Monday. A week ago we were all nervous and happy and concerned. About every emotion one could feel was probably pulsing through our veins. Tuesday night, it happened. A great weight was removed from the collective shoulders of most of America. It felt jubilant wonderful and thrilling.

.. at least in most of the United States of America. States like Arizona, Arkansas, California and Florida joined in the backwards advance of states like Mississippi to strip away rights from our GLBT brothers and sisters. We must work to regain the rights that are slowly being taken away from our citizens. We still have work to do.

*ush is still pResident, and still is doing all he can to undermine this Country. Imagine drilling for oil in Arches National Park. He will try to undermine as much as he can before he leaves office. A lame duck he is not, he is a wounded animal that will lash out trying to survive. While President Elect Barack Obama can and will take care of as much of this damage as he can-- we're going to have to keep writing letters and making phone calls to our elected officials telling them what we think and feel. We still have work to do.

Rush and Hannity and their ilk still have radio and TV shows. They still control a majority of the airwaves. The hate that they spew is not going away. Most of these people rose to media power under a Democratic president, lest we forget. We still have people like Bachman and Boehner in office. They will not go quietly into the night. Faux News and the propaganda machine are still with us, alive and well. Until they become irrelevant, we still have work to do.

On Tuesday we elected Barack Obama to be the 44th President of the United States of America, and the world celebrated with us. Sorry to bust the bubble, but that was just a small tiny step in making the change happen for our country. It was the beginning. We needed that to happen in order to save America from fascism, but we still have work to do.

It would be easy to forgive and forget. I would like to simply forgive, but right now I can't. Not when People on the right are still thinking that what they have done is right and just. I don't expect them to ever apologize for calling me unpatriotic, because that is just not the way it is. We are Liberals, and our job is to just keep going forward trying to make things just for our fellow humans. Tuesday was a good respite. It was nice to finally be able to breath again. It was something we have worked very hard to achieve, but it was just the beginning of the end not happening. We are liberals. It is easy for us to forgive. It's easy to say it's alright, let's just work from here on in and make this better... But I am just not ready to forgive and forget yet. There is no time to sit back and relax, because those that have done this to our country have not stopped doing what they do. And they won't. While our President Elect should be bipartisan for the sake of our country, I can not. I will not.

I cannot forgive and simply forget while the people who did this still have power, whether it be in office or on the airwaves, and feel no remorse. I am just not that magnanimous a person. After over 8 years, 12 even, of the partisan attacks from that party over there -- (you see I have not forgotten the Clinton years) I have learned to never sit back and trust these people. Newt Gingrich is still around, as are many others... like say Karl Rove. I can't just let all that go, not now not yet, maybe never. I use that to keep me going to make change. You see, this is going to take all of us, Some people will become more moderate in the coming weeks and months, and that is fine. I understand, but if I still sound radical, it is because, I don't ever want to look down from the edge of a cliff knowing that at any moment with the wrong breeze, our country would fall, and never return. We still have work to do.

Our President Elect and our new congress can only do so much to enact the change we need. The battles won't be SO uphill as they have been the past 12 years, but battles still must be waged. We are ALL in this now, responsible for turning the U.S.A. back around. You see, they say 'watch out what you ask for, you might get it' ... well we got it. Awesome and huge responsibility.

We still have work to do.

:peace: and :heart:
Raine