Tomorrow (Tuesday night), it comes down to your worst-case scenario. Your presidential choice loses. Your senator loses. Your congressperson loses. Every question/proposition you voted for goes opposite your choice. Even your cat loses his bid for the city council.
So what’s your plan? Do you drown your sorrow in alcohol? Pack up and leave the country? Take the next day off to mourn? How will you recover if the worst comes to pass?
I’ll drink heavily. But then, I’ll do that if my side wins, too, so maybe that doesn’t count…
Remind myself that we survived Bush & the GOP congress.
Nothing too drastic… but my mindset will be very different if there was a clear and unambiguous Romney victory vs. something which has the appearance of shenanigans… ie, very close vote in a few swing states where there were voter suppression efforts with paperless voting machines, yada yada yada.
Part of living in a democracy is your side losing some elections… as long as you can trust that the election is fair.
This guy took my answer.
Go to work, drink a lot of coffee, engage in a little low-key bitching with co-workers (we are a small arts & culture non-profit so pretty much everyone leans lefty), then get my work done as usual with the almost certain knowledge that there will be even less money to work with in the future.
Weep for the country, and for the future. Walk around like a zombie for a few days. Then somehow become numb to it and carry on.
Pack things up & leave the country.
Naw, just kiddin’.
Get up, go to work, do my job.
It’s already happened more times than I care to count. I’ll just go to work the next day, get on with my life, and look forward to the next chance.
Just go on with life, hope the Senate stays in gridlock, so they can minimize the damage they can do.
I didn’t have a congressman or senator to vote for – my GOP congressperson was unopposed and the “Democratic” senate candidate was a fake. No state referendums either - I think the only issue I voted on was whether or not my city should be allowed to have recall elections for public officials.
So it really just rides on the presidential election, and if my guy loses, I’ll be depressed for a while and then go on with my life. I might be motivated to get a bit more involved next time, maybe volunteer to help out with the next campaign.
Assuming a winner is decided Tuesday evening, if my side loses I’ll have a drink.
OTOH, if my side wins, I’ll have a drink.
If no winner is declared, I’ll have a drink while I await the result.
Go to work, temporarily block some friends on Facebook who are gloating, and go on with my life. This has happened before, it’ll happen again.
Turn to a life of crime and villainy.
I am, however, prepared to be shocked to the core of my being if we have a definitive win first thing Wednesay morning. Whichever way it goes, THAT will be cause for celebration.
I live in the greater Seattle area and I’d be much more depressed if the gay marriage ballot measure falls than if I turn out to be “wrong” about the other elections. I would sincerely wonder about my fellow Washingtonians if they reject gay marriage this year.
If it comes to pass, I’d be depressed for a while and then probably try to be more politically active in the next cycle.
The important thing is to have a plan in place.
I’ll be voting for Obama. But I don’t think Obama is the Messiah and I don’t think Romney is the Antichrist so I don’t see this election as Armageddon. I’ll be disappointed that Obama lost and I’ll hope that Romney will be a better president than I expected he would.
Play lots of video games and withdraw from political discussion for a while
Dig up dirt on that bastard who beat Fluffy for city council.
Otherwise, try to avoid panic. Hey, Romney governed as a moderate in Mass., maybe he’ll be mostly moderate as a president if he thinks it’ll improve his chances of a second term. (Although he’ll probably decide to toss some red meat to the far right on social issues [abortion, gay marriage] to avoid a primary challenge from that wing.)