What can I say about these historic events that everyone else hasn’t said already?

The idea that we will have a president with whom I agree on the basic matters of how our society should function makes me almost giddy. Well, it would make me giddy if I didn’t feel so worn down and bruised by the endless campaign.

I will always defend Texas from Yankee scorn but at the same time, living blue among the red, atheist among the religious right, feminist among the whatever the hell anti-feminist women think they are—is wearing. I’ve spent so many years biting my tongue, trying not to argue belief systems (logic doesn’t work, that’s why they’re beliefs) and loving the sinners while hating the sins that I now suddenly find myself with the urge to call “bullshit” right and left.

The other day at lunch, a friend said she hated both candidates but that she was afraid of Obama because he’s a SOCIALIST and she didn’t want him taking her HARD EARNED MONEY and giving it to HOMELESS PEOPLE who JUST DON'T WANT TO WORK. I muttered something about the working poor and then summed it up by saying, “We have a philosophical difference,” and changed the subject. She’s a friend, after all. But my wussiness has bugged me ever since. My only consolation is that she had already voted so I didn’t actually miss an opportunity to convert an undecided.

Still, I’m starting to wonder if my decision, made long ago, to avoid making waves in my adopted home, is the right one. And I find myself increasingly unable to just keep my mouth shut at opinions that annoy me. In a way, Obama’s victory feels personally empowering, a validation of beliefs that I’ve had to keep my mouth closed on for so many years.

So, you know what I’m saying, don’t you? I’m about to be more annoying than ever.

And by the way, Yankee friends--Obama lost Texas but he won Dallas County. And that makes me happy.

Labels: politics, presidential election, texas