I'm Done

The answer was no clearer this morning than it was when I collapsed into bed last night.  25% of the vote must still be counted before we know if the Democrats have managed to salvage at least one of the marquee races on the ballot this year. 

Stacey Abrams isn't finished, either.  I'm getting a headache thinking about the fact that her opponent is monitoring the validity of the election in his role as Secretary of State.  He sees no conflict.  It's a measure of the distress in our democracy that no one else does, too.

Jeff Sessions is out and replaced by someone who talked about starving the investigation to death.  I am certain that Robert Mueller has a plan in place for this eventuality, but I'm disgusted that, once again, an outrage is about to be perpetrated on our democracy and no one in power seems to care.

The bond to Fix Our Roads was soundly defeated in our county.  Apparently, TBG and I are among the very few voters who care about maintaining a well running vehicle.  The pot holes and the crevasses and the peeling asphalt are now a permanent fixture.  No one seems to care.

Tim Steyer ran an expensive campaign to get Arizona to commit to increasing its use of renewable energy sources.  He spent a lot of money; he didn't get a lot of votes.  The fact that we have 350 sunny days a year, that we have vast expanses of open space just aching for a wind farm or two, that other countries are mounting the manufacturing infrastructure to create the next wave of appliances and energy sources seems to have had no impact on the Arizona voting public.

Republicans must be teachers, too, because Proposition 305 was soundly, decisively, emphatically defeated.  Governor Ducey's attempt to gut the public school system by offering vouchers for all was the subject of marches, letters to the editor, t-shirts, buttons, and, everywhere you looked, at every stop sign and every parking lot, cars with VOTE NO ON 305 painted on the windows filled your view. 

My friends Daniel Hernandez and Randy Friese were re-elected to the State House, and Daniel's sister, Alma, will be joining them.  Brother/Sister teams are unusual in American politics; Their parents are very proud. 

Voting for people I know, caring about something and seeing the result I wanted, making sure my I Voted sticker was visible all day long....... somethings about it will be missed.  As for the rest of it,  the commercials and the mailings and the phone calls and the talking heads using the subjunctive..... good riddance.

I'm done.  I'm going to focus on feeling grateful and sharing the love.  I'm going to hope that things will improve once a new House of Representatives is seated, and I'm not going to stress about a Senate that can approve Conservative judges to its heart's delight.  I'm going to look at the things that make me smile.

Out with MSNBC.  In with Perry Mason and Star Trek.