Well they should.
Anyone acting like a child over election results shouldn't just be put in a corner; they should be locked in a room together until they learn to behave like adults....or until they kill each other. Childish behavior has been, in my opinion, running rampant in this country for a long time, but especially in the last 4 years and I'm afraid the childish behavior is just going to get worse over the next 4 years.
Teamwork, tolerance, manners and the ability to listen are all skills that were at one point learned in school and at home. Apparently, not anymore. No place is the lack of those skills more evident than in politics...both with the actual politicians and the arm-chair politicians at home. The amount of negativity in this election was, I think, at an all time high. There are a lot of things wrong with this country, but a lot of them could be repaired if people learned how to work together, listen to each other, remember their manners and be tolerant of ideas that might differ from their own.
I was invited by a friend (who happens to be gay and a republican) to watch election results with him at the home of a very nice couple (who also happen to be gay, though democrat). While I won't tell you how I voted because it really has no baring on what I'm trying to convey, I will tell you that my political ideology is much closer to libertarian than either republican or democrat. The point is there were 3 very different ideologies sitting in the same room. As results rolled in there was a lot of good-natured ribbing, a bit of discussion on why we believe what we did and a lot of good fun. What there wasn't was petty arguing, rudeness or any childish behavior at all. Well, there was some childish behavior, but all in good fun. This group of three gay men and a straight girl with 3 different political ideologies showed that we could sit in the same room watching the same polarizing election and not get pulled into the childish nonsense that has been seen everywhere. And by everywhere, I mean everywhere: the media, on all social networks, from the candidates.
I believe in this country. If I didn't, I wouldn't still be here. I believe in the system our Founding Fathers put into place to make us a successful, prosperous, powerful nation. The proof is in the pudding...or in this case, the Constitution. If the system didn't work, we wouldn't have become a world superpower in just a few short years. Because it did just take a few short years. The United States is still in its infancy compared to most of the other countries in the world. We're having some growing pains. It happens to even the best. It happened to the Romans, it happened to the British, it happened to countless other empires. Needless to say, they didn't survive their growing pains. Our Founding Fathers tried to set up a system that would keep it from happening to us in the extreme it did for the other empires in world history. They set up a government that did not allow one person to rule everyone absolutely. They set up a system that allowed us to maintain our personal freedom of thoughts and beliefs and to elect people who would represent those thoughts and beliefs in government at all levels, from local to state to federal.
Those people we have in charge? The ones everyone seems champion only to beat up once elections occur? We put them there. Our votes. They didn't battle someone to the death to get their job. They don't have trophies of scalps hanging on the walls of their offices because they wiped out an entire tribe to take over their lands. We, the people, put them there. If you're unhappy with them, do something about it. Don't whine. Do something. If you want change, then demand it. Hold your elected representatives responsible for doing their job. And part of doing their job is working with the other guy. Yeah, those other guys that are representing people with different thoughts and beliefs than yours. Make the people we chose to represent us listen...both to us and to the other guys. It is amazing what can happen when everyone stops what they are doing to listen to the person sitting next to them. You can learn. You can grow. You can find a way to compromise and reach decisions that are best for the majority. Make the people you elected understand that not everyone lives the same life and force them to be tolerant of others chosen life. Remind them that "please" and "thank you" go a long way in this world...it never hurts to show those around you that kind of respect. Most of all, we need to force our government to work together. Unless those elected to run this country can begin to work together, our country is doomed to lose the designation of superpower and we'll become what everyone rooted for us to become....laughing stocks.
I want this country to be great again, but it is going to take a lot of work and it is going to take a lot of healing. Before anything can be accomplished, the giant wound between our two major political parties needs to be stitched up, hugs and apologies shared and reminders that the well being of this country and it's people are at stake need to be regularly passed out....maybe as the first item on their daily 'to-do' list.
I said it on Facebook the other day and I'll say it here.... Whether you're a person who believes in the Bible or you just think Jesus was a long-haired hippie from a book of fiction, his words of "Love your neighbor as yourself" are wonderful words to live by. If all of us can remember to love our neighbor as much as we love ourself, this country will be headed in the right direction.
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