But Sir, You Lost

Suburban white postmenopausal grandma speaking.

My question to you:

Where’s the truth and when did it stop mattering? 

Imagine if the final two NBA teams were playing in game seven with three seconds to go and the reigning champs were down by two. Their star passes the ball to his teammate who steps outside the three point line and attempts the shot, and just as the clock expires the ball bounces off the rim and is grabbed by the opposing team’s star and the champs lose the game. The fans go wild!

But what if the losing star boldly claims victory to the fans, who were watching with their own eyes, that the three point attempt actually went in? Remember, it did not.

“We won!” he screams. “That three was good!”

Everyone looks puzzled — his teammates, the refs, the opposing team, the fans in the stands, the coaches and the commentators. The place goes awkwardly silent.

This is what it’s like for me approximately 30 days until the presidential election. 

I am so frustrated and don’t know how to change someone’s mind when they are completely faith based and believe in their heart that they were cheated out of an election.

But I also know that some have more to gain if their team wins so the lie just works for them.

And for the record, I have been more or less conservative my whole life. We housed two young pregnant women who chose to carry their babies instead of having abortions. One young mother raised her son and the other gave her daughter up for adoption, and the whole adoption process took place in our living room.

We have owned several businesses and, trust me, we hated paying those high taxes and questioned where that money was going. Now I’m glad because my husband just turned 65 and those horrific self-employment taxes we paid our entire working lives are returning to us via Social Security checks and Medicare.

We are environmentalists because we love our Pacific Ocean and seeing our glorious mountain ranges. I’m old enough to remember trips to Disneyland driving through Los Angeles and not knowing that the San Bernardino mountain range existed. Not until emissions laws were passed when I was a kid did the mountain peaks emerge and the smog disappear.

My husband, Davey, and I were both born and raised Catholics by large immigrant families. I’m one of eight kids, and Davey is one of five. We maintain our traditions and love our family and friends. And with a large family brings beautiful diversity. We have every color in the rainbow represented at our weekly Sunday dinners. Three family members in the younger generation are identifying as something other than what they were born with, we have a thriving 1st grader who was born with the help of IVF, and we have a happily married lesbian couple too.

We love infrastructure like public schools, State Parks, National Parks, fire and police departments, good roads, trash services, a monetary system, safe banks, transportation safety, 9-1-1 emergency service, sewage treatment plants, the electric grid, and everything that makes our country great. So, of course we believe in paying our fair share in taxes and maintaining peace and the rule of law and enjoy all of the benefits of being American.

My Italian dad had a hobby of collecting antique guns and some of us own firearms. But for god’s sake, of course we believe in background checks, waiting periods, and banning assault rifles. This is not a statement against our right to bear arms.

And as far as abortion rights go, every woman has the right to make her choice. I would not want to have an abortion and would hope that my daughter and granddaughters would choose to keep their babies, but I am not in support of forcing any woman to carry her baby to term if she is ill equipped, unable, too young, or God forbid was raped.

And if you do think that it’s a good idea to make a woman carry her child to term, then do what we did. Open your house up. Invite her in. Take care of her and hold her hand through her journey.

Are my views far to the left or right? Am I an extremist? Does truth matter? Should truth matter?

I’m afraid of people who are actually wanting our Constitution to go away and a dictator to rule. I’m freaked out that my Americanness will no longer be the standard of who I am and where I live and what I stand for.

Will we still be a nation under God after this election?