Samain and the Moon of Radical Change
Saturday gratefuls: Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania, even North Carolina. Let them count. Let it be obvious. Life without Trump in the Whitehouse. Kate. A new, better political reality. Snow comin’. Cold, too. The Moon of Radical Change three-quarters through its month. And, working. A blue tide, even at neap tide, brings real, radical change. That writer in me that keeps yearning to write. May he never die.
The mail in ballot stomp. I’m for it. May this be the new normal. More and more votes by mail. Fewer and fewer at the polls. Back in 1974 I was an intern at Bethlehem-Stewart Presbyterian church at the corner of 26th and Pleasant in Minneapolis. This was an old church with non-handicap friendly stairs, linoleum tile floors. Also, a polling site. A city of Minneapolis truck parked in front of the side entrance, the driver and a helper got out, put strong wooden ramps down after opening the truck. They literally manhandled the huge metal voting machines, levers and curtains, into the church. They had to take a couple of them up a short flight of three stairs. That was tough. On the stairs. And, the men. The machines themselves were fine.
Wonder where all those clunky, very heavy machines are now? Perhaps in the Arizona desert next to all those passenger jets? This was an important invention for its day, but mail is better. Provided of course we still have a United States Post Office.
I knew my spirit would lift as soon as it became clear Trump would lose. It’s clear to me that it’s all over but the final counting. No one wants to be accused of influencing the election by calling states early. I get it. Bad media juju. Still, guys and gals. Come on. The longer we wait to announce a winner, the more noise Trump can make. Even without an announcement though, my heart has moved on, Trump is gone. The Trump Executive branch is gone. I feel free of the constant need to check on the idiot. Now the idiot looks like a desperate kid who lost his bid to be President of the second grade. And. Just. Can’t. Believe. It.
In my world the air is fresher, the sights better, the sky bluer, the sun brighter. Does getting rid of Trump solve anything by itself? Well. Yes. It gets rid of Trump. Does a Biden presidency ensure sweet milk and cookies every night for the next four years? Hardly. Did I mention it does mean that Trump will be gone? This is a huge deal to me. And, I suspect, you. The rest we can get to work on. But, without getting rid of that orange excrescence getting to work on anything would be impossible.
It will take weeks and months, probably years to examine this election. To figure out who voted for who and why. That Biden has a four million vote advantage is significant and reassuring. That Trump is within four million is deeply disturbing. What will we be on January 20th, 2021? Will Trump have convinced his 70 some million voters that Biden is the antichrist? That the Democrats want their guns, their babies, and to fill up their neighborhoods with folks who don’t speak English? That is the nightmare for me. What will we do? Yet to be known.
