Election day – 300 million shades of purple
300-million shades of purple: Enough already with the “polarization” declarations. I believe that cliché misses the point here. Let me explain:
Early this morning, walking the dog in an adjacent neighborhood, I ran into a “nodding acquaintance.” (Nodding acquaintance means someone I exchange nods with most mornings, but we’ve never actually talked). He was pulling a Romney/Ryan sign from his front lawn.
He looked up at me, shook his head slowly and raised both hands – palms up – in the universal sign of “Where do we go from here?” resignation.
This time Washington needs to listen
CONVERSATION: We’ve never talked before, but his gesture was like an invitation. “It’s OK,” I heard myself saying, “I don’t believe this is an Obama mandate so much as it is a mandate for reevaluation. I believe America wants to work together, and the nation has sent a clear message to Washington that we expect Congress to do the same.”
“But people are so polarized,” he said.
“Well that’s what we’ve been told,” I replied, “but I’m beginning to believe that it’s only the extremes that are polarized. Most of the rest of us want to get along, and we want to get things done that help everyone despite their politics, and we’re more than willing to join hands across the aisle. I’ll go a step further, I think most of the rest of us want to get rid of the aisle and all sit in the same section.”
“I’ll go a step further, I think most of the rest of us want to get rid of the aisle and all sit in the same section.”
I told him that the most important thing that can happen now is for the Obama administration to prepare for the second term as if they’re assembling a coalition government.
THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN: Listen to the people, already! The people may have spoken, but what we said is this, “Pretty much 40% of us lean to the moderate right, and around 40% of us lean to the moderate left. We’re telling you – ONE MORE TIME – to stop being manipulated by the noisy 20% and work together like 80% of us demand!”
The sad thing is that this time around it took the politicians a full year and six-billion dollars ($3-billion each for the presidential race and then everything else) to find out what we’ve been telling them for the best part of two decades. And we’re still not sure that they can hear that well.
AMERICA IS CELEBRATING: That sound you hear around the USA, the cheering and the applause, it’s not for the Democrats, and it’s not for the Republicans either; it’s for the end of this long year of manipulation, of negativity and of spin.
We’re also celebrating the fact of our shared love for this country. They need a new political map on the television, to replace the one with huge blocks of red and blue. That division-oriented map is a lie. Our reality here in the USA is 300 million shades of purple.
Our reality here in the USA is 300 million shades of purple.
Celebrating America!
So here’s my challenge. Wear some purple this week; send some to your congressional representatives; show up to the inauguration wearing it; talk purple with your friends; send purple messages on the Internet…
Congratulations, Mr. Obama! But I really don’t want a blue America, I want to celebrate 300 million shades of purple. - DEREK
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. – (Romans 12:1-2 The Message)
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