I Thought the Election was Over

Okay, so stupid me. I figured that since, you know, the votes are cast, the numbers counted, Barack Obama named the 44th president of the U.S. (I totally got 10 cents off of my Starbucks for knowing the number...yay for me being a crazy trivia nut) we would be done with all the mudslinging. I'm gonna say this now, and I have a terrible feeling that I'll be saying this over and over until I'm blue in the face. People cannot be labelled "stupid," "smart," "idiotic," "ignorant," "racist," "naive," etc. because they voted for one candidate or another. Yes, some people voted based on race, some people voted based on appearance, some people voted based on some pretty outlandish assertions. But, just because someone voted one way does not make them stupid! There still is an ideological difference regarding the role of government in people's lives and the role of government in advocating a certain morality. And, gasp, some people vote based on issues and philosophical beliefs and generally who they feel would be the best leader for our country over the next 4 years.

I'm not gonna lie, I voted McCain, but that doesn't mean that I think Obama's supporters are stupid or vapid or following celebrity. And I buy into some of what he says regarding the role of government in things like same-sex marriages and so on. Generally, I'm conservative based on the classical definition of conservatism, basically get the government the hell out of my business. Do what the Constitution says you can do; nothing more, nothing less. (Yes, I recognize this leaves a lot of power to the states, and I'm not very pleased with how my state might legislate these issues either....but I digress.)

So basically what I'm saying is that the yucky, attack-dog partisanship that has come up in the past year needs to end. Regardless of voting, we're all still Americans. And I think we need to start acting like it.