So the election is now behind us and we can stop being inundated with political ads and go right back to being inundated with ads that try to compel us into the sort of reckless debt-driven consumer behavior that got us into the financial mess we're in in the first place (though of course the consumers aren't the only ones to blame. The institutions who thought it was a good idea to lend money to people who have a history of not paying money back and then buy and sell those loans as if they were a commodity with any redeemable cash value had more to do with the pickle we're in than anything else. I think I'll take the safe road and blame everyone). But I feel I need to say a few things about my personal political stance before I let this thing go.
As some of you may remember, I used to be a Rush Limbaugh-listening Ayn Rand-reading hardcore right wing Republican. Now I'm a moderate who tries his best to look at the issues without throwing around terms like "liberal" or "conservative" which are tossed around so carelessly these days that they seem to have lost most of their meaning. I was a conservative in high school because that's what my friends were. It wasn't until I got out into the world a bit that I began to see that no single political party holds all the answers to every political question. Since high school I've seen poverty, corruption, crime, racism, and a whole slew of other sociopolitical problems that I just couldn't wrap my brain around in a hardcore conservative way. I also made friends with some hardcore Democrats and found more than a few hardcore Republicans that I couldn't stand. It didn't take long for me to see that my hard right stance wasn't right in every case and instance. Of course the left wasn't right all the time either. I soon found myself in a political no-man's-land where neither party fit my views and all the third parties seemed too radical or too absorbed in a single idea or issue. So what was I to do?
I began to look at the politics of this country as the swinging of a great pendulum. If it swings too far or too long to the left or the right, it upsets the delicate balance that keeps the political leanings of this country generally moderate. I don't think Democrats should be able to implement too many of their policies over too long a period of time and the same goes for the Republicans. If you think about the fact that George W. Bush has had a key to the front door of the White House for 20 of the last 28 years (It's true. There were 8 years where his father was Vice President under Reagan, 4 years where his father was President, and he has been President for 8 years) you can see that the delicate balance has been off kilter for a while. Bear in mind the fact that I have voted for Bush twice. I voted for him in the absence of better choices, and for campaign promises that he absolutely failed to live up to, but I did vote for him.
This year I voted for Obama. I did it proudly and happily. My only regret is that I didn't have two votes to cast for him because I woulda done it in a heartbeat. In the days leading up to and after the election, I have heard every slanderous accusation against Obama that you could imagine. I've heard him accused of not being a citizen of this country (a ridiculous argument because don't you think a candidate's citizenship is the first they check when you announce your candidacy?) I've heard him accused of being a terrorist (another ridiculous accusation which is absolutely false. But if it were true, which is isn't, it would represent a major breakdown in anti-terrorist intelligence, which is something I don't think Obama's accusers have considered). I've also seen him painted as a member of a radical Christian church and a Muslim, which are mutually exclusive religious affiliations. Fox news even went as far as to call a fist bump between Obama and his wife a "terrorist fist bump" or "terrorist fist jab." This is about as insane an argument as you can make. Megan and I have been bumping fists for a long time now and we have no ties to Al-Qaeda or the Taliban. It's a thing young people do and it is similar to a handshake or an old fashioned "high-five." I have just seen way too much mud slung Obama's way and so little of it has any bearing in reality.
Now please understand that I have a great amount of respect for McCain. When it was suggested that he should run for President, I told several people that I wished he wouldn't. He has done a lot of good as a Senator and has represented the state of Arizona with dignity and pride. I don't fault anyone who voted for McCain, just as I hope no one thinks any less of me for voting Obama way.
It breaks my heart to see how partisan this country has gotten. We have Democrats who think Republicans are heartless uneducated Bible-thumpers who wear bib overalls and have no grasp of the issues. We have Republicans who think Democrats are sandal-wearing hippies and godless heathens who have done so many drugs they wouldn't know an issue if they saw one. These generalizations don't really represent the makeup of either party. There are good people on both sides of every divisive issue in this country and I wish people would stop squabbling with each other long enough to realize that we're all just people trying to make the best of this world the only way we know how. We may go about it in different ways, but we're really not so different that we can't be friends.
Some of you may have missed the excellent speech Obama made after winning the election. I don't remember the last time I was as inspired by a political speech. Here are two quotes from that speech:
"I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. He fought long and hard in this campaign, and he's fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead."
"Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House - a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, "We are not enemies, but friends...though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection." And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too."
McCain's concession speech included similar sentiments. Here is a quote from that speech:
"I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our goodwill and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited."
McCain was gracious in defeat and Obama was gracious in victory. There has never been a time in my life where two such men opposed each other for the office of the President of the United States. I know that some of you are less than pleased that Obama won the election, and I know some of you may disagree with nearly everything I've said in this entry. But the words of Abraham Lincoln are as true now as they ever were. "We are not enemies, but friends." I sincerely hope that this country will learn to put aside its partisan ways. That talking heads on the news and on the radio would love nothing more than to see the citizens of this country go another 4 or 8 years bashing heads with one another, but that is not the way it is meant to be. "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law." We are not to do as Adlai Stevenson said we do as citizens, "Pick a President, and then for four years pick on him."
In the early days of the church, the saints were taught to seek legal recourse for the wrongdoings they suffered and to not take matters into their own hands. If you remember President Packer's talk from general conference, he talked about how the saints, upon reaching the Salt Lake Valley, held a patriotic parade the likes of which most of us have never seen in our lifetime. He said, "They chose patriotism and loyalty to that same government which had rejected and failed to assist them." There is much we can learn from the example of our pioneer ancestors.
Obama has not as yet set his hand to the bible to be sworn in as President of this country and there are those who refuse to give him any sort of chance to lead this nation. There are those who have already begun to murmur and speak in hushed voices about assassination. Those are not the principles by which we are to live our lives. We are always shocked to find members of our ward who go inactive when a new bishop is called because they refuse his leadership. Let us not be guilty of the very same transgression by refusing to accept the duly elected leader of our country.
Our country is in a precarious position right now. We are in a highly controversial and complex war. Our economy is teetering on the brink of depression. We are finding fewer and fewer allies in the other countries of the world, and more and more Americans are pretending to be Canadian when traveling abroad. The reputation of this country and the office of the President have been tarnished significantly over the past 16 years (yes, I'm including the Clinton Administration. See how I did that? I told you I was moderate). There is a long road of restoration and recovery ahead of us and any bickering or partisan pettiness only serves to impede the progress we could be making as a country.
So that's all I'm going to say about that. One thing I didn't plan on mentioning because I didn't think it was my place: I got some unexpected sad news from Todd today. Many of you may have heard that his Mom passed away. I don't have too many details because I didn't think it would be right to press for them, but her passing was unexpected. She was as good a woman as you could ever hope to meet. She was as kind to me as anyone has ever been and during high school she was like a second mother to me. I send my condolences to the Wilhelm family and I hope they will be comforted in this time of loss. This is one of those times where it all seems to be piling on. The tragic death of Vincent Romero and Timothy Romans and the uncertain fate of Vincent's son whose life will surely never be the same. Then we have the Wilhelms going through a difficult and sudden loss of their own.
In the midst of all the sadness and loss, there is a ray of hope. So I'm going to try to end this entry on a positive note. But you have to understand how all this went down so you'll understand why my head was spinning up until a few minutes ago. There were about a billion people who came up to the desk here at the library. It's crunch time on this particular project and we're getting the desperate procrastinators who come in droves and make unrealistic demands of us. So I'm dealing with all this hoo-ha at the front desk when I get a call from Megan, which is the ray of hope I'll share with you in a moment. Then I get a call from Todd, who is noticeably upset and in need of someone to talk to. I tried my best to be there for Todd in the little time I had so I could get back to the desk and deal with another barrage of patrons. In a span of only 10 minutes I was dealing with joy, frustration, guarded hope, sadness, loss, and madness. It seemed a bit much and I'm still trying to digest it all.
So here's the ray of hope: Megan got an email from the MLM that she interviewed with. They told her that she was at the top of their list for that job she interviewed for. Does this mean she gets the job? We don't know yet. That's why it's guarded hope. They're finishing their quarter or fiscal year or something and they need to do some evaluation before they can officially offer a job to Megan, but they wanted her to know that she is their first choice. So she'll find out this week if they can afford to take her on or not. So we are crossing every part of our bodies that can possibly be crossed and hoping this works out. There are so many things happening now that it wouldn't be greedy to ask that one of those things be good for us. So please remember us in your prayers. We appreciate all you have done for us thus far and for all the love and support we get from you.
I think that is officially it for this entry. It's a bulky one, but I hope you all made it through.