As agonizing as the fear was on election day (yesterday) I am feeling energized today. I’ve spent more than my usual time online recently. When I saw who was winning elections all over the country, I became hopeful. Yes, yes, I am a Democrat, and Gosh forbid, I am also a “liberal”. I don’t know where those labels come from, but I do believe in equality for everyone. I ardently believe in economic equality. I believe in truth, honesty and respect. I believe everyone in the world has a right to health care. So, there you are, “liberal”.
I believe that legislators should have the decency to be objective about the fairness of laws, rather than making laws based on payments from whomever can afford them. I believe it should be illegal for corporations to use their massive economic power to change laws and bend them to fit their own profitability goals. An example of this is our embarrassingly low minimum wage here in the USA. This low minimum wage is a direct result of legislators bending to the will of mega corporations such as MacDonald’s and Walmart. These mega-corporations often finance campaigns and use other such bribery weapons in order to gain a legalized economic advantage.
Ah, but! Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won, she won! How fantastic is that? From what I am seeing and who I am meeting, I am very impressed with millennials. I am impressed with all of the younger generations, no matter the label. Young people seem smart and even better, caring. The young people I meet and spend time with, the ones I read about, seem to care very much about our world. They seem to care very much for others. That seems to be the key to human salvation: do we care about each other? If we care about each other, we will find a way to ensure that all Americans are cared for. The best place to start this is through our system of government.
I am hopeful. The women who won these races are diverse and will bring a new conversation to the legislative table. This new conversation cannot be ignored because it has become too loud. Thank God for these brave women. Thank God for democracy.
And lest we think the job is done, here are the words of Barack Obama: “Our work goes on. The change we need won’t come from one election alone – but it is a start. Last night, voters across the country started it. And I’m hopeful that going forward, we’ll begin a return to the values we expect in our public life – honesty, decency, compromise, and standing up for one another as Americans, not separated by our differences, but bound together by one common creed.”