Message Sent. Received?

This is not going to be a post about rehashing the election.  Quite frankly, I'm glad the whole thing is over.  And I would ask that if you want to comment, that you don't rehash it either.  I have friends on both sides of the aisle and I'm not looking to challenge, offend, or anything else to anyone.  And my focus for this is on the popular vote, not the electoral college.   My thoughts on the electoral college are for another post on another day.

Here's what I do want to say. 

Yesterday a message was sent.  Sent to whomever ultimately won the election  -  incumbant or challenger.  Unlike in some past elections, this was not a "landslide victory". 

Yes, one side won.

But when you really look at the numbers of people that turned out and how close the margins were in many of the states you have to take step back and look at the bigger picture.  It shouldn't be about winning or losing.  It should be about listening.

Roughly half of the population in these United States of America were sending the message that they were disappointed in the performance of the last four years.  And frankly, that goes to the entire Administration.  They are disappointed in a Congress that couldn't even work together long enough to pass a budget.  In the State of Mississippi, if a County or Municipality starts work on Day One of the new fiscal year without having adopted a budget under which to work they are in violation of State Law. 

Plain and simple.

They were disappointed in the inability to get some things done because we've become so partisan that it seems as if no one thinks for themselves anymore.  Each side reads from the script they've been handed and that's it. 

Robots could do that.

I don't want to hear about Hope and Change.  I was to see Cooperation and Results.  I don't want to hear about what you couldn't do but tell me, collectively, what you will do. 

Again, this has nothing to do with who won the election.  No matter what happened yesterday, HALF of this country was disappointed.

Half.

That is a whole lotta folks that need to be made happy.  And it was going to be that way no matter what.  Mr. Obama won and will have to figure out how to compromise with the folks that want things different.  If Mr. Romney had won, he would have to plan a way to make changes without losing the folks that wanted things to stay the same.

Ultimately, we are all citizens and we're all in this together.  Win, lose or draw.

Looking back does nothing to move us forward. 

I've said it here before, but voting is such a privilege.  And one that shouldn't be taken lightly.  It was such a big deal in our home when I was growing up.  Going to the polls was a family affair.  I can remember the excitement of going into the polling booth, pushing the levers next the names that whichever parent I was with pointed to, and that real sense of power in pulling back that big red handle that opened the curtain and cast the ballot.

I felt that same power on Tuesday, only it is electronic now.  I touched the squares next to the names I chose and then the big, green Cast Ballot button that made my voice heard.

This is a tough time in our country.  It isn't the first and I know it won't be the last.  But in the immortal words of Abraham Lincoln, borrowed from the Holy Bible, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."  His words were spoken in a different time about a different subject, but the tenet remains true.  If this country is divided half in two, then we will not only not progress, but actually regress.

Lincoln went on to say "I do not expect the Union to be dissolved - I do not expect the house to fall - but I do expect it will cease to be divided."

We would do well to listen.  That doesn't mean one side must give in to the other without question.  I'm not naive enough to believe that half the country would just up and change their minds about how they feel.  It means that we must find a way to come together and meet on common ground.  There has to be some, somewhere.

We have to understand the true meaning of compromise.

Because we are a divided house.  The election proved that.  And without effort from both sides we will fall.  Our Founding Fathers hundreds of years ago understood this.  They didn't all agree on how to achieve their ultimate goal, but the goal was the same.  Independence.  Freedom from England.  A cause for which they would live, and die.

We don't have such major issues as freedom and slavery at stake right now, and thankfully so, but we do have significant differences that need to be addressed.

The citizens sent a strong message on November 6.  I just hope it was received.