NY2: Post Election, November 6

Wednesday, Nov 6: New Year Day 2. 2:30 pm

We went to bed last night uncertain of the the election outcome - too close to call. We woke up to our worst fear, Trump is the President-elect. He won not only the electoral college but the popular vote as well.  No Republican candidate has done that since 2004, George W Bush. If there is a silver lining, it is that there will not be a controversary about the outcome.  Votes are still being tabulated, but we have intentionally left the TV off and avoided scrolling on-line media.

The weather is dreary, rain and clouds and the east wind is still blowing. It fits our mood - depressed. We will intentionally avoid despair.  We will hope the worst of his plans will not materialize. We will hope our basic institutions hold. But we recognize that we are living into uncertain and troubling times. It is hard to reconcile that a little more than half of our fellow Americans deem him fit to be president of the United States of American (or don't even have a concept of what that means.)

Yesterday my thoughts were about how the country would manage the chaos if he lost. Today, I worry about how we will avoid slipping into a fascist autocracy.

I have read a few uplifting posts and shared them. I talked to Anna S to encourage her. I have spent several hours working on a hard jugsaw puzzle (until I got a crick in my neck.) I have watched the surf and I keep saying - keep calm and pray on.

I pray that this will not be an existential crisis - but it is.  I pray that our democracy will endure, that my grand-children will experience peace and prosperity.

I am encouraged that in all but one state where reproductive rights were on the ballot, the rights of women were affirmed, even in states like Missouri that Trump won by big margins. The ballot measure did not pass in Florida because a 60% majority was required and it got 57%. 

I am discouraged that the Senate and probably the House will be controlled by Republicans with very slim majorities.  I predict that the Senate will abolish the filibuster at some point in the next two years. 

I will keep on keeping on.  My take-away from today's Daily Discipline (Psalm 127:1-5) is this: "It is not our role to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders."

at 6:00 pm November 6: 

The Dow Jones Average closed at 43,492; the annual inflation rate is 2.2% and unemployment is 4.1%