Election

All I can say is THANK LORD JEEBUS THAT THAT CREEPY ROBOT THING WHO WANTS TO PREACH AT ME LOST, because I was scared there for a minute.

I am elated that America reaffirmed its commitment to progressivism. When Taiwanese friends say "but isn't America more liberal", I no longer have to hesitate and say "kinda...but in some ways not really". I mean I'll still say that but it'll be a more positive thing.

I'm happy we as a people seem pretty clear that progressivism is right for a reason - because it's about progress, and that the way forward is not back. I'm happy that the American public has decided they're done with hate and bigotry, and outdated notions of what "values" and "morals" should be. That they support, generally women's equality (in law and in society) and marriage equality, although the battles here are not won. That we're all sick of being preached at and told how to live, and that our "family values" are the new family values, and you can get used to it or take a hike. That we've been pretty clear in our voting choices that those who want to hold us back aren't in the mainstream and don't have the public mandate, and that maybe we can have real conversations about the economy and foreign policy if we could all just agree on inclusiveness and tolerance in the social sphere...and that the people who need to really just shut up are the targeters, not the targeted.

(Well, not "shut up" as in "stop talking"- we're all entitled to free speech, but I mean shut up as in stop assuming that you can say hateful things and that the populace will back you - shut up as in start thinking about why maybe your views are unpopular).

I'm happy we seem to more or less agree as a country that women are people too, that LGBT people are people too, that it's not OK for a politician or a church to decide what *is* and *is not* appropriate health care and insurance coverage for women's health, what people can do with their bodies, and that we'd rather help people who need a leg up rather than, I dunno, banish them and give all the spoils to the wealthy. That no matter how much the wealthy pour into an election, we will decide and we won't necessarily hand the reins to them.

I'd like the flying death robots to stop (are they really necessary?) and I'd like to see more social changes: guaranteed paid maternity leave (and paternity leave), real sex ed and real - not watered down - science in schools, subsidized child care for working families, better public transportation, true universal health insurance coverage, true sustainable R&D in better community planning and (eventual) green energy, promotion of better business culture (unionization, 8 hour work weeks, flextime when possible), affordable education for all (and I don't mean available but crushing loans) and a foreign policy that is more about strong, quiet guidance than, well, flying death robots.

I still don't tolerate intolerance. I still don't respect homophobia. I still feel that if you vote for people who want to institute gay marriage bans, you personally may not be homophobic, but you're complicit in voting homophobic platforms into power. If you vote for people who are against women's equal pay and reproductive rights, you may not be sexist yourself but you're complicit in voting sexist platforms into power, and I still have very little respect for that. I'm still not interested in "let's hear both sides" when it comes to these social issues - it's like asking for a straight-up bully's side of things in middle school mediation after a fight. I don't care what the bully thinks about what happened. Considering such views seriously gives them credence, and they deserve none - just as segregation deserved none, and anti-women's suffrage deserved none.

But anyway. For now I'm happy.

I've also got bronchial pneumonia which is why I haven't been posting a lot, and I toasted the Obama win with Chinese herbal medicine rather than beer or whiskey. I know, poor me.