United We Stand...



We are not as divided as our politics may suggest…

 

The promise of Today, surrounded by the promise of tomorrow

These words rang hollow in my ears.  They were part of the President’s acceptance speech.    As is typical, they were words filled with hope and inspiration.  And as is typical, I felt as if he were speaking directly to me.  As if he’d looked into my living room and said, “Don’t be so discouraged Aagro.  We are not as divided as our politics suggest”

I wasn’t buying it.

I’d seen the map.  It was peppered in red and blue clumps.  There were no areas that were partially red, or partially blue.  If an area of the country voted one way, its neighbors did as well.  Sure within each state the vote may have been closer than this but that only made me feel more divided.  More isolated.  Six years ago a good friend suggested to me that we were drawing ever closer to a Civil War.  That the nation was so divided, so polarized, an actual physical Civil war was inevitable.  I argued for the better nature of humanity and our country, but sitting in my living room this Tuesday, I had to wonder if he was right.

This is how The Wool Omnibus begins

We are not as divided as our politics may suggest…

Two weeks before the election, a co-worker was near tears with the belief that Governor Romney would win the election.  I’d analyzed poll after poll and was certain at that time that it wouldn’t be close, and that she could rest easy.  I explained a few demographics, in certain key regions of the country to her.  By the time the conversation was over, she was confident in the chances that the POTUS would be reelected. 

Fast forward to Election Day where some things have changed, and I’ve managed to talk myself into believing that it’s closer than anyone could ever imagine.  I no longer trust the data that I’d studied for weeks.  I’ve drawn up realistic scenarios that have Governor Romney winning.  Ohio was obvious, but I’d boiled the entire election down to the state of Virginia.  At least a half dozen times during the day someone asked me what I thought was going to happen.  My answer was always the same, “the polls in Virginia close at 4 our time.” 

4 o’clock hits and polls begin closing.  Sitting in my living room, I anxiously await the results from Virginia.  I’ve done my best Eeyore impersonation all day.  I want this to be over with.  I want to sit with my glass of wine and relax and enjoy the circus that is election night.  But Virginia is ‘Too Close To Call’.  Other states roll in.  Red, red, red, red.  A tiny state in the north east goes blue.  The TV Networks plea to those watching to contact their friends and remind them to ‘Stay in Line’.  The battle has begun.

We are not as divided as our politics may suggest…

The election ends almost 4 hours later as Virginia finally gets called.  Some believe it happened when Ohio was secured but the truth is that the math would not have added up at that point anyway, as the remaining states were what the networks refer to as ‘blue leaning’ (a term I hate).  Virginia is called, and Ohio shortly thereafter.  The POTUS has won reelection.  The map of the nation resembles a post-apocalyptic science fiction map.  The kind where the country has been split into three or four separate nations.  It is a map that says, “we are as divided as our politics may suggest”.  Donald Trump proceeds to send out several tweets calling for a revolution.  He’s called for a  “march on Washington”.  Karl Rove has declared the results in Ohio premature, ignoring the math in the other states, and ignoring the results altogether.

We may be closer to this than any of us care to admit

Another hour goes by and there’s been no word from either the Romney camp or the Obama camp.  The image of the now almost full Electoral Map lingers.  My friends’ warnings of a civil war come racing to my mind.

We are not as divided as our politics may suggest…

Five days ago the President reiterated this theme.  He reminded us that there is work to be done but to not lose hope because we are not a conglomeration of red states and blue states.  We are the United States of America.  They were pretty words, but at the time seemed less weighty than in past years.

But five days later I can tell you that he’s right.  WE ARE NOT AS DIVIDED AS OUR POLITICS MAY SUGGEST!  I’ve revisited this election and the results.  More importantly, I’ve revisited the demographics of those that voted for the President.  Here are the percentages of particular voting populations that voted for the POTUS:
* Black 93%
* Asians 73%
* Latinos 71%
* Young voters ages 18 – 30 60%
* Women 55%
* White Males 39%

These numbers suggest to me that we are more unified than the red and blue stained map of our nation would indicate.  I see this list and I think, bring me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.  I look at these numbers and I see HOPE.  I see a representation of what our country is.  

The new Elecorate?

 We are not as divided as our politics may suggest…

There is still work to be done.  A lot of it.  We have a lot of problems that will require all of us working together to get them solved.  There is a prosperity gap.  A seemingly insurmountable National Debt.  Problems with our tax code.  A Medicare system that must be fixed sooner rather than later.  Same with Social Security. A looming Energy Crisis.  A “de-tarnishing” of the global brand known as the U.S.A.  No one side can fix all of these things alone.  No one side should have to.

But the good news is…we’re not as divided as our politics suggest.