ericadawn16 | Fuck these midterm elections.

Current Mood: Devastated but trying to be Hopeful
Current Location: My Mom's Living Room
Current Music: The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson

Fuck these midterm elections.

Every time I thought it couldn't get worse, it did. Now all of my life, except for Bill Nelson and Barack Obama, are controlled by Republicans. The only silver lining is that the Pro-Environment Amendment passed and everything was SUPER close so Florida has more progressives than they give us credit for, but...

Fuck.

Frodo : I can't do this, Sam.

Sam : I know.
It's all wrong
By rights we shouldn't even be here.
But we are.
It's like in the great stories Mr. Frodo.
The ones that really mattered.
Full of darkness and danger they were,
and sometimes you didn't want to know the end.
Because how could the end be happy.
How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened.
But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow.
Even darkness must pass.
A new day will come.
And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.
Those were the stories that stayed with you.
That meant something.
Even if you were too small to understand why.
But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand.
I know now.
Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t.
Because they were holding on to something.

Frodo : What are we holding on to, Sam?

Sam : That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.

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My thoughts exactly. *Nods* My home state of California seems to have preserved its status as a blue state, so thank God for that. On a national level, though, in terms of federal governance, e.g. Congress? We are now royally FUCKED.

WHY, OH WHY did our fellow Americans have to be so apathetic, fickle, and yes, STUPID? And why did our politicians decide it was better to distance themselves from the President and his low approval numbers, rather than trumpet the SUCCESSES that have resulted from his term so far? But then, political leaders only reflect the people who vote for them, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised about the outcome of this election, and the fact that the American public has basically shot in itself in the foot with the decision it made today.

All I can hope for is this new Congress won't do too much major damage to the country before the 2016 election. *Sighs defeatedly*

Excuse me, but calling people stupid (in all caps, yet) for voting how they did is really the heights of arrogance. (I'm just saying,) some people said that people were stupid for voting for Mr. Obama a second time despite no jobs, their situation being worse than it was before, his claim that he was successful because more people than ever were on food stamps, etc. He still has veto power, which I'm sure he will use for anything he doesn't deem fit, so I wouldn't worry too much.

As for being apathetic, the only ones who were truly apathetic were the ones who didn't vote. That is something to think about, who was it who didn't vote? Could that have made a difference? Probably so.

I'm not calling anyone anything, but in this country (for better or for worse), EVERY CITIZEN alive over the age of 18 has the right to vote (once per election). Those who exercised their right did so and have spoken.

All you and everyone can do is make sure you vote whenever you can, and hold your representatives accountable. Pull yourselves up by your bootstraps and do what you can.

All this...

I agree that everyone has the right to vote, no question. But IMO, the way so many Americans voted yesterday was absolutely the wrong thing for the future of the country. God knows what the Republicans & Tea Party nutcases have up their sleeves, and how much of that can actually be blocked by a presidential veto. I hate to say it, but I think we're headed for a very, very bad period in the country here.

That's who I mean--- all the people, presumably a number of whom are of the same, or similar, political stripe as me, that is, a progressive, somewhat left-leaning Democrat--- who didn't vote. It might not have made a big difference in the outcome of the election, true, but alternatively, it could very well have, we'll never know now.

Very true, but a certain number of people can only do so much. I fear that it won't be enough
to keep the country from going to hell in a handbasket for however long the Republicans maintain control of Congress. It's cynical and defeatist, maybe, but so much bad, has, IMO, happened over the last several years when that party has possessed a huge amount of power, that I can't help it :(. *Shrugs* Like I said in my original comment, I just hope they don't do too much serious damage to the country before the 2016 election comes around.

There is a balance of power. Mr. Obama has that veto pen, and if things pass afterwards it will only be because Democrats support it as well, which is a good thing, and we need more of that. He can veto any bill that comes across his desk, and nothing becomes law without either his signature or it passes with a 2/3 approval from the Senate. So yes, he does have a lot of power. In addition, he can bypass Congress with his Executive Orders, which he has done.

As for the country going under, many feel we're already there. Your comment about the Republicans holding so much power until now is untrue; the Senate blocked everything the House did, so yes, a huge amount of damage was done because the Senate didn't even formally hear what the House passed, didn't discuss it, didn't offer a counter. We can go round and round with it, but I watched them directly as this continued to happen over and over, so this is not a case of "hearing about it," but seeing it directly. At least now, they might hear the bills passed by the House.

So you're saying that those who voted Republican shouldn't have. Well... sorry about that, but they have a right to their say as well, and enough people believe that this country was headed in the wrong direction and got out there and voted. We don't have an education requirement, and we don't require that you own land or have a job (ie, have "skin in the game" so you're voting your money and your goods rather than someone else's), we just require that you be alive and at least 18. It's the best we can do, and there is no better system at the moment. Starting in with other requirements will border on other types of government, but not fully representative.

Don't lose hope, don't stop voting. This country goes back and forth, and has endured so far. It will only continue to do so if people take an interest.

I just want to add that I also watch C-SPAN.

While you appear disgusted with the senate behaviour, I was disgusted by the House behaviour. Anyone who was a junior member and/or a member of the wrong party was shut down. Anything they wanted to say, anything they wanted to add or discuss...they were rebuffed and turned away. There was always an excuse to be made for it...procedures usually, but still, those who didn't align themselves fully 100% with those in charge of the House had no voice. It was disgusting and I posted on Facebook multiple times begging people to watch CSPAN with me to see what was going on.

I also never heard a workable alternative to Obamacare.

I am glad to see others actually get the information first hand. It's the best way to see, and be able to make a measured judgement. To be sure, both houses had some pretty reprehensible behavior, and I haven't heard of any workable alternatives either, From what I'm hearing and reading, I'm hoping that they have other fish to fry before they start in on that (if they even do).

Just don't give up, keep on thinking. This country will endure.

Edited 2014-11-07 03:15 (UTC)

Keep in mind that the numbers for how many didn't vote include those who WANTED to vote but were thwarted in one way or another.

(hugs)

I'm going to have some more posts tonight with more thoughts but more importantly, there were successes and these really weren't reported enough.

That was most likely a very big factor in the outcome, too, yeah. *Nods* Thank you very much, U.S. Supreme Court B[.

Thanks :). *Hugs you back*

Very true. *Nods* I don't know about other states, but as I said in my original comment, California stayed blue, as far as I know, so that's good.

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