After the shouting
Friends, did you vote this time last week? If you did, you were part of a very large turnout nationally, one of the largest volumes of mid-term election voters in quite some time.
I'm not going to replay what happened, or tout who won because of what reason, but this will make things in Washington very interesting come January. I read somewhere that when current Congresswoman and former/likely future Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi first arrived in Washington that she was among something like twelve women serving. Now she will be among more than 90 women in both houses of Congress.
That's great, but that's still disproportionate to our population.
There are Muslims who won the right to represent others in the House. There are openly gay and bisexual persons who won the right to serve. And there are many others with uncommon traits who will be in the next Congress. And that's great, and better represents the population of this country.
But let's face it, there are still too many mature white men, and that needs to continue to change.
I was in a hotel room in northern Ohio on the night of the mid-term elections, and initially it sounded as though the experts who predicted a "blue wave" were somewhat disappointed by the overall results. But now it seems that the disappointment has been tempered by the finalization of vote totals in more states and more races, so the net gain of Democrats in the House is much larger than it first appeared.
And while Democrats lost numerous seats in the Republican-controlled Senate, they gained a few that were surprising, such as in Arizona, where a Democrat was elected to the Senate for the first time since 1976.
Meanwhile, our President went to Paris apparently to participate in marking the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, but he did not attend all of the scheduled events that were held to commemorate the occasion and left prior to a large conference designed to address world issues.
He also did not travel the short distance to Arlington National Cemetery to lay a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, perhaps the first time in my memory that the sitting President failed to do so.
We all need to brace ourselves, as the dismissal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions is the first of what will likely be many whiplash moves to distract the public from the actions (or non-actions) of this White House.
All the while, Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team continue to work quietly in the background to determine what illegal acts were committed during the 2016 campaign and afterward.
If you were motivated to act by the midterms, please remain motivated to stay informed about what's happening in Washington in all three branches of government. It's our country, and we should all try to act like it!
I'm not going to replay what happened, or tout who won because of what reason, but this will make things in Washington very interesting come January. I read somewhere that when current Congresswoman and former/likely future Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi first arrived in Washington that she was among something like twelve women serving. Now she will be among more than 90 women in both houses of Congress.
That's great, but that's still disproportionate to our population.
There are Muslims who won the right to represent others in the House. There are openly gay and bisexual persons who won the right to serve. And there are many others with uncommon traits who will be in the next Congress. And that's great, and better represents the population of this country.
But let's face it, there are still too many mature white men, and that needs to continue to change.
I was in a hotel room in northern Ohio on the night of the mid-term elections, and initially it sounded as though the experts who predicted a "blue wave" were somewhat disappointed by the overall results. But now it seems that the disappointment has been tempered by the finalization of vote totals in more states and more races, so the net gain of Democrats in the House is much larger than it first appeared.
And while Democrats lost numerous seats in the Republican-controlled Senate, they gained a few that were surprising, such as in Arizona, where a Democrat was elected to the Senate for the first time since 1976.
Meanwhile, our President went to Paris apparently to participate in marking the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, but he did not attend all of the scheduled events that were held to commemorate the occasion and left prior to a large conference designed to address world issues.
He also did not travel the short distance to Arlington National Cemetery to lay a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, perhaps the first time in my memory that the sitting President failed to do so.
We all need to brace ourselves, as the dismissal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions is the first of what will likely be many whiplash moves to distract the public from the actions (or non-actions) of this White House.
All the while, Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team continue to work quietly in the background to determine what illegal acts were committed during the 2016 campaign and afterward.
If you were motivated to act by the midterms, please remain motivated to stay informed about what's happening in Washington in all three branches of government. It's our country, and we should all try to act like it!
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