Keep Calm and Carry On

So the first President that Madison will be really aware of growing up is President Obama.  He won his reelection last night when 61 million people voted for him.  58 million people voted against him, which is a closer election than our Electoral Map shows.  The end result is a sharply divided country, once again.  Not that we think either winner would be able to change that.

Coincidentally, the stock market is plunging today, somewhat like it did after the election four years ago. I think I read somewhere that these two drops were the biggest post-election drops since they've started keeping records on that sort of thing.  Everyone seems to be pointing to a "fiscal cliff" as a reason for the downturn, as if investors just suddenly started thinking about that today or something.

Maybe - just maybe - it's a lack of faith.  I mean, that's all the stock market is, right?  Faith in the future?  So perhaps quite a few people were feeling a lack of faith in the future, because our government leaders can't seem to agree on the best course of action to take.  Complain all we want, but these people represent us, and our views.  And we are the ones that elected them.  Which brings me back to a divided nation.  Was it always this way?

When I read the book "John Adams" some time ago, a reality sunk in.  He and Jefferson went at it, and just plain didn't get along for years and years.  It's a story of redemption at the end though, as the two do eventually make up towards the end.  But for a time, their rivalry and bitter opposition was incredible.  And yet today, nobody remembers this - unless you've read the books.  It makes me wonder if Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden had a huge polarization issue to deal with.  Political rivalries have been a part of our history since the beginning.  Which leads me to wonder if everyone a hundred years from now will forget the divisive hate-fest we've got going on right now.

Today, lots of people are elated, while others are in mourning for the country.  To quote the great philosopher Captain Roos Tarpals:  "Ouch time."  There are quite a few major disappointments over the last four years, so it is difficult to be optimistic that we will have hope for some change.  Which in itself is ironic.

It's not the same country we used to be.  In some ways it's better, and in many ways it is not.  But God has promised to heal our land, if we only humble ourselves and seek His face.  So like always, we'll put our trust in Him, and continue do what we need to do from this point on:  keep calm and carry on.