My pre-election Facebook message

I’m sorry if I’ve hurt anyone’s feelings with my political rantings. I value and appreciate all of my friends and family members and don’t want to alienate any one of you. I love you guys for a lot of different reasons and politics shouldn’t get in the way of our relationship with each other. More and more, I am understanding that relationship is everything. At the end of life, many people say that they most regret the times they hurt other people, and that nothing really matters but love. My favorite Dali Lama quote is “My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness”. I really do try to live that way, and I feel bad when I realize that I have been less than kind. So I am sorry.

I realized today that I have gotten frantic like this toward the end of every presidential campaign since 2004. I was so appalled by the actions and antics of George W. Bush that I became obsessed with helping Kerry win, and I became rather strident right before election day. I just keep watching my vision of a peaceful cooperative world get farther and farther away. I am a lifelong Democrat who believes in community, in sharing, in helping those who for whatever reason can’t help themselves. I want our country to stop spending so much money on war that there isn’t enough left for programs that help people. I want a robust economy that pays people living wages. I want all the children in this country to have the chance to get a decent education, and I don’t want people to have to go bankrupt because they get sick. I want hungry children to be fed and the elderly to have enough income to be able to finish out their lives with dignity. I want to live in a humane country where everyone is treated fairly.

I don’t mind my taxes being used to help people. It makes sense to me that we Americans pool a percentage of our income so that roads and bridges can be built and maintained, teachers and firefighters paid, and the sick, disabled, and elderly cared for. I always thought that, along with voting, paying taxes was my civic duty. What I detest is that 50% of my tax money is used to feed the War Machine that kills and maims people in other countries and kills and maims our own young men and women who are brave or desperate enough to sign up. I really hate that.

I have been watching my country move further and further to the right since Ronald Reagan, and I find that very disturbing. I also am disturbed by the persuasiveness and viciousness of the propaganda that comes at people nonstop and has turned truth inside out. The lies about Obama would be laughable if they weren’t so effective. So many people believe them because they hear them on Fox--and since Fox calls itself “Fair and Balanced”, it must be true, right? I watch and listen to President Obama and see a smart, compassionate, visionary leader who is working very hard to make our country work better for more of us. He is not at all like the evil caricature presented by right wing media to a gullible public.

This country is in the grip of extremely wealthy people who don’t care at all what happens to the rest of us. We are cheap labor and cannon fodder to them. Mitt Romney got rich by firing people, not by hiring people. Why would anyone think the country would be better off with him as president? He is a CEO, not a president. His thing is money, not people. People make fun of President Obama Obama for having been a community organizer, but community organizers care about people, not profit--unlike venture capitalists like Romney.

I do believe that President Obama will win tomorrow; I hope the people who have been taught to hate and fear him will accept that and not try to derail his presidency. I think he will go down in history as one of the greatest presidents this country has ever had. And I hope that after tomorrow, we’re all still speaking to each other.