OK… what passes for normal in these parts, then…

I’m feeling discouraged. And I need to get out of that rut. I believe in my country and in our system of checks and balances. The country has suffered through some fairly terrible presidents before and yet managed to survive. The lame chimp Dubya will not be so differently bad that he managed to rip the country to shreds. He does not have a mandate. While a record number of voters voted for him, a record number also voted against him.

Our state and federal congressional members and our local governments need to know that we are out here, and we vote. I’m going to turn my discouragement into action, if at all possible. I want my voice to be heard. And, as a middle-aged, middle-class, taxpaying voter, I have more resources at my disposal than I did as a teenaged anti-war (Viet Nam), green (no strip mining in the Idaho White Clouds), hippy activist.

It will be better than sitting here on my ass watching my friends’ and colleagues’ lose their jobs due to offshore outsourcing. Better than sitting on my ass, period.

I never intended this to be a political blog. I do intend to continue blogging about anything I damn well please, including politics. But I may visit more categories as I did before the election heated up.

Other things may never be normal again. #1 Son unloaded the dishwasher this morning with out me asking him to. I didn’t even ask last night when he came home late after a gig. And he didn’t ask me for anything. I am really pleased. But it’s not “normal.”