The Day After

I try very hard to avoid discussing politics because I really, really, really hate confrontation.  It makes me cry.

I'm not going to talk about politics now, either, so don't start posting about how horribly wrong I am and what an awful person I am and how I'm destroying our nation with my backward political leanings, okay?  It will make me cry.

I just want to encourage you to think before you speak.  I've seen so many horrible things being said online, and I tell myself again and again that you all don't mean them.  But the truth is, if you don't mean them, you need to stop saying them.  Don't you understand that you are saying these things about your neighbors, your coworkers, your friends, and your family?

Not every woman who voted for Obama because they cared about women's rights is a slut collecting a paycheck from the government.  Believe it or not, some women who use birth control do so because they  don't want to burden society with a plethora of children that they can't afford to support.   It doesn't mean they are promiscuous.  They may be happily married.  These women don't expect the government to provide them with birth control, but they certainly do want the medical insurance they pay for to cover birth control.  It's a whole lot cheaper than childbirth.

Not every man who voted for Romney is a selfish, racist misogynist with a binder full of women.  It is highly likely he is a father deeply concerned about the rising debt crisis and afraid that current political policies are leaving his children and grandchildren with a mountain of debt and a lifeless economy.  He doesn't want his years of hard work to be squandered by those who haven't earned it, and he particularly doesn't want his children to spend all their working years just trying to pay the bills of the last generation.

Some people who voted for Obama think he might just be able to help the economy.  They see the Bush years as evidence that lower taxes for the wealthy and low regulation don't stimulate the economy the way they teach in Economics 101.  Perhaps the way to dig ourselves out of this huge deficit is to increase taxes on those who actually have some money instead of continuing to concentrate wealth at the highest end of the spectrum while bills continue to mount.

Some people who voted for Romney think he might just be able to make something good happen in Washington.  They think Obama has had four years to fix the economy and all he's done is increase class warfare.  Perhaps someone with success in business can appeal to businesses and get our economy functioning at full power again.  They certainly believe Romney is more likely to stem the tide of spending that is pulling the country into a hole it may never dig its way out of.

A lot of people who voted for Obama did so because they are willing to pay higher taxes to keep our country strong.

A lot of people who voted for Romney did so because they are willing to get less from government if it means the national debt problem can be reversed.

The election is over.  Regardless of whether your man won or lost, there is a ton of work to do, and none of it will be done if we waste time hating on each other.  Let's talk constructively about what comes next and perhaps we can find common ground.

Just don't resort to more offensive name-calling.  It will make me cry.