And for the first time in this election cycle, I give a damn
So if you remember the Anya for President post I did a few weeks back you may have an idea of what my mood has been this election cycle, which is somewhere in the neighborhood of "don't give a shit". (The fact that I could joke about a fictional character as prez, something I've never done before, and then actually considered writing in her name on the ballot just for the hell of it, tells the tale.) And I've always given a shit, even if it was in a ragey sort of way ("How dare you make outright promises about gay marriage, court the gay vote, and then sign DOMA, Clinton. You could have vetoed it, you could have let it sit on your desk and die, but no. Oh, AND Don't Ask, Don't Tell? Damn you and the horse you rode in on.
But really, I had it this time. I cared, passionately, 4 years ago, and then realized that I'd been "had". Again. Because I know the parties are all but interchangeable in reality, although they pretend they are not; and I know it's not about governance anymore, it's about power, control, wealth, ego, etc. The rest is window dressing at this point.
It doesn't matter if you switch names about, the paradigm is the same and that is where the problems lie. Playing musical chairs with the people doesn't fix the system.
BUT...BUT....
This morning my sweetie told me about THIS.
Elizabeth Warren won the MA Senate race. ELIZABETH WARREN WON. Which I really didn't think would happen, I was sure that she'd get her butt handed to her on a plate by the Big Boys and told to go home. I don't even live in MA (CT, as it happens) but - DAMN.
This made my heart very happy. This is a masterclass in grace.
This woman is one of my heroes, and has been since she first started appearing on talk shows, asking intelligent but amazingly simple questions, like "Where did the taxpayer dollars we used to "bail the banks out" (while the rest of us sink underwater) go to? Why is there no paper trail, no accountability?" I loved that she is an intelligent woman, an educated woman with a grasp of the issues, and NO APOLOGIES. (She reminds me very much of someone who might have been one of my college professors, actually.)
THIS is how you do an acceptance speech, bitches.
And when she said this:
"And all the women across Massachusetts, who are working your tails off, you better believe we're gonna fight for equal pay for equal work."
And this:
"And despite the odds, you've elected the first woman senator to the state of Massachusetts"
I lost it. I cried. I have tears rolling down my cheeks right now, and no apologies. (And my sweetie and I will probably go downtown tonight and celebrate at a local restaurant/pub - assuming the 45 mph winds from that nor'easter we're expecting don't knock out all the power and make it impossible to drive.) Yes I'm giving in to a moment of pure emotion, rather than reason and intelligence, and running on emotion is part of what got us into this mess to begin with "Democrats good/Republicans bad! Must stop!" "Abortion and gay marriage abominations! Must stop!" Rinse and repeat Et cetera, ad nauseum, ad infinitum.
But I'm grabbing this little morsel of emotion for all it's worth, because after walking around in an internal landscape that's mostly shades of grey? I just wanna feel.
So, ok - can she 'Make a difference'? Maybe not. I don't know how she'll negotiate the system, the gridlock, and right now I don't see that constant stalemate going away any time soon. But I don't doubt her intelligence and commitment for a single second, or her grasp of the financial system - the REAL system, the one that affects all of us on a daily basis, and I wish her all the best in her new job.
Elizabeth Warren is in the Senate, bitches.
Oh, and Bernie Saunders got re-elected. Well of course he did. :)
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And that's way too many paragraphs starting with "And" (including this one). Yeah, I know.
And why do my non-fic posts pretty much format themselves just fine, but I have to twist myself into pretzel knots to make the fic look right?