Day After the Election

A long winter lies ahead.  Trump has won the US presidency, in what appears to be a fair and mostly by-the-books election. 

It's a mess.  I fear the foundations of the country are so rotted that our long-held institutions will not recover.  I have a lot of thoughts, but they're not well organized this morning.  For now, Terry Pratchett sums it up pretty well:

"People on the side of The People always ended up disappointed, in any case. They found that The People tended not to be grateful or appreciative or forward-thinking or obedient. The People tended to be small-minded and conservative and not very clever and were even distrustful of cleverness. 

... And so the children of the revolution were faced with the age-old problem: it wasn't that you had the wrong kind of government, which was obvious, but that you had the wrong kind of people."

- Terry Pratchett, Night Watch, 2002

If this older white guy with a solid career, good health, and close family feels this awful today, I can't begin to imagine what it is like for my black, brown, immigrant, and queer friends.  I'm grateful for the supportive friends and communities around me.  I will do my best to provide that, as well.  🕯️