Another A Cappella

The election is over, the votes have been counted, and a winner declared. President Barack Obama has won re-election to a second 4-year term. The popular vote was very close at 11:45 pm there were 3 state votes counts still too close to call and 2 states where the polls had not yet closed (Alaska and Hawaii). However, the electoral college tally showed a very clear victory for President Obama....303 for Obama vs. 203 for Romney. I'm sure there will be calls for recounts and accusations of fraud or other misdeeds, still barring a discovery of enormous tampering, the outcome will more than likely remain the same. So, the U.S. has re-elected Democrat President Barack Obama.


Obama supporters are, of course, thrilled. Everyone likes having their candidate be the winner! I, personally am very glad that Mr. Romney was not elected, for many reasons, the most important of which relates to my concerns regarding the treatment of women in this country in relation to health care, reproductive rights, equal pay for equal work, and so on.


Facebook is filled with celebratory posts about the winner and naturally, those supporting the loser are also expressing their opinions on the election result. I would like to share with you a very disturbing exchange posted by a friend of mine (Friend A). (All names and identifying info has been deleted.)


Writer #1 is my Friend A....a lovely, funny woman whom I like very much. When I met her she informed me within our very first conversation that she was a CHRISTIAN, and considered Jesus to be her personal savior. She is very active in her church. I subsequently discovered she was also a very staunch Republican. I know nothing about either Writer #2 or Writer #3. Within a half hour of the declaration of President Obama as the winner, the following exchange took place:

W #1: OMG Four more years of hell. Lovely

W #2: Amen

W #3: It will be worse in 4 years ....there will be more ppl dependent on the system in 4 years to vote democrat

W #1 Grr u are right. What a lovely thought.

W #1: Well, hopefully eyes will be open when we realize that our dollar and our country wont be worth squat. Good chance he will be impeached from the benghazi issue..

W #3: the liberals have overtaken us....there will be a full crash now, possibly followed by a civil war. Why did we have the civil war? Slavery (i.e. MORAL VALUE). what with the democrat platform taking God out of the constitution and endorsing abortion (with no conditions) and gay marriage....this is now a MORAL issue for today
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W #1: Very true. It's scary.

W #2: Fox News said PA voted for BO - most are dependent on the system right now. More and more people everywhere else will become dependent on the Govt over the next 4 years, brainwashed into voting Dem next time.


W #1: Bunch of lazy ass people who want a handout. If they truly want socialism...move to Russia!

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Now I have another friend (Friend B....who doesn't know any of those people and did not see their postings), a dear, sweet man I have known for many, many years.  He is truly one of the nicest people I know.  He also posted about the election after the results were announced.  Here is his posting:

Friend B:    America is blessed with many things. Not the least of which is the graceful acceptance of a losing candidate, be they the incumbent or the challenger. There are no military take overs or candidates being dragged from their homes at midnight and shot in the woods. Regardless of the rancor of the campaign, once the election is over everyone shakes hands and wishes the other well. If the world could only learn that from America, life would be so much better in so many places.

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Some time after reading the postings from Friend A, I wrote the following:

Breathing Again! 

Must say though, I have lived through somewhere around 15 national elections in my lifetime and I don't believe there has ever been a popular vote this close. So even though there is a clear electoral college total, approximately half the country is unhappy....perhaps even angry. That doesn't bode well for getting anything done by either side. 

I know it's a radical idea but, maybe if everyone put aside their differences and worked together, things would get better sooner rather than later. 

Well, it was just a thought..... 

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So what is my point?? I find Friend A's response truly disturbing on so many levels.  I cannot understand the hatred and vitriol that must exist to generate such an exchange. Slavery was a Moral Value???  Nooo, it was an abomination against humanity!  "Bunch of lazy ass people who want a handout."  CHRISTIAN??  If that is a Christian response, I can guarantee you that I will never become CHRISTIAN!  Impeachment??  Civil War??????   

Good God, protect us from fanatics!

Friend B is closer to what I believe about American elections and morals, but perhaps in light of Friend A's posting, we shouldn't tout American elections as a role model for the rest of the world just yet.  Maybe we'd better focus on our own citizens first.  

And as for my hope for working together in this country to make things better, well, that pretty much looks like it won't happen in my lifetime or maybe even in this millenium!

How very, very sad!