The Morning After

First, thanks to all the supportive folks who commented on my play-by-play last night, and who invited me to come chat with them. It was a good way to cope with the stress of the evening.

The Good News from where I Live:
♥ Democratic sheriff elected -- the first African-American sheriff in our county's history!
♥ Commuter light rail approved, finally. Can't wait to start taking the train to work!
♥ The Democratic candidate for state rep for my district won, ousting the asshatty Rep. incumbent. (I campaigned for this guy personally, so I'm thrilled!) He won by 500 votes. Yes, only 500 votes. Amazing, huh?
♥ The county I live in, and apparently the larger area, went to Kerry, depsite the fact that I live in a very red state. Mwahahaha!
♥ Every local race I voted in that had a Democratic candidate in it was won by the Democrat. This makes me want to go hug my town.

( The Bad News )

But I'm not going to leave, like I'm hearing many people jokingly proclaim. Hell, I probably won't even leave Texas, because then the other side will have won. There's nothing the conservatives in my state would like better than for ivory tower liberals like me to get back to northern California where we belong. Fuck 'em.

I'm here. I'm a Texan. And I'm a liberal Democrat. Deal with it.

Okay, I feel a little better. But I want more GOOD news, Democrats, Libertarians, Independents, and Greens out there! Comment here and tell me what good things happened in your local area. Restore my faith in my fellow Americans. Please.

ETA: I'm already thinking ahead:

And you thought I was going away?

Okay, one more thing about the election before I get back to work and fade into the background of LJ for real.

I know many of us are angry, and we're venting those emotions. It's completely normal and healthy to do so. BUT: I've seen many people make comments about moving to Canada or Europe because of their disgust over the election results, and I hope you're all just kidding.

PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME! We need all the liberals we can get in this country! Stay! Fight! Volunteer! Let your voice be heard! Don't give up now, not when we need to be unified in our vision of a tolerant and open, free America more than ever! Gay marriage will never be legalized if all the proponents move to Canada in disgust! We must ensure women will retain their reproductive rights, and more. Did Rosa Parks move to LA when they wouldn't let her sit in the front of the bus? No! She stayed in her town and fought for what she believed in, what she knew was right.

This is just a setback, everyone; just a blip in the radar. Someday, when we're all old and gray, we'll look back at these turn-of-the-century years and remember how critical they were. We'll remember how hard we fought. And we'll remember that, eventually -- through hard work, steadfastness, and sacrifice -- we were victorious.

So stay here with me! Fight! Be positive! Who's with me?

No offense to the Canadians and Europeans, of course.

ETA: Go tell Aja what you love about America