Things to be Thanful for this Thamksgiving

Some of us have been totally bummed out for the past couple of weeks.

We thought that the election might be close, but we thought Hillary Clinton would beat Donald Trump in the end We all knew a few Trump-supporters. And, yes, Hillary had that problem with you private email server. Trump would get some votes, sure, but we could not imagine that his rude, brash, dishonest campaign would win against the well-organized efforts of the Democrats. If anybody had a right to hold a grudge against Hillary, it was Bernie Sanders, and he not only endorsed her, but actively campaigned for her. He pointed out what a disaster it would be if  Donald Trump won the election. The thought of Trump's being elected President of the United States seemed absolutely laughable. We laughed ourselves sick.

Than he won the election, and we now have a very good reason to be sick. And the shock does not go away. It stays with us, like a kind of post traumatic stress.

So, what do we have to be thankful for? We have a lot of wonderful things in our lives. Most of us have family and friends that we love and are very thankful for. We can and should be thankful for family and friends who have passed on. We are thankful for the positive impact these people have had on our lives. We can be thankful for our freedom. We are free to vote and campaign and to discuss our and criticize those at all levels of our government.

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare!), about 20 million people have medical insurance who would otherwise not have it. Sure the plan is not perfect, being a compromise between hopeful Democrats and repressive Republicans, but the result is a step forward.

And you can keep in mind that nearly two million more Americans voted for Hillary Clinton than voted for Donald Trump. We can thank the gerrymandering of  so many voting districts and the vagaries of the Electoral College for the fact that Trump will take office in 2017 and not the winner of the popular vote, Hillary Clinton.

(Please note: This is a sarcasm. This is not one of the things that you can really be thankful for. I'm getting to those. Please be patient.)

Be thankful that, in spite of post-election blues (or maybe because of them) you and the country are probably better off than you will be a year from now.

And, you will probably be better off a year from now than we will all be two years from now. This is because, with Trump as president and so many Republicans in the Congress and Senate, things will probably get worse for those of  us who are not very wealthy.

So, you think that I'm being sarcastic again, right? Maybe a little but, but I really mean what I say.

Thins will get worse for the country as a whole. Hopefully not so much worse that we can never recover. We can all hope and pray that the Trumpster keeps to his habit of 3:00 Tweets and doesn't upgrade to 3:00 AM nuclear strikes.

We can't stop things from getting worse, but we can hope that this general attacks on our economy and our civil liberties will get all of those who are most affected by the souring of the leadership of our nation to get out and vote for progressive candidates who will actually make things better. A lot of these people, who will be hurt the most by the increasing gap between rich and poor, didn't bother to vote at all. Many of them who did vote went for Trump, because they felt Obama didn't do enough for the middle class. Not that he didn't try, you understated. So, they voted Trump to make things better? They voted for the party that blocked Obama at every turn, every time he tried to make thing better for the poor and the middle class? This is tantamount to saying, "Wow, this aspirin didn't help my headache. I think I'll try these arsenic pellets. Let's see how they work." Or, "That new gasoline didn't stop my engine from knocking. I think I'll fill the tank with rock salt and sand. What can go wrong?"

I hope you know that a lot can go wrong. Even with the really motley minions he has started to fill his cabinet with, Trump's governing style is still very much an unknown.

Let's hope it is not as bad as it can be. But, let's be thankful that it will probably be bad enough to bring some folks who didn't vote back to their senses. Let's hope the voter's remorse gives some of the Trump voters pause, so they will vote for a major, positive change in the direction in which we are all headed.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. I really mean it!