There's got to be a morning after

And today is the fourth "morning after", with each "night before" a little easier, a little more "make the best of it but take care of yourself." Before I move back to writing this memoir style blog--going to continue with the South Africa trip of 1977--I feel I would be shrinking if I didn't say something about how I feel about this week's US election. As of this writing, Saturday, Arizona still hasn’t finished its count—the GOP did a great job of preventing the mail-in vote for being counted early and messing up the ability to use the machines—so I still don’t know if we are going to be saddled with the odious Kari Lake or whether the House is going to be Republican too. Still, it’s becoming more “academic” than visceral for me, if you know what I mean. Necesitamos avanzar. Sera dificil, sabiendo que muchos, especialmente aqui donde vivo, creen en los planes de Trump y Vance. (I have been practicing Spanish in preparation for a 10-day December cruise around the Caribbean, the water version of retail therapy.)

First, I don’t think that the billionaires and the Democrats are to blame for Trump getting in. I actually think it goes back to a huge ignorance, a willful desire on the part of so many citizens to ignore what the Constitution really stood for, what makes America strong, ordinary people successful. Not caring whether the person running for President truly IS a criminal. Golly that sounds like the kind of speech the media says actually lost the election. Maybe. And that’s the tragedy—that honest speech, revulsion against what happened on January 6th, revulsion toward everything Trump and Vance showed themselves to be all through the election—meant nothing at all. The only thing that meant anything to people is “we want to try something new, we don’t like Biden’s plans and we don’t care that it’s a group of criminals and failed businesspeople, people who have lied and turned tail, that are offering the alternative.” Or else not voting at all because they didn't believe that voting would change their daily lives one whit. Which, again according to some articles--I haven't read a lot, just from those independent newspapers like The Atlantic and The Guardian--say led to Trump's win. So, don't vote, and yeah, if you're lucky you might make it through the next four years with nothing much changing. But I DO understand what you mean about things not changing. I voted Democrat not so much because I ascribe to all of what the Democrats say but because I believe Trump and Vance are evil. Whether I was right or not remains to be seen.

We go on. Trying. Richard was very upset last night, saying we should move to a Democrat state since we are surrounded here with people who are gleefully celebrating. The MAGA crowd who say the most hateful and untrue things, who voted against a funding measure for our woefully underfunded schools. Where our neighbors have just saddled us, through their vote, with a County Supervisor who is as crooked as Trump is—he’s under felony indictment too. He spent $125,000 of the county's money on his "defense" saying he was only doing his job; while our roads in town resemble the kind of roads you'd see post Hurricane Helene. 

I see what Richard is saying. I guess it comes down to values— do we value our lovely, affordable (for now) house more than we value living among people who are "like us." We would lose money, possibly a lot of money, if we move because everywhere is more expensive. Maybe we should wait a year until Trump’s “great economy” kicks in and then we can move. Hah. Right now I have to focus on staying realistic, staying calm and not doing anything rash. 

We have our cruise coming up in about 30 days. Something to look forward to. And, in the meantime, I can work on those areas of my life that will help me cope. Read, read, read. Be kind, be friendly. Write the memoir. All those things I did  a few years ago while we were under COVID restrictions.

So that's it, I won't be commenting again. I actually don't know everyone who reads my blog. If you are one of those people who doesn't know me, and you are celebrating Trump's win, in a way I hope you are right and I am wrong. Because I would hate to see the worst things that have been predicted, for this country, for the world, happen. I move forward, adelante, I won't argue my beliefs with you and I will still respect your right to choose what you valued most. As someone, I believe it was Voltaire, once said a long time ago, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Pax.