Reflection
Posted By Kristabella on November 7, 2012
The theme of today’s Photo a Day thing on Instagram is reflection. Or that was yesterday’s theme. Regardless, it got me thinking about today and yesterday and, yes, politics.
I’m not an overly political person. I have become more so in my old age, which I love because I love having more knowledge about what is going on in the world and being a more-informed voter. But I would never say I’m 100% knowledgeable. I’m not sure I’m even 50% knowledgeable on all the issues. I know what issues matter to me, and I vote accordingly. I lean left, so I’m pretty much always going to vote for a Democrat.
That being said, I know plenty of Republicans and conservatives and people who do not think the way I do when it comes to the political spectrum. It is OK. That is what makes our country great. Because we can all live in this wonderful country, and not worry about being persecuted for those beliefs. We’re allowed to believe the way we do. Sadly, though, it isn’t always nice and harmonious, as many of us saw on Facebook in the last few months. (On BOTH sides.)
Four years ago today, after Barack Obama was elected the first black President of the United States, I wrote this post. And that day, I was offered a job with my previous company. I only remember this because the recruiter at said job mentioned that post while he was offering me the job. I’m pretty sure I stopped breathing for three seconds when he told me that, but then it never came up in the time I worked there.
Since that time, I bought my first house, a condo I love. I got a new job that I love that challenges me and that I never want to leave.
I don’t think this all has to do with Obama. I am better off than I was four years ago, but a lot of that is my doing. Obama was a key player in my ability to buy a condo, with his first-time buyer’s program. And I’m planning to be able to refinance my place to save some money, even though I’m underwater, due to another one of his programs.
I also am a woman and have a pre-existing condition, so I am thankful for Obamacare. I hope I won’t need it, but am so happy it is there if I ever need to get it. It isn’t perfect, but it is better than we had. I am very happy to not be paying more to go to the doctor for a physical than a man.
Am I 100% happy with the job he has done the last four years? No. Not by a long shot. But I am happy he’s getting another four years to fix what is wrong. No one could have done much with this economy in just four years. I am glad to see he will get more time to fix it and he better damn well do it.
But there was a comment on CNN last night that was so dead on. This was before the race was called. It was getting closer to looking like an Obama victory, but they pointed out the popular vote. At that point, Romney was ahead in the popular vote. And the one woman on CNN pointed that out. She said that regardless of who won, ours was a divided country and that something needed to be done about that.
THIS. This is the most important thing to come out of this election. This is what people need to be focusing on. We are a divided country, and yet a large majority of voters (on all sides) in exit polls said that things need to be changed. That isn’t a partisan belief. We ALL, as Americans, know that things need to change. Things here need to get better. We need to have more jobs, more people working and a healthy economy.
I hope this is the thing that all of our elected officials remember when they start their new session in Congress in 2013. We need to work together. This isn’t a Democrat issue; this isn’t a Republican issue. This is an American issue. And we all need to work together to get America back to where she used to be. There are too many people suffering here, in the USA, for this to keep going on like this.
Let’s stop worrying about the other party and partisanship, and let our elected officials start worrying about their constituents, the ones that got them elected. Let them start worrying about how to fix this. You represent everyone, not just the people who voted for you. Let them put this shit aside and get this country back up and running. No more name calling and finger pointing. Let’s make them do the job they were elected for. Let us all put aside petty differences and get back to helping others help themselves.
After the nastiness of this election, this is something all of us can aim to do. We all live here, let’s ALL make an effort to make it a better country, a better place for all of us, red or blue. In four years, we should all say we are better off.
Well, unless you’re Mitt Romney.
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Nicely said.:)
I find the differences interesting to say the least. I make no secret of the fact that I am a Republican, I make no secret of the fact that I think that the re-election of Mr.Obama is a grave mistake. But I read your post, and I decided to take a hard look at four years ago versus today. You should know, that nothing has changed for us in the last four years, we have the same jobs, our family is the same size, we live in the same place, we drive the same cars, etc. Here’s what I came up with….
Our home which we paid $373,000 for in 2004 is now worth $300,000. Since we put over 30% down on our home that amounts to roughly $73,000 of cash money that we will probably never see again.
Our retirement and investments which were worth close to a million dollars in 2008 are now 2/3’s of that. That’s retirement for two BTW, and maybe an education for our 1 child.
As far as the day to day? That’s a whole other thing.
Our health insurance (employer subsidized) cost us about $550 per month in 2008 now costs us $800 per month
Our property taxes were $5800 in 2008 are now $7700. The assessed value of our home remains the same, no matter how many protests we file.
The family that I could feed for $100 a week now costs me $125 a week.
The fuel for our vehicles cost us $2.07 in 2008, as of today, it’s $3.59
No one here has received so much as a token raise in the last four years, and before you blame the “employer” for that you should know that the federal government and your crush “Rahm” have more than a little responsibility for that.
Now, before you get all up in arms about my numbers, know that my husband is in his early 50’s and I am in my late 40’s. We are the middle class that was/is supposed to “benefit” from all of the hope and change. This is what we got, and this is what will continue to fuel the divide between parties.
I got a call the other day and the caller had some questions about our familiy’s charitable giving. I laughed and told her the truth. “I have time to give your organization, but I have no funds to spare at this time, and I don’t see it changing in the near future”…
Very very well said.
It honestly turns my stomach to see how divided this country has become. The thing that hurts the most is that we all want the same thing-simple as that. We have different ways of wanting to get that done but that doesn’t make us any better or worse than one another. I REALLY hope that somehow that becomes evident to all Americans.
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