Election Results

I realize that the elections were a week ago, but I'm just getting around to posting my thoughts about it.

First of all, I want to let you in on my political views, few though they may be. (I'm not much of a fan of politics in general, but I try to do my homework at election time.) In the 2008 election, I voted for Obama, and I believe he has done a pretty decent job in his four-years term. He was given an exceptionally difficult economic situation and did the best he could with it, I believe. My husband told me about a book he read called On the Brink by Henry Paulson. Paulson is a former Secretary of the Treasury who served under both Bush and Obama. He tells the story of our nation's economic state and that we were literally hours from bankrupting our country several times. According to my husband, Paulson states that both Bush and Obama approached their respective presidential situations intelligently, asking relevant questions, and making difficult decisions that were right for the country. Now I realize my information is a bit second-hand and I need to read the book myself, but I'm pretty confident that what my husband shared with me is accurate. (He has a finance degree, MBA, and enjoys politics/economics a whole lot more than I do.)

I have nothing but respect for Obama and I think he deserves that from every American, whether they actually like him or not. For example, he has attempted to revamp the health care system. I am not going to argue whether its current format is correct or not; I think there are still some flaws to it. But here is why I have such great respect for Obama -- he was willing to sacrifice his career for what he truly believed was best for the people. Our current health care system is broken and has been for decades, but no one has seriously tried to do anything about it. No matter how the system would be altered, a large chunk of the population would hate the change. Therefore, no politician was willing to make the change. No politician, that is, except Obama. Name me one other politician who was willing to put the people before his/her own career.

Now, having said all that, I voted for Romney in this last election. My reasons are not because I thought Obama was the wrong candidate, but that Romney was the right one for the right time. I had a difficult time deciding which candidate to vote for, and after discussing the options with my husband, I agreed with his assessment. For the most part, I don't think that practice of policies would be much different with either man in office, though the wording may be. For example, Obama will probably tweak the health care system to "make it better." Romney would probably "repeal" it, but in actuality just tweak it also. After all, it was based in large part upon the same system he established in Massachusetts.

But here's where the difference lies, I believe. Romney has a strong and rather ruthless business background. Now that we are out of the worst of the recession, our country needs to fix some things to mitigate the next one. That means trimming some fat out of the system. We need to get rid of superfluous positions, reduce expenditures, and better balance the budget. I believe that Romney has the experience to be able to accomplish that, and that is why I voted for him.

Here's the real reason I wanted to post: I am tired of the crap flying around the Internet about the winner of this election. I live in a state so red it bleeds, and the predominant religion matches that of Romney. I read through many Facebook posts following the election, and I was absolutely appalled at the lack of Christianity flying around. The basic sentiment was "Now we are all going to Hell."

Really? Are you that immature?

Now if we lived in a country that was more oppressive, I could understand that sentiment. But come one, people, we live in one of the best countries in the world. And if we were really that oppressed, there would not have even been an election; our political leader would have just staged a coup.

I find it all rather pathetic.

I find it pathetic that people must denigrate the opinion of other people after they have expressed that opinion.

I find it pathetic that people complain about the ineffectiveness of our democracy. Well, hello people. Newsflash: we never were a democracy. For whatever reasons (I haven't studied enough to understand the perceived benefits), our forefathers established our country as a republic, NOT a democracy. And for the long foreseeable future, it will remain as such.

And I find it especially pathetic when someone has to write a letter to the editor of a newspaper expressing concern that his/her child came home from school because the other students had repeated the venom spewed by their parents, and the child was terrified that he/she was going to Hell.

How about we all just take a deep breath and grow up a little. There is a way to disagree with a choice or decision without being downright rude. I especially appreciated two posts I read. One was a bit cheeky still, but it asked for reasons to be positive Obama would be in office for another 4 years. But what I appreciated about that post was that the author insisted no bashing on the political party -- only positive comments. But my favorite post was one that stated that he did not agree with the election results, but that he would still continue to pray for and support our President. A-Men.

So please, please, please, let us all act like mature adults. No, we are not going to Hell. No, Obama is not the devil incarnate. And no, you do not have to agree with the election decision. But you should accept it. Because whether you like it or not, our country elected Barack Obama for another term in office, and I have a firm belief that he will do the best job he is capable of. So we should all give him that benefit of our doubt.