Well, the election is over. I voted Republican, as I have in every presidential election since 1972, when me and most of the other 18-year-olds voting for the first time per the 26th amendment, all voted for Nixon based on his promise to bring our friends home from Vietnam, (except for the time I cast my little vote for Jimmy Carter at the request of my Georgian uncle - alas, poor Richard, he got that one wrong!)
I try to take comfort from St. Paul, (I paraphrase here), who advised us that, after doing all we can do to make things right, then we stand. We stand together and try to get along, bear the taunts from the winning side (thanks, Beyonce, for the "Take that, Mitches" remark. Real classy) and turn the other cheek, try not to be bitter and spiteful, but long suffering and patient, if at all possible.
I live in South Louisiana, as you know, but I have also lived all over this great country. I was born on Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, Arizona. Since that time, I have lived from Bangor, Maine to Brownsville, Texas, and from Homestead, Florida to Anacortes, Washington; from Bainbridge, Georgia to Westminster, Colorado and home again to Gonzales, then, eventually, Sorrento, Louisiana.
Having lived in so many diverse places, I can tell you that I believe we are blessed with a great country. But ... since the re-election of Barack Obama, my daughter wants to emigrate to another country (like Ireland or New Zealand), and my son is talking about arming himself against our own government, fearful that U.S. troops will be set against their own citizens under martial law, at some point, to enforce policies dictated by a Socialist agenda. These children, only 18 years old, are afraid of their own government. They listen to reports on the Internet, tune into YouTube videos spouting dire warnings of things to come, and they want to get the heck out of here.
We cannot leave America, I tell them. We have neither the money nor the resources to just drop our lifestyle which I am struggling so hard to maintain. I try to explain this to them and assure them that all will be well, that good WILL triumph and things WILL be made right in time.
But am I lying to my children? Am I sugar-coating the situation in order to keep them in place and calm their fears? What kind of mess are we leaving for this future generation, when things like meatless Mondays are being approved in L.A. and the sex lives of agency leaders take precedence over saving the lives of our foreign ambassadors? Our priorities are upside-down and getting even more inane on a daily basis.
No, I don't want to secede from the U.S. even though I also don't want to be kept in a part-time job forever, barely eking out a living, barely able to keep my children fed and a roof over their heads. So what is the answer? How do I assuage the fears of my children and also take that "stand" that the Bible suggests I take?
With all of my heart, I mean no harm to the current president, but I also suspect his agenda is skewed and not in the best interest of the majority of Americans. I cannot maintain my current living status indefinitely in the light of the current economic situation in the U.S. My hopes of even getting a full-time job just went south as more and more companies investigate reverting to and keeping more part-time staff in order to avoid higher insurance rates under Obamacare.
I guess you can equate this small blog of mine to a rant, but it is not one of threats or reprisal. I only want to state that if I could do more to protect my children, I would. I am doing all I can to survive and the game is changing before my eyes, making it an even tougher job to do.
I wish I could feel more hopeful, but right now, I can't. For right now, then, I'll just keep doing my job the best I can and keep trying to comfort my children with the promise that Americans are not going to keep on taking executive order after executive order that strips us of our constitutional right to self-govern our own states, and I will try to believe that at some point, some greater power will intercede and make things right.
I cannot trust the majority of my fellow Americans to think these matters through and vote for what is best for our country: the last election has proven that. It is too easy to lead people about by the nose with half-truths and innuendos and there is nothing to be done about it now, at any rate. If most states don't even bother to require legal identification before casting votes, voter fraud is blatantly rampant and suspect voters go unchallenged, allowing anyone to be president here, and so there are no limits to the resultant corruption from local government levels to national. Our electoral system has failed.
So now I will do all I can do to take care of my own business, keep my disappointment to myself, create as much security as I can for my family, instill hope in my children as best as I can, and then stand. Stay in my place and wait for the tide to turn.
I lived near beaches long enough to know that the tide will always turn, just like Tom Hanks' character observed in the movie "Castaway", and you never know what the next tide will bring,
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