I’m sorry I’m late posting today, but with the results of the elections I’ve been busy all day putting my house on the market and getting ready to move to Australia. ;^ )

I’m disappointed, to be sure, but not discouraged or depressed. It’s not that I don’t think it matters who’s in office (though at times one can be hard-pressed to tell the difference), or that the country isn’t in for rough patch for awhile, but I take solace that my happiness and even my sustenance isn’t dependent on who’s sitting where in whatever Capitol building. There is a higher authority on a much higher throne who’s mandate is not affected by poll or policy.

I’ve not posted much about politics on this blog, and that’s not an accident. I definitely have my “side” and I’m strong in my beliefs and convictions that the government that governs best, governs least, but I long ago gave up on the quaint notion that there were many in authority in either of the major parties who shared these convictions with me. There was a time, however, when I was totally immersed, and gave up large and important chunks of my life to fight the good fight, going to caucuses, lit-dropping, planting signs, managing a campaign, serving as a delegate many times, once even making it to the state convention. The good fight, however, often was with the leadership of my supposedly righteous party who’s most fundamental concern was with getting their guy (or gal) in office simply because he or she wasn’t the other party’s guy or gal. Who they were or what they really stood for (or would go along with) wasn’t as important as having the right letters follow the name of the office-holder.

Jaded? No, not really. Once it sunk in that it was a game for both sides to play King of the Middle, I almost felt liberated. I realized that, for me, it made more sense to turn my efforts to the micro, rather than macro; to try and stir up the desire and the need for self-government in others one or two lives at a time and – as those lives changed – have faith that it might trickle up and someday move the middle closer to me. Others have felt different callings and I admire those who have gone to the front lines of the political battles as volunteers and officers, throwing themselves into the long and thankless hours that are needed to put a team on the field. We need those true believers on the wall. Many are bloggers and friends and I pray for their courage and their healing and their peace. They have the passion and the insight and, like so much else, I leave the commentary mainly to them.

As ugly as the process has become, and as the results we’ve just experienced are, I confess to a flicker of optimism. Everything is educational, and it doesn’t really matter if you learn something the hard way or the easy way as long as you do, in fact, learn. I find it ironic that a certain group emerged from the political darkness a dozen years ago and won on a promise to be different and ultimately became so enamored with “winning” that they forgot how to do it. All the compromises, all the “outreach” they did out of fear of not being “electable” came back to bite them in their spongy and expanding asses.

So, a cleansing breath, and let the other side shoot themselves in the foot for a little while. There’s alway plenty of low-hanging fruit on either side that will ripen into scandal; let those guys draw the flies for awhile and let’s get back to basics, and let’s hope that there will still be people willing to go back up on that wall when the time comes.

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