My Post-Election Rant

Alright, this is going to be a bit more…what’s the word I’m looking for here…”ornery” than most of my offerings.

Basically, I’m just offering up general thoughts on the elections and on politics in general. 

 

-First and foremost: if you’re a Republican, [expletive] you.

I’m not saying “eff” or “bump” or “forget” or any euphemism. Even though I’m not using the actual word, please understand that’s what I really mean. There’s no possible way I could have any other sentiment after this election cycle. The effigies and the caricatures and the lies and the suppression efforts and the underlying themes have just taken me over the edge.

[Expletive] turning the other cheek and all that kind of stuff. You want to fight, let’s fight. You want to run this thing into the ground, let’s go. I’m tired of liberals letting these underhanded tactics and activities go. You know what I’m also tired of?

-I’m tired of Republicans who don’t have the courage to police their own.

I have a feeling most (if not all) of these are going to simply be extensions of the first one. So be it.

I know not all Republicans are bad people. I know they’re not all racist or confused or ignorant or elitist (or any combination thereof). I also know that the racist, confused, ignorant, and elitist behavior occurs far too often for it to be labeled as anything less than systematic – or symptomatic of a system, if you prefer.

I strongly believe in the “part of the problem or part of the solution” approach, and I have no issue saying you’re part of the problem if you’re on the conservative side of the ledger. If you can’t speak out against Fox News’ drivel, if you can’t recognize the fact that Joe Wilson should have kept his mouth shut, if you can’t recognize attempted politicization of the one branch of government that should be barren of politics, if you turn a blind eye to systematic suppression efforts and ignore the fact that voting machines “somehow” register votes for the wrong candidate…then you are part of the problem.

-While I’m at it, I’m also tired of Republicans trying to pull the wool over peoples’ eyes.

Voter ID and authentication? Try suppression and intimidation. Explain to me why two guys were dressed in all black and telling people they had to meet a requirement that didn’t exist. Better yet, the idea why ID should be necessary at all when (at least in my state) pictures are not on your voter registration card and you can vote absentee without ever showing ID.

Let’s see: what else have I got here…limiting people’s opportunities to vote early. At least the ID stuff can be thinly veiled as some attempt to make sure votes are cast correctly. Shortening early voting, though? Naw. In what universe can someone actually think that limiting the franchise is beneficial to the general welfare of a republic? I’m waiting…

…but in the meantime, how about Republicans telling people that Election Day was today? That’s just beyond comprehension – until you remember that we’re talking about Republicans here. Did they think people don’t have friends? Did they think people wouldn’t turn on their TVs and hear when Election Day really was?

Anyway, these three examples have gone from ‘terrible attempt at authenticity’ to ‘authentically doing something morally wrong’ to ‘doing something morally wrong without regard for authenticity’. At least Mitch McConnell told the truth when he said his goal was to make the president a one-term official.

And he failed…Mitch.

-One thing I love about Republicans, though? They’ve adopted a stance that will ensure their defeat in many an election for the foreseeable future. To that end, their coalition-building skills are unmatched.

We already knew they hated black people, so there’s no need to go into that. They hate gay people. They hate women. They hate Latinos (except for the misguided Cubans who think Castro cares about their political stance in a different country). Try to win an election when you only like WASP males and the country is moving away from that archetype. All they managed to do was draw everyone they hate into a conglomerate that will not vote for them again en masse anytime soon…and it’s only going to get better worse.

---

At the end of the day, I just have to know one thing: how does it feel to basically cheat and still lose by such a wide margin? It was slightly more suspenseful than ’08, but it was still over by 11:00. Rick Scott tried so hard to hand this state to Romney, but Romney got beat like a drum in the other states so it didn’t even matter.

After all that, I’m enjoying this. I’m not being nice about my enjoying it either (except at work). It’s all celebration everything, between the election and homecoming. And you right-wingers can cry all you want to. Get your Boehner on. In all the happiness that I will experience, though; just one time for the road…

…kiss my [expletive] – and as Dave Chappelle said, that’s from the heart.