Wednesday, Nov. 03, 2004 - 10:43 a.m.

The people have spoken

This is my favorite part of election time. I like to hear about who voted for what and why. This year, I am especially curious about blacks, Hispanics and young people, and will be interested in the observations that will be made.

I wonder about the blacks because 89% of them voted Democrat. That is not a surprise in some ways. Republicans still bear too much resemblance to the rulers who owned them, and a large group of them depend heavily upon government programs which Democrats usually promote, but I wonder about all the born-again blacks (and I know there are alot of them) who consider the Bible to be their guidebook. Is it hard for them to follow a party that endorses abortion and homosexuality?

I also wonder what Hispanics are thinking. 39% of them voted Republican, but that is up from 34% in 2000. In our area, there is alot of underground resentment against whites. It has probably been there, but was never evidenced openly. Or maybe, it is just because I never noticed. I trained alot of Hispanics in the lab and thought several of them were my friends because of our interaction, but much of that seems to be based on what was necessary for them to do at the time.

The younger vote surprised me, also. I thought they might be very radical, but they were conservative. Why?

My people were mostly Irish, and came to America in the hard years. I am sure the whole ugly history of Irish discrimination was common to them but where is the resentment and why didn't it come down to my generation? Is it because they usually did not stop on the Eastern seaboard but came on out to the West where what you did was more important than who you were?

Maybe I shall think on those things for a few days as the pundits emote on what pundits emote about after elections. In any case, it is time for all of us to put our differences aside for awhile and make America safe again. Our President, whoever he is, needs the support of all. Which doesn't mean we won't still proclaim our opinions vocally!

EE's devotional

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