The Aftermath

Election Day was Tuesday. I worked it as an election judge, have for many years now. Great turnout but still less than 50% of eligible voters. We can do better than that. And we must.

Results of the election are not fully known yet as vote tallies struggle toward completion in many areas of the nation. Not all election commissions are created equal in the land! But they do valiant work with the resources at hand. And volunteers!

It will take some days, even weeks for me to better understand what happened in the elections and why. And then, of course, we must assess the impact of the elections.

For the moment I continue to have faith in the American system of governance. I am not unaware of its problems and inabilities. It is a complex of complexes but the American voter generally has wisdom that is not readily understood by merely reading the election results.

For now it appears that nationally the republicans control both the House and the Senate. That is a lamentable fact. But now the republicans have a duty to do some work. The problems they have papered over – indeed created much of in the first place – have the responsibility to solve those same problems. They have made them much worse in the past six years. So repairing the damage will not be easy. They have created a more difficult enigma to manage than they are currently aware of. In time they glimpse the enormity of the problem.

Meanwhile, America’s trusted partners all over the globe are scratching their heads and wondering how they can trust America as a partner in foreign affairs, shared military commitments and economic management. 

Republican leadership simply has lost its trustworthiness among world leaders. They have squandered America’s shining reliability. It must now be rebuilt.

Recall George W. Bush’s dismantling of the Foreign Service? That has yet to be fully rebuilt. And solving world problems without the team in place only makes that effort more difficult.

The debacle of the global economic meltdown from 2007 to present was a gift of America to the rest of the world. We did that to other nations’ economies. Oh sure we felt the pain at home. But we transported it to every corner of the globe. Misery loves company? Well we all had plenty of that. Trouble is the issues are extremely complex and putting Humpty Dumpty back together again will take time, patience, ingenuity and brilliance. I’m not confident republicans have that kind of talent pool to call upon. So progress will be very slow.

The trouble as I see it is the American voter is lazy. They want their news digestible and in bite size bits. Life is not like that, however. It is much more complex. It needs to be worked at. It requires patience, cooperation and yes, even collaboration.

It has been said that Americans agree on more than they disagree on. Unfortunately, they are not disciplined enough to understand the nature of the problems as well as the solutions. It takes sacrifice to acquire the most important things in life. And from my vantage point I don’t see American’s willing to make the necessary sacrifices.

That’s a travesty. It is such because too many of us are selfish and self centered. We want the good but don’t wish to feel any pain of the sacrifices to be made. We want that pain to be felt by others. It is a very human trait.  It is call hubris.

Hubris. Look it up. We will not mend our fences until we both know what hubris is and how to overcome it. We can do it. But more than half of us have to be pulling in the same direction to make it work.

What direction are you pulling in? Which alternate directions interest you? Care to work with others willing to invest in the country to build a better future? And perhaps the world’s?

More on this struggle in future months. For now let us take a deep breath and not assume too much. Important thinking is called for. Not blame.

uH

November 6, 2014