Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Over Dramatic? Or Just Plain Mean...?

I'm feeling very Natalie Imbruglia about the election results, if I must be honest. Not that I'm in any way upset that Obama won--that's been my happy thought since about 10:30 pm last night!

I have to applaud my American citizens for finally getting over the "black thing," if I am to put it politely (if mostly because they feel their wallets are more important than skin color). That's progress, if you care to look at the proverbial glass as half full, I suppose. Most of them were able to see McCain's politicizing for what it was, his pandering, and his lack of focus, and, even though I know most people didn't vote for Obama because he is a Democrat (most people just wanted change, they really didn't care where it came from, I believe...), I love how new blogger on the scene "Not Lacking an Opinion" put it:

It seems as though McCain countered the Obama's African-American candidacy with a female running mate. "I see that African-American and raise you one woman!" Well it didn't work. The citizens of the United States were smarter than that. They chose substance over image.
Love that sentence! Perhaps I'll have T-shirts made...

But there are microcosms of citizens that are most unhappy, as I was reminded on my Facebook this morning. Granted, most of my Facebook friends are from my Appalachian Bible College days, right-wingers mostly, although I love them dearly, I am sorely disappointed in their reactions. Granted, some of them were very gracious; things like "Congratulations to Obama, now let's pray for him," or "trusting God's sovereignty." I can't make too much fun, as these people are trying really hard to look at the bright side, even if their bright side is nonexistent.

But then there were the others: things like "in shock that our country just elected osama i mean obama for president. God have mercy on us!" and "May God have Mercy on our souls!" and "there were many evil kings that God appointed over Israel, there's a reason for it no doubt, I'm just disappointed in the Christians of this country" and "my daughter prayed this morning when we told her the bad news. she said she sure hopes obama asks Jesus in his heart so he can make good choices."

Evil kings? Assuming he's not a Christian? Have mercy on us?? (Step away from the de-friend button, step away from the de-friend button...) I am appalled by the pride, the arrogance, the sense that they have god, but apparently Obama does not; that they know that their opinions are the only good opinions, that they are the only thing standing between god and our total annihilation-- I wish they had humble buttons I could take away! What utter, horrifying cheek!

Much like QED who commented very strangely on my last post, saying things like "He's not a Christian because he's not a very good one!" I know a lot of people who make very bad human beings, does that mean they aren't? Of course not! These are the same people that claim their god sees the heart, and no other man can know it--and they know he's not "saved"? Not a Christian? An "evil king," for crying out loud?!

There is a very good reason for why there are over 38,000 Christian denominations--None of you can agree on who each other is, who is right, what make a "real" Christian, and you all have too much god damned pride to admit you may be wrong. After all, how could you be wrong? You pray, you read your own copy of a bible, and you all draw your own conclusions with "feelings" and "leading from" the spirit (something a little Pepto would fix right up...) What could possibly go wrong with that?

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I believe their hearts' are in the right places, but I don't know where the hell their heads are at. I may have hated Bush (still do!), but I would never think of him as a man of intentional ill intent--I'm very sure he does, did, and will continue to do what he actually thinks is best, no matter how ass-backward I feel his actions to be! (or stupid, moronic, or ill-thought...) I believe there to be a very huge difference between talking about a man's actions, and who a man is, and if these are the followers of the so-called "prince of peace," it doesn't take a genius to figure out why so many were (are) disillusioned with the church, no matter what their spiritual status...

But I digress to touch on another portion of this election season in which I am very disappointed in my America, my United States: they haven't gotten over the "gay thing" apparently...

Three states had constitutional amendments on their ballots, and one had an anti-gay adoption law to be voted on, and, due mostly to lying pastors and dishonest right-wing groups ("We'll have to perform those marriages!" "We won't be able to stop them from using our churches!" "We will be arrested if we disagree with them!"--all lies...), they all passed--although some barely.

The one bright side, as FC pointed out in the comments of my last post, this now sets up a Supreme Court showdown. After all, rights were given to gay couples in California. They have wed (and will still do so until California's "amendment" takes effect--unsure of the time line there...), and now will have to appeal to federal levels to make sure they can retain those rights, as the 14th Amendment of the federal Constitution states:

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Emphasis, of course, is mine. Now that the "privilege" of marriage (later found to be a right, see Loving V Virginia: Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man"...) has been granted, it cannot be taken away from the citizens of California (or Massachusetts), and thus all those discriminatory bans and state amendments will be overturned (until such a time as the right-wing can once again sweep the country into their ideological abyss and try to pass a federal ban on gay marriage), and once again cries of "judicial activism" will fill the air waves (even though most of the time, they are not being "activist," they are doing their jobs!)

So even in this, I have hope.

I can understand the disappointment of McCain's supporters (as, when I fell asleep in 2000 with Gore as my president and woke up with Bush as my president), but at least the election was fair (unlike in 2000), Obama won the popular vote (unlike Bush in 2000), there were no tidal waves of "voter fraud" (unlike in 2000), so I'm pretty prepared to say "Deal with it!"

But what I've been hearing today isn't disappointment.

It's just being plain mean.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I leave you with my favorite G.Dubya quote, to celebrate the end of his terror: "You know the trouble with the French, they don't even have a word for "entrepreneur""
Sunday Times (UK), July 21, 2002

No, I couldn't make that up....

Gobama!!!!

Anonymous said...

Well at least I got mentioned. Obama is not a good Christian, otherwise he'd make a fúcking shìt president. Good Christians make bad presidents.

Anonymous said...

Hi Jason! Sorry it's been so long. Super busy finishing my degree, being a mom, working full time, and fixing up my new (old) house. Blogging will have to wait...but I do miss you and keep up with your writing when I can. You always leave me with good thoughts. Thank you for popping in and leaving me a message...it's nice to be remembered :)

Anonymous said...

hello jason! very good blog. i try to pray for my president but i pray for him (or someday maybe her) that they have wisdom dealing with what they are faced with everyday. i pray for wisdom for myself and to love others the way God loves us even when we don't do anything for Him unless we are in deep you know what. we need wisdom more than anything else. i do hope obama will be a good leader since he does has a tough road ahead of him. even with bush as president we still live in a good country and he only can mess things up to a certain point. i still say sometimes we need hard times to appreciate what we do have. maybe God had bush in the white house to see how strong we all can be. it does not bother me obama is going to the white house it bothers me how people think that obama has to do it all for them. are people afraid of work and hard times? i don't want the goverment to do it all for me and i won't let myself get to that level of thinking. some change is needed and i will pray obama has the wisdom to change the right things. this is off the subject a bit not a lot but a bit,:) your grandmother who i have to laugh at (in a good way)likes biden cause she thinks he is good looking and is a good speaker. i like biden because delaware is where the alfred i dupont childrens hospital is at and your mother here got her back fixed as a young teenager there. right now i feel i should go back there since i think my shoulder is falling apart. :) delaware will always have a soft spot in my heart. well, got to go. love and prayers

elj377 said...

As one of your friends from the old days and a right winger...I get your leftist words. I understand your point of view...I just can't support issues that Obama supports. It's not black or white, its not left or right, its just fundamentally at my core someone who thinks that partial birth abortion is a good idea and has said that children are a punishment loses my vote. My children can be trying...read my blog you'll so get those feelings, but I am not punished by them. I had an unplanned pregnacy and I never viewed my precious daughter as a punishment. Anyone who says that loses my vote. Anyone who supports terminating life in the womb loses my vote...life is precious. I get the incest, rape issue but that isn't it, it still is murder, I have too many friends who miscarried later in pregnancy who still deal with the grief, it's a baby not a blob of tissue. That's my point of view.
I am trusting and praying and just because you no longer follow those lines your welcome to your feelings and opinions. I love you, I disagree with much of what you say but oh well...I do think America was a little hoodwinked by the media, that's okay...I'll be ready to vote again in 4 years!
I do agree that Bush made mistakes, and I know Obama will too. Until I have to choose someone else I will support my country and the man who is leading. Thanks for an always informative read....sorry about the whole marriage thing...I chose someone of the opposite sex so I don't see it from your point of view! I do get that it's stressful and I am sorry... Love you!

elj377 said...

sorry I wrote a book!

Jason Hughes said...

Ann: Love the quote! LOL! Never heard that Bush-ism before!

QED: Care to elaborate on that one?

Dar: You just keep up the studying, girl! Don't let me keep you from life!

Mom: I suppose it's an improvement that you're using punctuation now... :) I agree that there's only so much Obama could do to make the country worse--and even his worst, I'm sure, won't be as bad as Bush!! (Only 75 more days and he's gone! Longest 8 years of my life!!!!)

Erin: Never feel bad about writing a lot--as you can see, I'm used to it. :D

I'll be putting together a post about abortion in the near future--suffice to say, I know where you are coming from, and can understand it to a point, but in all the hyped-up emotions surrounding the issue, I think some points do get lost. I'm just glad we can discuss these things civilly! As you say, between us, there isn't much we can agree on! But I hope to never lose site of the awesome woman and friend that you are!! Lots of love to you as well!

Anonymous said...

George Bush : Biggest Christian ever... shittest leader and person ever.

Anonymous said...

George Bush is not a Christian, except maybe the hating, close-minded, holier-than-though kind, which.... is not a true Christian. Just wanted to say that.

Anonymous said...

A Christian = someone who accepts Jesus Christ in their hearts.

Bush = Christian. Actions have nothing to do with it.

mom said...

hello jason! very good blog. i try to pray for my president but i pray for him (or someday maybe her) that they have wisdom dealing with what they are faced with everyday. i pray for wisdom for myself and to love others the way God loves us even when we don't do anything for Him unless we are in deep you know what. we need wisdom more than anything else. i do hope obama will be a good leader since he does has a tough road ahead of him. even with bush as president we still live in a good country and he only can mess things up to a certain point. i still say sometimes we need hard times to appreciate what we do have. maybe God had bush in the white house to see how strong we all can be. it does not bother me obama is going to the white house it bothers me how people think that obama has to do it all for them. are people afraid of work and hard times? i don't want the goverment to do it all for me and i won't let myself get to that level of thinking. some change is needed and i will pray obama has the wisdom to change the right things. this is off the subject a bit not a lot but a bit,:) your grandmother who i have to laugh at (in a good way)likes biden cause she thinks he is good looking and is a good speaker. i like biden because delaware is where the alfred i dupont childrens hospital is at and your mother here got her back fixed as a young teenager there. right now i feel i should go back there since i think my shoulder is falling apart. :) delaware will always have a soft spot in my heart. well, got to go. love and prayers

qed said...

Well at least I got mentioned. Obama is not a good Christian, otherwise he'd make a fúcking shìt president. Good Christians make bad presidents.