A few terms come to mind, viewing the results from last night:

Epic Failure
Cratered
Cluster ***k
*ss kicking

All of them describing one epic, wonderful, hopeful night of watching the socialist/progressive movement get kicked in the nuts.

Amen! Great points and great blog. I have a 6 year old son, and so far no tantrums, but boy when he starts whining, I just say "because" :)

Kate, this is well written and thought out and many people appreciate the sentiment. The problem with this, however, is that you made the assertion that the government exists to act like parents for the people in the country which it represents and that, in America, is absolutely wrong. Our government was designed to be "by the people" and we have come to a point at which that dynamic is shifting because of people with your mentality.

I certainly agree with some of what you said. People should not yell, throw tantrums and threaten one another over the outcome of elections. We should never allow our emotions to take us that far. But what we can do is get out and get active. If there are enough of us, we can take down whoever we want, even after they have been put into power. That is what makes America great and that is why your argument is so flawed. We do not have to sit by and allow changes that might contradict our values.

We are American and I, for one, will not so easily lie down.

I agree with the sentiment of this post, but your analogy is rather flawed, unfortunately... you cannot compare politicians to parents for one simple reason: you cannot choose your parents, but you can choose who you vote for.

I was rather unhappy with many of the candidates in both parties because of the innundation of negative campaign ads on TV and radio... out of the 30-40 different ads I saw, maybe 2 at the most actually talked about the candidate's qualifications and personal stances on issues; the rest was just fearmongering and name calling. You're upset with the name calling by voters, and yes it's annoying... unfortunately I can point in the direction of the candidates and with no uncertainty say, "Well, THEY started it."

In the current political climate and party mudslinging on both sides, we might as well vote Cthulhu because it's getting tiresome of having to constantly vote for the LESSER evil. In fact, I am officially announcing the formation of the newest party: The Great Old One Party! Our logo will be the Yellow Sign, and we will place followers of the Great Cthulhu into power to prepare for the great Cthulhu's rise from R'yleh and Yog Soggoth will be the great Cthulhu's running mate.

Remember, vote Cthulhu/Yog Soggoth in 2012: The Stars Are Right!

Kate, this is well written and thought out and many people appreciate the sentiment. The problem with this, however, is that you made the assertion that the government exists to act like parents for the people in the country which it represents and that, in America, is absolutely wrong. Our government was designed to be "by the people" and we have come to a point at which that dynamic is shifting because of people with your mentality.

I certainly agree with some of what you said. People should not yell, throw tantrums and threaten one another over the outcome of elections. We should never allow our emotions to take us that far. But what we can do is get out and get active. If there are enough of us, we can take down whoever we want, even after they have been put into power. That is what makes America great and that is why your argument is so flawed. We do not have to sit by and allow changes that might contradict our values.

We are American and I, for one, will not so easily lie down.

Perhaps government as parental figure is a hyperbolic analogy, however government does have authority over us. We give them that authority, which is why as several commenters point out, we must be active in the system. The basic premise, that we have civil discourse and that we can respectfully communicate for improved government, sure beats the vitriol I'm reading on my Facebook page.

Dear Concerned Patriot,
You are right that the government as parents is a flawed analogy (& hyperbolic). I feel very strongly that we should all exercise and value our right to vote, our right to free speech, our right even to civil disobedience when necessary - i.e. the civil rights movement. And yes, I was referring to what happens when the majority gives control over our lives to representatives we would rather have no authority over us. We should absolutely not lie down, so to speak, but I am arguing that we remain civil and reflective and engaged with each other in spite of serious differences. That being said, yours is a well-taken point!

p.s. I don't know about Cthulhu, but I'd vote for a Benejezeret.

i can't bring myself to feel anything other than abject horror and disgust about brewer getting elected. we might as well start literally eating the weak, the poor and the brown. it's hard to be all sunshine lollypops and rainbows when you're talking about arizona politics. this is the state that elected a man- evan mecham- who openly hated gays and blacks, CANCELLED martin luther king day (which voters backed up until threatened with the UNTHINKABLE possibility of losing the superbowl, god forbid), though him and fife symington both ended up getting impeached for illegal financial stuff and fraud, respectively, and now we've got Jan Brewer- Community College Radiology Technician (and amateur collector of imaginary mexican heads- did somebody say death and dismemberment?) RUN AMOK. stay classy, governors of arizona! this is the state that continues to elect joe arpaio even after 20 years of epic, well-documented scandal that has been condemned by GLOBAL human rights organizations, to say nothing of the myriad national and state groups (including the federal government in various forms) that continue to struggle (but SOMEHOW fail) to prosecute and oust him. cumulatively, it's all too much and it's all happened in too small a period of time. arizona should hang its head in shame. profanity and name calling seem like flirtation compared to what's ACTUALLY warranted at this point, the least of which would be for some physical representation of the most rudimentary, bare bones human decency to be burnt in effigy on the front lawn of Jan Brewer's new Barbie Dream Governor's Mansion. my own mother sent me an email forward that actually contained the phrase (in all caps) 'GOD HELP US WHO TOLERATE THE MUSLIM!!!' and you know what i DIDN'T do? i DIDN'T let it slide, and shake my head and say 'oh, i guess we'll have to agree to disagree! that MOM, she's so old fashioned!' i wrote her back and told her that she was engaging in hate speech, and was speaking the language of nothing less than ethnic cleansing, if not the sweet nothings leading up to the unending joys of genocide. after explaining to her that my assessment of her email was a condemnation of her sentiment and not HER, i also invited her to explain to me how she came to arrive at her point of view, as she is an upper middle class white woman who has only ever lived in small town nebraska and a nice little cul-de-sac in Self Satisfied WASP, pennsylvania... she never replied, because there is NO JUSTIFYING IT. anyone selling that crap would BALK at the possibility of being held accountable for their bile, and that INCLUDES THE GOVERNOR ('no more debates since GOD HIMSELF struck me dumb last time!').

seriously, sitting around in a fair trade organic cotton sundress and sending out good vibes with a bumper sticker on your car encouraging your fellow travellers to be the change that they want to see is NOT CUTTING IT. confrontation is not only warranted, it is necessary. i would have to agree that facebook is probably not the venue if you're going to do it intelligently, though. i'd totally go with twitter. don't forget the #hashtags!

Dear Seth,
I never said I was against confrontation. And now, despite our similar politics, you're calling me names & guessing at my clothing choices. Interesting.

I feel the same way Kate! I spent most of yesterday trying to mediate between empassioned Facebook friends. As I told them, we need to make the system work for us. Yes, we have differences but our goal is the same: a better country. We get to vote for our representatives and sometimes our choice is not the one that gets elected, however, that person is now our representative. Which means we need to let them know what our opinion is. So I suggested, and have done the following: write to your rep. Write. Use your words and voice your opinion. If you are concise, intelligent, and have facts to back you up I bet you get results. We are a diverse nation with a million different ways to do the same thing. The point however is bickering, blaming, and having a tantrum solves nothing.

Thanks for this post, I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way!

Hi Kate,
i apologize if it read at any point as being directed specifically at you (and i can see how it could), that wasn't my intent. i saw the part in your post where you talk about confrontation in the political involvement (etc) sense. i actually don't see where i "called you names" in either a figurative or a literal sense. in the last paragraph i meant for it to read as the kind of 'your' that refers to people in general.

when i was writing the last part, i was thinking of a specific female friend of mine that isn't you, and she didn't even vote(in the midterm) even though she's very devoted to making sure her coffee farmers get a good price for their beans and that she brings her own bags to the grocery store and her car is bumper stickered in granola-ese manner but when she doesn't even vote, it comes off as posturing, especially when she does feel perfectly comfortable speaking in non-specific progressive political generalities.

having said that, i am capable and willing to give you feedback about your post. i WILL respectfully say that i think that your post is a bit condescending, especially with that picture. i understood what you were saying, and it's not cool to be abusive to your friends but infantilizing people for losing their cool after an election like THIS reads as more than just a little bit smug. i'm not trying to be mean here, but i think that objectively you can probably see that ("WHY can't we all be decent and mature like I HAVE learned to be from my child?" is kind of how it SOUNDS, even if that's not how you meant for it to be taken or even if that's not exactly what you said). If you're going to make proclamations about the right way to act in a pointed way (tantrum throwers, voices of dissent, whatever) then you HAVE to know that it's going to rub some people the wrong way.

Still, i'm happy that you're talking about it, providing a forum for multiple viewpoints, etc.

Thanks Seth. I can see how you'd find it smug - although that wasn't at all what I intended. Like I said, I'm tempted to throw tantrums myself - and by that I meant flinging anger, being rude, hateful & out of control. I have no problem at all with dissent, and have voiced dissent in many many ways in my political life - with letters, civil disobedience, voting,& giving my time and money to groups who support what I believe in. I actually walked out of class to attend a protest for the first time when I was twelve. I'm a member of the UFW. I played a small role helping to plan the Seattle WTO protest in 1999, although that event was also not ideal for the same reasons I was trying to get at here. I just believe strongly that magnanimity (like that of Ghandi & MLK) is actually the most effective way to make change.

that's an impressive level of involvement, and i applaud that-you certainly outshine me in your participation in the political discourse/process, and i wish there were more of you, i really do.

MLK and Ghandi are pretty much at the top of the list for role models that devoted themselves to change. i totally agree that they would be the ideal, and ultimately history remembers them because they were so effective, and also because of their natures (practically divine in their self-sacrifice, patience, love and forgiveness). it makes me furious that they were assassinated, and i think that that's how we're wired differently- it's in your nature to emulate them. I would LIKE to be that way, but i am not. I go to a place of hurt and anger and in my rage, i can sometimes miss the point.

maybe because of my capacity for sustained anger, i can certainly see the appeal of the Malcolm X's of the world, for example. his was a much less effective, more divisive movement, though... and of course, he got shot too.

finally, even if we disagree about some of the points, i did want to say that your post was really well written.

Thanks Seth. It's cool that we're on the same page - and I understand your critique. K

Great post, Kate, and great response from Desiree!
Wonderful advice:
Use your civil words
Use those words with the people representing you
Use your words with regular Joe's (like mom) to stop the hate

Excellent!