The Election
Nov 08, 2020
What a week; am I right?!
We started the week with a time change on Sunday. Although we "gained" an hour, the loss of daylight has been jarring. It's dark when I wake up in the morning. It's dark when I get home from work. It's dark at dinnertime. It just feels dark all the time...and it will until March.
Then, the election was on Tuesday. Although I'd promised myself that I wasn't going to follow the election results in real-time, I cheated and peeked on my way to bed. And then, as I knew I would, I was sucked in. The returns map was very red, which was expected. The map showed the "Red Mirage," where the returns appeared more favorable for Trump than they actually were because more conservative voters voted in-person on Tuesday and those ballots were counted first.
When I checked those preliminary returns, the feelings I had from 4 years ago came flooding back and hit me like a shovel to the head.
I remember standing in the kitchen 4 years ago. I was beside myself and inconsolable. I was crying, and trying to explain to Mike why I was so worried about a Trump presidency. I was worried about my gay friends and my non-white friends. I was concerned about women's rights. I was concerned about normalizing bullying and bigotry and racism and misogyny.
So when I checked the early results on Tuesday night, I was surprised. The count was much closer than I expected. I was hoping for a resounding vote against hatred and racism and misogyny and bigotry and fascism. I was hoping for an unequivocal vote for the greater good of our nation, one in favor of science and progress, and for the healing and repairing of the division in the US.
And it made me sad as hell that the votes appeared to be favoring another 4 years of the same.
Which is why I couldn't be happier with today's news that Joe Biden will become the 46th President of the United States. I am beyond thrilled that Kamala Harris will be the first woman Vice President of the United States!
I am hopeful in a way that I haven't been in a long time. I am hopeful that respect and dignity will be restored in the White House. That morality and character in the White House will mean something again. That the country's relationships here and abroad will be repaired.
But I am also aware of this truth: I am a white woman in a very conservative state. I am married to a man. I am well-educated and financially secure. I own my home. I have good health insurance.
My life — my comfortable life in Idaho — would not have been materially impacted by the results of this election. However the vote turned out. My life would continue in much the same way it has.
That's called privilege.
But this is also true: I did not cast my vote to protect my own comfortable life.
I voted to protect the rights of others. Rights for women, persons of color, LBGTQ, and immigrants.
I voted for science. A concerted plan to combat COVID. Recognition of the climate crisis to change the patterns of more hurricanes and hotter, more ferocious wildfires.
I voted for access to education, including reasonably priced college or vocational training.
I voted for access to healthcare.
I voted for common sense gun legislation.
I voted to repair the country’s foreign relations.
I voted for the future of this country.
Let's not wait until January. Let the healing begin now.
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