Malbela.com

If I’d posted a few days ago, I would have posted in anger. I would have used every curse word I knew, and blasted the people who voted for Bush. I would have said things I didn’t mean.

I keep hearing people say they’re leaving the US. They’re heading to Canada or Japan, or various other places. They tell others that America holds no meaning to them and they no longer hold any love for America.

I just can’t let go that easily.

I may not have voted for Bush, but I still have faith in America. I still believe in the US.

There is a reason this election hurts more than the 2000 election. There was no real closure after Gore won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote. We spent four years making catty comments about how Dubya wasn’t really president, how he was only a pretender to the throne. We made up slogans based on that fact. “Let’s Not Elect Him Again” “Re-Defeat Bush in 2004!”.

Then he goes and wins the election. And despite some theories about the vote in some states, Bush appears to have won honestly.

That’s why it hurts. For the first time in 4 years, Bush can say he’s president and no one can argue with him. He won the popular and the electoral votes. No matter which way you count the votes and no matter how many times we demand for pencils and paper and a large box labeled “Ballots”, Bush won. The sting we would have felt if the 2000 election had been clear has been amplified by four years of doubt.

Now it’s clear, Bush is indeed President of The United States. Does that mean I should pack up my bags? Hell no. Just because your guy didn’t win is no reason to make arrangements to rent a duplex in Ontario.

Don’t leave. You should be proud of yourselves. George W. Bush was elected by the slimmest margin of popular vote that a sitting president has ever been elected by. Bush and Kerry were neck and neck all through out the night and well into the next day. Record numbers of voters turned out, throwing the system into chaos.

No one was expecting you to actually do your civic duty, America. Be proud. Don’t leave. Don’t say things in the heat of anger.

There are a few things that all citizens need to do. We need to forgive everyone else because frankly they have done nothing wrong. They stated their opinion, they cast their vote. They did everything you did, except their guy won.

Let’s stop pinning blame on people and just try to focus on the fact that everyone tried, in the way they thought best, to make America a better place. Let’s try to keep that spirit alive. Let’s try to heal that wound we have all been pouring salt into for the last four years.

Stick around, guys. Bush only has 1535 days left before a new president is inaugurated. That’s plenty of time to pick up the pieces, get a new guy, & win the next one.