The Morning After
Nov. 3rd, 2004 08:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
emmagrant01First, 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, pretty much everywhere:
× Looks like Bush is going to win re-election. I have to say I expected it. And a small part of me thinks it's for the best: I don't think anyone could dig this country out of this hole Bush has got us in. I'd almost rather see him flounder and make things worse for four more years than to see the Democrats try and fail to fix the shitty mess he's created. I don't think anyone could fix this mess easily, and maybe it's better in the long run if the Republicans get the blame. If Kerry had failed, it would have set the Democrats back even further.
ETA: Kerry has conceded. So yeah, over. :-(
× Anti-gay "defining marriage" proposals passed everywhere they were up. I don't know what to say about this, honestly. I'm physically sick to my stomach to think that so many people in my country would deny marriage and all the wonderful things it brings to a single minority group. It refuels my conviction to keeping fighting the fight, though. When I'm sitting in a nursing home in 60 years, I hope I can look back on these days as the dark ones before my country truly embraced everyone.
× I fear that Bush will think he has a mandate and will continue as if half the country didn't hate him. The man has shown time and again that he doesn't listen, doesn't learn from his mistakes (nor even admit that he made them), and sees the world through his own narrow (conservative Christian) point of view. Why should that change? After all, it looks like he actually won legitimately this time! Fucker.
× DeLay's redistricting in central Texas worked, despite the sacrifice and hard work of the Democrats in the Texas legislature. The only truly Democratic area in Texas was carved into three gerrymandered districts, stretching just far enough away from my Democratic city to ensure a Republican majority in each. And those districts now have Republican representatives, just like DeLay wanted. At least Morrison gave DeLay a run for his money.
× The House and Senate are slightly more Republican than they were before. This depresses me in a way I can't begin to describe. I have seen the US take a huge step to the right during my short lifetime, and I'm genuinely afraid for the future.
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:
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, pretty much everywhere:
× Looks like Bush is going to win re-election. I have to say I expected it. And a small part of me thinks it's for the best: I don't think anyone could dig this country out of this hole Bush has got us in. I'd almost rather see him flounder and make things worse for four more years than to see the Democrats try and fail to fix the shitty mess he's created. I don't think anyone could fix this mess easily, and maybe it's better in the long run if the Republicans get the blame. If Kerry had failed, it would have set the Democrats back even further.
ETA: Kerry has conceded. So yeah, over. :-(
× Anti-gay "defining marriage" proposals passed everywhere they were up. I don't know what to say about this, honestly. I'm physically sick to my stomach to think that so many people in my country would deny marriage and all the wonderful things it brings to a single minority group. It refuels my conviction to keeping fighting the fight, though. When I'm sitting in a nursing home in 60 years, I hope I can look back on these days as the dark ones before my country truly embraced everyone.
× I fear that Bush will think he has a mandate and will continue as if half the country didn't hate him. The man has shown time and again that he doesn't listen, doesn't learn from his mistakes (nor even admit that he made them), and sees the world through his own narrow (conservative Christian) point of view. Why should that change? After all, it looks like he actually won legitimately this time! Fucker.
× DeLay's redistricting in central Texas worked, despite the sacrifice and hard work of the Democrats in the Texas legislature. The only truly Democratic area in Texas was carved into three gerrymandered districts, stretching just far enough away from my Democratic city to ensure a Republican majority in each. And those districts now have Republican representatives, just like DeLay wanted. At least Morrison gave DeLay a run for his money.
× The House and Senate are slightly more Republican than they were before. This depresses me in a way I can't begin to describe. I have seen the US take a huge step to the right during my short lifetime, and I'm genuinely afraid for the future.
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:
