I'm No Regular Ol' Moron, I'm an Oxymoron

I listen to music that would make your mother and mine shudder. (Shout out to my little brothers for always keeping me in the know when it comes to music.) At the risk of sounding melodramatic, music speaks to my soul. I love all kinds. My iPod has everything from Gospel to...well, things I can only listen to when the kids aren't around. And oh yeah baby, I blast it. I blast it loud. I'm no prude, do you hear me?

Yet, tonight when I saw a bumper sticker that read, "Save the TaTas", this happened: I furrowed my brow, shook my head and thought, "Wow, that is tacky, so not classy." It just seemed inappropriate to me. I'm starting to rethink that whole "I'm no prude, do you hear me?" bit. I am a sincere supporter of breast cancer awareness. I don't know. Maybe, if it were put to a really cool beat and sung, I could handle it better. Maybe if I didn't have to explain to my 7 year old son what TaTas are, I could handle it better.

My point is that I sometimes feel like an oxymoron. You know something like "Edgy-Music-Loving Prude". Or, as I have been called at work, the "Velvet Harpoon". My inclination towards oxymoronism (I'm pretty sure I just made that word up!) has never been more clear to me than tonight. As I drove home from the grocery store, I heard one of my favorite songs...yep, I love Pat Benatar.

These words almost, just almost, brought a tear to my snarky, cynical eye:
"We belong to the sound of the words we've both fallen under.
Whatever we deny or embrace, For worse or for better,
We Belong, We Belong, We Belong together."

Over the course of this election, we have all fallen under the sound of certain messages and words. We all have chosen to deny some things and embrace others. But, at the end of the day, for worse or for better, we are stuck here. Together. I don't plan on leaving any time soon, and I am guessing most of you aren't leaving either. And lucky us, since Obama won, it looks like we will continue to have Susan Sarandon and Barbra Striesand gracing us with their lovely presence. But the truth is, Pat Benatar was right, we do belong together. Just one giant screwed up family. And I pray we can make it work.

As I listened to that song, all of the disappointment I feel over this election vanished. (Whoa, hold on now. Before you start thinking that I went completely soft, you should know the disappointment returned just about 3.5 minutes later, and I will get to that next.) But, for a brief time I felt relief. I recall mentioning a few weeks ago that I do not believe we are a nation of racists. And yesterday, America proved that to the world. So, I don't want to hear it anymore. No more whining and fussing. We are moving upward and onward. Really. I mean it.

So, on one hand I felt relief. I was touched as I reflected on peaceful leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. I believe they are probably rejoicing as they look down on us today. Not because of this one man, Barack Obama. It is less about him and more about this country. The people of this nation are overwhelmingly color blind. The people of this nation are not the people of 50, 60, and 100 years ago.

I had thoughts of Carrie, Savannah, and Roosevelt today. I have loved each of them for as long as I can remember. As a child, I never payed attention to the color of their skin. They were family, and I was unaware that people were treated differently because of skin color. Today I wondered if those three people ever imagined this world could be color blind.

I thought of my mother today. As an innocent child, thrown into the very adult battles of desegregation and busing, did my mother ever imagine this world could be color blind? Upward and onward brings relief on one hand.

But, there is the other hand. I feel no relief, and it is because of this one man, Barack Obama. Not because of his skin color, but because he is the single most liberal, and far left Senator in existence. Because he has repeatedly displayed poor judgement in his associations. I feel no relief. Because he values neither the lives of the unborn, nor the lives of those born as they miraculously survive the brutality of late term abortion.

I feel no relief for another reason. Despite the vehement denials of his supporters, yes, he does lean toward socialist ideology. I have had to laugh today at the countless blog posts and emails from people who have "not wanted to offend" or "just weren't comfortable" speaking up about this issue. Now that their guy has won, they have plenty to say. I have to wonder about people who find the courage to stand for what they believe after they know they've won. And here is what they are saying:
"He is not a socialist."
"Even Mitt Romney said Obama isn't a socialist."
"If Obama is one, then so is McCain."...that one is very reminiscent of the childhood saying, "I know you are, but what am I?"....it actually makes me laugh. I honestly feel like I am listening to five year olds.

First-I am not sure who flat out called Obama a socialist. There is no doubt he most definitely has a record of supporting some socialist views. That doesn't mean I am calling him the Antichrist or Karl Marx. I believe wholeheartedly he leans so far left he can barely stand up straight. And that left lean will slowly, very subtly, very gently pull you toward socialist ideologies. I don't really care for far right or far left leaners. It's why I would never vote for Pat Robertson or Barack Obama. I want a leader who stands centered.

Second-Thank you to all of the people out there who are still in their Halloween costumes. Who knew the "Captain Obvious" costume was going to be this year's biggest hit. What would we do without your wisdom? Oh good grief! The attempts to school those of us who did not vote for Obama on wealth redistribution and social programs is so lame. You just make yourselves sound silly. It goes without saying that we have to take care of those in our society who truly need help.
We get that, we are so far past that blatantly obvious point! Clearly every president who has ever lived believed in some form of wealth redistribution. As did Christ....duh, millions of people pay tithes and fast offerings. Fast offerings redistribute wealth. We are not ignorant. We understand the need for social programs. We just expect for each member of this society to do their part, to the best of their ability. We do not believe everything is an entitlement. Each person should be expected to do their very best, and we will be happy to help those who truly can not help themselves.

"Whatever we deny or embrace...."
I will continue to embrace what I believe (am I a cynical conspiracy theorist?) and you continue to deny what is right in front of you (or are you naive?).

To those of you who voted for Obama, let's make a deal. We are in this together, "for worse or for better". I will not be a sore loser, and you don't be an arrogant winner. I will be respectful of our new President, that's just the kind of girl I am.... I had excellent home training. I believe in this nation. We can make this work.

So there you have it. In a matter of 3.5 minutes, I am both thrilled with the progress we have made and utterly disappointed. I am an oxymoron. Is that better than being a regular ol' moron?