None dare call it outrage

When I showed up at my neighborhood polling place to vote for Mitt Romney America on Tuesday, I walked in on a kerfuffle of sorts.

A female of about sixty with her hair seemingly styled by a barber, clad in a red track suit and thick-rimmed Harry Potter glasses (not her barber; she herself), was demanding loudly that the police be called.

"Call the police! Call the police! Call the police!" she said.

The election official reached for his cellphone and appeared to comply (although I was at the location for the next fifteen minutes and saw no lights or sirens, so I think he may have actually dialed Papa John's).

Clutching my valid South Carolina Driver's License and my valid Voter Registration Card tightly to my chest, I looked around for a holdup man. Or Barack Obama.

Seeing neither, I queued up and nudged the man in front of me.

"What's the deal?" I said sotto voce.

He grinned conspiratorially. "Something about her ID."

Turns out the lady came to the polls armed with nothing (not even a purse that I could see) but a lousy attitude and some sort of Federal ID card.

Only, I guess it's the law in South Carolina that you cannot vote without a state-issued picture ID.

I'm not really sure because I always have my driver's license with me. You know ... in my wallet? In my purse? Like, in case I do see lights and sirens?

I'll thank you not to snicker! The last time I got a ticket was in 1997, knock on asphalt.

(It was awarded to me by the great State of Ohio, and they're clearly a bunch of nuts. But I digress.)

So then another election official patiently pointed out (for not the first time, I figured) that they were only following state law in demanding to see proper ID so that the irate lady could vote and get on with her day.

The female in red became even more agitated.

"Nikki Haley is an idiot! Nikki Haley is an IDIOT! NIKKI HALEY IS AN IDIOT!" she ranted.

It was about then that it dawned on me which side this lady bats for. And it ain't the side of truth and right.

Then she took another tack, valiant if a trifle non sequitur.

"My son is in the Marines!" she brayed.

I looked around but saw no Marines advancing on the elementary school cafeteria. No pizza delivery boy either.

And unbidden, the words came out of my mouth. I know it's hard for you to imagine that, but do try.

"So what. My son's in the Air Force. Your point?" I said. Politely.

She looked at me but did not engage.

The man in front of me chimed in, holding out what I assumed was his valid South Carolina Driver's License and his valid Voter Registration Card.

"I went online and it told us exactly what to bring," he offered.

She glared at him. If looks could kill, he'd have assumed room temperature before you could say electoral college.

"Oh but I didn't bring mine. Do you want me to go and get it?" she responded, all nasty-nice.

All the while exuding what she doubtless meant to be interpreted as the clever highly-evolved condescending sarcasm unique to liberals.

Then:

"The law is an outrage! Nikki Haley made this law and it's an outrage! THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!"

All relaxed now, having realized there was no robber but there was still the slight possibility of pizza, I piped up again.

"Then why don't you run for office, get elected, and change it?" I suggested.

She glared at me and again refused to engage. TG says I'm scary.

Disappointed, I stepped up and got approved to vote. I voted. All excited, thinking it was a done deal and America was God-blessed and back on track, I got my sticker.

I never saw the outraged female again and never smelled pepperoni either.

Outside, a few other citizens and I decided that the would-be liberal voter's performance, while not Oscar-worthy, had likely been staged.

Staged for outrage. But like many such plans, it flopped. No one was remotely impressed.

And as I drove away I thought, that's the problem; hardly anybody gets truly outraged anymore.

We now know that GOP voter turnout on Tuesday was lackluster. Mitt Romney garnered two million fewer votes than John McCain got four years ago.

I do not understand.

Where's the outrage for tens of millions of slaughtered babies ripped limb from limb and tossed into trash bags, lost to a barbaric and reprehensible procedure championed by the side that "won" on Tuesday night?

Where's the outrage for the fact that we are about to be hit with a tax that will eventually cripple us all, in the name of healthcare that will eventually kill us all?

Where's the outrage for the fact that it's been years since some people turned off the TV and opened a book, and most Americans are semi-literate at best?

But they text thousands of non-words per day, many while driving down the road, many more including naked pictures of themselves.

Where's the outrage over an American president who aligns himself with a violent heathen middle-eastern America-hating religion while thinly disguising (if at all)  the fact that he loathes Israel and would like to help its enemies abolish it, along with Christianity?

And he'd throw the Constitution on that God-forsaking blaze too if he got his way.

Where's the outrage for the fact that fuel and electricity prices will now skyrocket as the green agenda is pandered to by soulless politicians (on both sides of the aisle) from whom all restraints have been removed?

Where's the outrage for the fact that Capitalism is now considered the enemy and de facto Socialism is touted as the cure for all our country's ills?

Where's the outrage for the fact that there are finally more people on welfare than there are people to pay the taxes that support it? 

Because we've become complacent about the bounty and relative ease for which we've worked all our adult lives, more than half the country is now complacent about appropriating the bounty and relative ease for which we've labored -- but from which we are now barely permitted to benefit.

Because good and well-intentioned people of my generation did not hold the line in the home, they're now saddled with profligate sons and daughters who vote welfare instead of well-being, if they bother themselves to vote at all.

These good people of my generation aren't even embarrassed -- forget outraged -- anymore when those daughters present them with fatherless grandchildren, then take the government as their husband and go on the dole.

All while whining that there's a "war" on their lady parts.

I am here to tell you that there has yet to be a war on a fetid swamp.

And if you don't like that, please do locate an outraged digit to click yourself out. Don't let the virtual door hit you in the backside.

If they actually work, most of these daughters of good folks of my generation drop the kiddies off at (often government-subsidized) daycare after making a swing through McDonald's to buy breakfast with an EBT card.

At night the good people of my generation often babysit fatherless grandchildren while their daughters go out drinking and God only knows what else, because due to a shocking dearth of modesty, discretion, and morals, they "didn't get to enjoy" their teen years.

And that's a fairly pretty picture compared to what actually goes on in the ghettos of once-beautiful American cities where nobody works. Ever.

Where's the outrage for that? From either side?

Yet the petulant complaints of the parasites that not enough is being done for them and that hard-working people are not giving enough to them are heard throughout our once-decent land.

Let me ask you something.

Why complain when you don't have to get up and go to work every day and yet you enjoy government-issue housing (miraculously equipped with flat-screen TV and cable), government-issue food, a government-issue cellphone, and government-issue health care?

Not to mention government-issue birth control which, when you're too lazy or indifferent or promiscuous to use it, will no doubt soon be augmented -- if not all-out supplanted -- by government-issue abortions?

And since we're having this cozy chat let me point out something else.

Like everyone who has ever lived since God created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, I had nothing whatsoever to do with my parentage, the geographic coordinates of my birth, or the pigment of my skin.

I have never knowingly discriminated against a black person. I am willing to be friends (or at least friendly) with anyone who is a decent human being, who keeps their nose clean and obeys our laws and works hard for what they've got instead of expecting a handout.

I have never owned a slave or asked a black person to move to the back of a bus, a train, a plane, a car, a boat, or any other conveyance of any type. I have never demanded that they use a different water fountain or restroom, or eat in a different restaurant than me.

And I have never wished I could.

Don't dare label me a racist just because I didn't vote for the black guy. Either time.

But the concept of white guilt is as foreign to me as becoming an astronaut or moving to Uruguay or receiving an engraved invitation to hang out on Johnny Depp's island.

I don't feel it and I will never feel it and I refuse to apologize for things over which I have never had any control.

I'll tell you what I have done. 

I have remained married to the love of my life for thirty-three plus years. He is the only man I've ever known and the only one I've ever had any desire to know.

And yes, I do mean in the Biblical sense.

While I do not believe that makes me better than anyone else, I do believe it makes me more fortunate.

And obviously I was smart enough and/or blessed enough to make a few excellent choices.

I am the mother of four adults who I believe to be extraordinary in their wonderful American ordinariness. They work; they worship; they clean house and care for kids and shop and read books and pay their bills and serve their country and take care of their pets and try to eat right, and they love and respect their parents.

They all played sports and they all finished college. They are patriotic and productive.

They are hard-working and law-abiding and God-fearing and if you met any one of them and needed their help, they would give it to you.

And they've never applied for or accepted welfare, and I seriously doubt any of them ever would.

In short, what I have done for my country is I have passed my values and morals and beliefs -- and yes, the conservatism that is at my core along with my faith -- along to my children.

One of those children is herself a mother (married to the father of her children), and she is likewise passing all of the above (and then some, quite possibly) on to my beloved grandchildren.

And I know my other children will do the same, when they get the opportunity to do so.

I feel outrage today for the direction in which my precious America is headed. How could I not?

But I am happy today because I live in what is still the greatest country ever to exist on the face of the earth.

Beautiful and exceptional in every way. Maybe not as free as she once was, and more is the pity.

I am grieved and yes, I am a little bit frightened of what's ahead for us.

But I know that in the end, the bad guys do not win.

Even if they think they have.

There is a final chapter.

The Creator of the universe and of mankind and every other living thing has already written it.

Because it's all been said in an endless loop and it hasn't seemed to change much, I leave you (finally) with two verses from the book of Job and one from First Timothy.

~+~

For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

~+~

For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

~+~

He knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me I shall come forth as gold.

~+~

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Happy Thursday!

God Bless America.

That is all.

Comments

[Mari]

As usual, you've given me a laugh, and more than that you've spoken the truth! This election truly confuses me. I will never understand how anyone who says they are a Christian could vote for B.O. I'm worried about our future, and even more worried for my kids and grandkids.
Keep praying!

[glenda]

Well, my dear J., yesterday I was distraught, today I am outraged, and tomorrow is another day. And all of us who know who is totally in command over us will still have hope for a better tomorrow. So I went to my Baptist Hymn Book and came up with this , one of my favorites. ~My hope is built on nothing less ~ Than Jesus' blood and righteousness ~ I dare not trust the sweetest frame ~ But wholly lean on Jesus' name ~ On Christ, the solid Rock , I stand ! All other ground is sinking sand~ All other ground is sinking sand~"Text, Edward Mote-Music, William B. Bradbury"......As for me, I will stand on the solid Rock!!!..................LY...G.

[bobbie]

WOW! Really???

To paraphrase Mahatma Gandhi ~ "I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians."

[Jennifer]

@Mari ... I'm worried too, and I'm praying too.

@G ... ditto.

@bobbie ... As lib troll hit-and-runs go, on a scale of one to ten I give you a two for originality.

[Skunkfeathers]

Your idiot troll was lame by the usually lame lib troll substandards. Since we know libs have no standards to start with.

I wish all 50 states had voter ID laws. A lot less fraud that way.

I wonder if Ms Indignant raises hell every other place she's required to provide legal ID? She sounds like the typical lib that calls 911 when McDonalds is out of 'nuggets...

[Jennifer]

@Skunkfeathers ... upon further contemplation I do believe she has grievously misquoted Mr. Gandhi, he of the scatological proclivities and uncanny ability to judge mankind. I think what he really said was "Those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter."

[Sue the Hobbit]

Nobody does outrage quite as well as the Pirate.
I don't understand how so many people can be so blind. But I do have hope that God has things well in hand, and that's the only reason I can get out of bed in the morning. We live in interesting times, more's the pity.

[Debbie]

Donna sent me here and boy am I glad! Wonderful post and exactly how I feel!

[LAURA]

SO WELL POSTED JENNY! UNFORTUNATELY I POSTED SOMETHING SIMILAR THIS TO MY FACEBOOK AND I GOT TOLD OFF......BY PEOPLE IN A SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHURCH I USED TO ATTEND.! THAT IS WHAT KILLS ME- MY HUSBAND AND I HAVE LEARNED IN THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS THAT MANY OF THOSE FOLKS WE WORSHIPPED WITH SUNDAY AFTER SUNDAY AND WEDNESDAY AFTER WEDNESDAY ACTUALLY SEE NO PROBLEM WITH ABORTION OR GAY MARRIAGE...WHEN THAT IS COMING FROM THE CHURCH THEN IT TELLS ME THE CHURCH IS IN TROUBLE. MY PASTOR SAYS THAT THE CHURCH IS THE SHIP ON THE SEA. THE SEA IS THE EARTH AND WHILE WE MUST BE IN THIS WORLD WE MUST MAKE SURE WE STAY ON TOP- HE CONTINUED TO SAY THAT OVER TIME THE CHURCH HAS POKED SMALL HOLES HERE AND THERE IN THE BOAT AND IT AS SLOWLY TAKEN ON THE WATER (WORLD) AND SOONER OR LATER IT WILL SINK IIF IT CONTINUES ON THE PRESENT COURSE. THIS IS THE HOUR FOR THE CHURCH TO RISE UP- NOT IN RIOTING AND WORLDLY BICKERING BUT IN EXALTING CHRIST WITH OUR LIVES AND SPEAKING HIS NAME. SORRY TO RAMBLE BUT ELECTION DAY 2012 WAS A SAD DAY FOR AMERICA. KEEP IT UP!! THANKS!!

[Donna M.]

As you now know, I headed out of the country the day after the election for our latest journey. The timing was by accident, but it was a welcomed relief to rid my mind of the awful mess left behind. I'm back now, and I was glad that was able to temporarily excuse myself from the internet, television, newspapers, or other means of worldly information.

I truly do not know my country anymore. How in anybody's right mind can they re-elect that man? I shake my head in wonder and amazement of the endless capacity of human ignorance. I daresay that not even 90% of those who voted for him understand something as basic as the difference between the national deficit or the debt. Yet, these ignorant people vote. They want their handouts. They want their "goodies." They want whatever they want and will vote for whoever gives it to them. Well, they better hang on tight for the ride ahead, because it will be an extraordinary bumpy one. And I will be first in line, along with you, to tell them in no uncertain terms that I told them so.

God help us. We're going to need it. I fear that we have passed the tipping point.