WOW.  As a longtime registered Independent, I’ll admit this is not the result I’d so hoped for.  But, I’m glad my liberal friends can celebrate this evening, and I do so value their friendships.  I’m very disappointed in the outcome, and all I can think of right now is that old saying ‘FOOL ME ONCE, SHAME ON YOU.  FOOL ME TWICE, SHAME ON ME’.  I feel so strongly that 4 more years of Obama will bring nothing more than continued gridlock in D.C. and decline of opportunity for anyone chasing the American Dream.  We all want a better future for our nation.  I’ve been reading all the snide gloating from MoveOn.org and others.  Snide and snarky fuels the animosity from all directions.  Chill out, people.  Reaching across the aisle starts with each one of us, not just with our elected representatives.

Well, if nothing else, maybe NOW our President will come clean about Benghazi.  Transparency …wasn’t that one of his campaign promises in 2008?

I worry about the future of this country for my children and future generations.  If financial success is chastised and punished, where is the reward for achieving the American Dream?  Or, has today’s America redefined the dream?  Based on this vote today, financial independence and fiscal responsibility are no longer admired, but punishable by tax law. Being a good American isn’t about hard work or integrity any longer.   Everyone deserves a handout in this America…whether or not they work for it.  We’re all just victims of our circumstances, apparently.

With this vote today, a bare majority of Americans have chosen. The financial cliff is coming fast but we’re barreling forward  no matter the peril.  Our country will be forever changed. As Condoleezza Rice so clearly articulated, every nation around the world knows that a country who has lost control of its finances, has lost control.

$16 TRILLION deficit and growing by leaps and bounds over the next four years!  We’re in SERIOUS trouble by 2016.  I cannot even imagine, but if I’m still with this blogging exercise, I hope and PRAY that I will reflect on this very blog post and realize that my worries were for naught.  Based on Obama’s playbook these past 4 years, I don’t think that’s very likely.  But, you know me…”Don’t look back, unless you’re going that way!”  It’s my motto, and I’m already looking ahead to a brighter day.

One day at a time, that’s all.