~a column by Colleen O’Brien
Repeating Mandela’s words, I feel renewed hope for the end to this election where we might wind up with a good head and a good heart in our leader.
This is still an election in which all the votes have not been counted, and even though someone is saying it is fraudulent to keep counting, it is state-by-state law that we do so, especially when the count is so close between the contenders.
Because we have no true result until the millions of ballots are counted, the country is still the United States of Anxiety. (This is the apt title of a podcast you can look up and enjoy, despite its title.) The U.S. has been anxious for four years and escalating thus for the last few months of unprecedentedly expensive campaigning (to date, the obscene number is $14 billion).
Somewhere around 2 am today, when the President thought he was ahead and while states were still counting ballots, he declared falsely, “Frankly, we did win this election. So, our goal now is to ensure the integrity of our nation. This is a major fraud on our nation. So, we’ll be going to the United States Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop.”
`There has been no fraud, voting has stopped, and it is the counting of ballots cast in each state that is progressing right now; no voting fraud anywhere. Well, unless you count the fellow who has the attention of the world on him and who keeps shouting “Fraud!”
Biden said, truthfully, “We are going to have to be patient until every ballot is in. It ain’t over until every ballot is counted.”
There is no fraud in counting every vote, especially from the military, who in at least one state have 20 days for their ballots to be received and counted. The man who doesn’t want to count every mail-in says he loves the military. Talk’s cheap.
I have so much to say about this protracted campaign season and this almost tied election that much of what I want to write is a whine, and I think we have enough of a whine at the top as it is.
So, to get a laugh out of myself as well as preoccupy a too-busy mind, I am doing superstitious things in order that luck will come my way and the way of my candidate. Isn’t good luck what wearing the same gym socks for every game is all about?
I’m on to the magical thinking of old gym socks: I have on the shirt I wore all day yesterday as a poll watcher and that I fell asleep in last night. It may not last the day on my back, but right now, it’s a form of superstitious cloak that, as long as I’m home alone, I can continue as a good luck charm. For luck in the game that’s being played by a fellow who needs the mic and the camera on him constantly, I’m wearing this tee shirt for my guy.
My second “bet” is: If I get the wadded-up napkin in the wastebasket, my guy gets the most votes! “Basket!” I yell.
My third is: So I can see the news about my guy, my lazy computer will come on the first time I hit the button. I hold my breath, push the recalcitrant button, and . . . “Presto!”
Three outta three. The election result is looking up.
I get my recyclables out just as the big truck pulls alongside. This is an iffy thing in my household where I still think somebody else should be in charge of the trash and recycling. “Yeah for me!” I yell at the recycle driver as his machine picks up my receptacle. The recycle guy isn’t as amused by me as I am, and he’s not as friendly as the trash guy, so he doesn’t respond. It’s okay; he, lucky man, has a job.
I have no other superstitions to hang onto. But I hope I shall come up with some as the day progresses. It keeps me laughing rather than discouraged. Looking on the bright side of the little things is a good defense when there is not anything defensible about the many untruthful things one of the candidates says.
Although I do get a chuckle out of one of his twitters: “Votes cannot be cast after the Poles are closed.”
Sorry, Poles, I know how you like to sing and dance and be in the mix…and even vote; I hate to think of you being closed down. Stay positive; you may be saved.
America is still America. We think of ourselves as a land of people with hope and opportunity – some of the people who have been elected during the past few years are proof of this: immigrants, gays, transgenders, women of color, and even a wealthy businessman who knows nothing about the difference between government and business.
We remain a land of breathtaking scenery and vastness that invigorates. We have industry and agriculture and art and music and dancing and happy days. Most of us have compassion and sadness for the 232,632* who have died of COVID-19 and for the great loss in their families. Despite an economy that is not sustainable for the working class because of the inflation of groceries and the shut-down of businesses eliminating jobs right and left, we carry on, doing the best we can, helping one another to get by.
We are not a callous nation, however it may seem to outsiders. Whoever we voted for, inside our hearts, we think of ourselves as kind and helpful, hardworking, creative and even fun-loving. We don’t want to control the world or diss others, we just want to make a decent living and take care of our families. We should not be continuously lied to. It shouldn’t be this hard in a country so wealthy with such a wealthy current head of state to hold an election.
We shall carry on.
With a little bit of superstition for some of us trying to maintain hope for decency.
