and some have closed because they can't get the help they need. Where will they find people who will work in fast-food, wait tables, work night shifts or bag groceries? Those workers have found better easier jobs that pay more. 

When our workforce has jobs and makes a living, the country does well. The entire world suffered from inflation after the Pandemic, but our country has done better than any of them. However, the average person didn't see that. They just saw prices were high at the grocery store and they blamed President Biden who has spoken about steps the administration has taken to increase consumer choice and scrutinize what he called "mega mergers" that reduce competition.  Bill Clinton explains it so well.  I am amazed at the people who think a president can wave a flag and fix everything that is a problem in a country. There is lots of red tape to get through before changes can be made. So many people have to agree before anything happens. I learned that from reading Barack Obama's memoir.

But the voters in our country voted for leadership that is biased against many of our people especially women. It seems only rich white men of dubious character are going to run this country now. All the middle-class or economically challenged folk who think this man and his party will do anything to help them are so foolish. The first thing they will see is the cutting back of social services for those who need them.

Medicaid, Social Security, and Medicare will be targeted. All of these programs that help so many people, were created by the Democratic administrations of years past. How will it hurt us? Cutting out most of the labor force employed in these programs. Just like he did with the US Postal Service, the president-elect will cut back on employees, and we all can see what a mess our postal service is in now.  We get mail four weeks old if we get it at all. Eventually, that whole department will be gone. I am told by some postal workers that the Georgia system is the very worst. I have been told it is best to ship a large envelope by UPS if you need it to arrive on time.

The Department of Education is already on the chopping block. Does that mean the states will have no oversight? Local School Boards will go back to favoring the wealthy white people and the schools in the poorer neighborhoods will be using old second-hand worn-out books and facilities that are understaffed and undermaintained. I grew up with those kinds of schools in Albany, GA. If you want to know more, read Pat Conroy's book or see the movie made from it. 

I was a child and eventually a teacher when blacks and whites were segregated in schools. That would still be true if the Federal Government had not stepped in and passed laws so states like Georgia could no longer treat people of color so inhumanely. 

I don't usually voice my political opinions on my blogs. I don't hate my friends who voted differently than I did. My true friends are good people. Many men in my family, I'm sure, did not vote for the woman candidate for president. Sadly, some men who did not vote for Trump just didn't vote for either. 

I don't think I will live long enough to see a female president of the United States and I am sorry. But we have good men who could do a better job for the people than the one the voters put in office. Maybe they will step up next time. Maybe by mid-term elections, our citizens will have opened their eyes. 

I never thought I would see the day when a felon, a criminal, or a convicted sexual offender, would sit in the Oval Office. 

I am free to voice my opinion on my blog, and I will not publish nasty, mean or hateful comments so please don't waste your time.

The Day After the Election

Although I'd like to pretend that today was just like any other day, I have to face reality. Today we have elected President Obama for a second term in office. So many people I know in the south seemed to base their vote on the fact that he is not white. I hoped we had progressed beyond that, but the racist remarks regarding this president proves the point. Perhaps we should rejoice, because, after all, the racists didn’t win this election.

For my Republican friends, I extend my condolences because I think you might have seen the last chance to elect a man who holds the old conservative views. It seems the country has moved away from what the typical white man of the south thinks is important. More women will have their say in the future, and most women, even if they don't tell their husbands, will vote to have control over their own bodies. Most women will vote for good health care for their children.

Our country is more diverse in population than it has ever been. This country began by welcoming those who sought refuge here. In recent years, immigrants came and took the lowest paying jobs in our society, the hard jobs of working in the fields, the jobs that uneducated black people held in times past. The white people who once controlled the black population, either by denying privileges or, at worst, murdering them when they forgot "their place", had little power over the more recent immigrants. 

Large farms in the south have depended on migrant workers from Mexico for many years and were responsible for bringing them here, but I don't hear anyone making laws to punish the farmers. These immigrant workers are now all over the country, often in businesses where management doesn't pay decent wages. President Obama actually has deported more illegal immigrants than any other president, but that tidbit of information hasn't seen much light. By whatever method was legal and humane, he has been able to stifle the flow somewhat. I think more will be done in the next four years.

I believe young people the age of my great nephew, a freshman in high school, will see a woman president, and probably a United States citizen, descendant of Latino parents, become president in their lifetime. And why not? Why do people think that only white men possess the skills to lead us? 

My mother's generation was taught to believe that, and too many in my generation still accept, that the male is most capable of leadership. I am surprised to learn how many women would not vote for another of their gender for president. These same women are often the movers and the shakers in their communities and in their homes and church. I think their natural intellect cannot displace the prejudice they harbor -- prejudice passed down for hundreds of years, that tells them women and people of color are not worthy. 

I have faith in the ordinary people of this country. Perhaps because I see so many good people who care about their neighbors and fellow countrymen, especially when a natural disaster has devastated life. Maybe it takes years of living and living through loss to know what we should appreciate, what is most important in the big picture. Maybe compassion for others comes through our own suffering and sacrifice. I see differently now. Financial success can be fleeting. We all have our ups and downs, but in the long run American people, I believe, are generous with their time and their aid in a time of crisis.

I believe that the United States will see a future where a more cool headed leadership prevails, where greed for material things is replaced with concern for quality of life; for better education; for care of the elderly and concern for human life— where war is not the first course of action considered, but the last option taken.