So, That's What a Righteous Wind Feels Like

For the past day or so, my cultural experiences have been centered outside of Mexico. Election Day here made me feel like a beleaguered ex-pat, fed up with the system, assuming an air of total disinterest, but unable to turn away. In fact, that's probably how I would feel if I was in the states. Last night I was writing a totally unrelated (maybe) song and trolling the internet for updates and election maps. As soon as the electoral college turned into a blow-out, it lost it's novelty so I "navigated" away (nice modernism; makes my computer feel very sea-worn) to other virtual waters.

Facebook. The "social" marvel of the last few years. I laid down my guitar and scrolled through the hundred or so statuses (stati?), updated in the last few hours. My heart sighed heavily at what I saw. My friends are split straight up the middle. Half of their emotions read like a kid on Christmas morning, impossibly jubilant at the rise of this Obama guy. The other half were verbally rending their garments and cutting their chests.

I sat there for a long time, reading every word and associating each with its writer. Given my somewhat jaded view on politics of late, the first dozen had me smiling at the absurdity of it all. The extreme exultation, the gut-wrenching lament--like something out of a Monty Python skit. My amusement soon soured as I realized that these weren't just a few political fanatics...it was nearly everyone. A wave of sadness hit me with this observation. McCain and Obama had somehow turned the country into two unrecocilable camps (I would use the idea of "black and white", but some might cry racism). There were people joyfully thanking God for what he'd done that night and others crying out to him to spare their country from certain doom. Unbelievable.

Politics are messy. Politics are divisive. Politics turn your average Joe into a vicious contender with any other average Joe who hasn't "seen the light." From internet forums to conversations between friends, people vomit up the most ridiculous crap all over each other. Personal attacks reach an all-time low and the possibility of rational communication ends. I'm glad to have been in Mexico for election season.

I don't understand this amount of zeal for the political powers-that-would-be. There are precious few (if any) real examples of political figures changing things. Yes, Obama rode the "this-is-real-change" train all the way to the bank; yes, he rallied millions to his side...just like thousands upon thousands of politicians have done ever since, well, probably forever. The huge majority of all the things he said were a tasty mixture of fluff and BS. Hello, that's politics folks...I don't think I'm too far off base saying that. So I find it hard to fathom all this extreme emotion. Obama fans must have skipped over the fact that he's not going to get all their hopes and dreams sewn up in 4 years, or even 8. It just won't happen. The garment-renders must have forgotten the same. The fellow is pretty, he's charismatic, but he's basically another politician and he's not going to get as much done as he would like. This seems to be the very nature of politics.

Perhaps things will calm down soon. Perhaps emotions will cool and friends will have intelligent conversations again. And conservatives just might be a little less caustic to the new prez. That would be refreshing. I'm praying for Barrack and I'm praying for what comes next, but most of all I'm praying that this post-election rift heals quickly, unlike the past two elections.

Meanwhile, we can all wait with a bit of excitement to see what happens. And for those of you planning to go abroad in the next four years, you're going to have a much easier time getting along with the locals. Yesterday I talked to people from Mexico, Luxembourg, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, France, Holland, Nigeria, and Canada and they were all giving the States a huge, collective high five. Finally, the days of automatic prejudice based on president-elect over. Good news for us expats.

In other news, I found a $20 (USD) bill on the street today. Finally felt that jubilation that the Obama crowd was telling me about.