My final thoughts on the WI Recall Election

So for those who haven’t turned on a TV or been on twitter in a while, Wisconsin had an election to either recall the current Governor Scott Walker, or keep him. It looks as though Scott Walker beat history and won the recall to continue on as governor.

I’m not here to talk liberals vs. conservatism. I’m not here to talk about right vs. wrong.

What I want, more than anything else right now is to have this election behind us and get back to being a united Wisconsin again. The hardest part of this has been seeing friends in my FB and twitter feed declaring their support for the one I didn’t support, and me thinking “Oh shit, if they support the other guy, does that mean they support everything they have said? Do they secretly hate LGBT people and want to see me killed?”

And then my brain finally started to kick in. If my FRIENDS didn’t like gay people, would they be friends with me?

I make a big point of believing in everyone deserves the right to their own beliefs and opinion. I also make a point that no matter what – I am a friend first and a political person second (or farther down the list). The only people who I cannot stay friends with are people who believe that I don’t have the right to live because of who I love. Everyone else I can at least get along with, if not more. Friendship and love will conquer everything else in the world, including hate.

Walker talked tonight about re-uniting Wisconsin. I’d really like to see this happen. I dream of a Wisconsin where every business doesn’t display it’s politics over it’s front door. I dream of a Wisconsin where two people on different ends of the political spectrum can be friends, because they are human enough to set their politics aside. I’m going to put some faith in the idea of bringing Wisconsin back together, no matter what the future brings.

And if that reunification cannot come because people cannot get over tonight, and if people stay cut off from each other – let that show that we are a divided nation, and the divided house that Lincoln warned us about in the Civil War is in fact reality.

It’s no secret that I’m very liberal. It’s no secret that I’m gay. Fellow liberals – mourn the loss tonight, and tomorrow let’s go back to work at teamwork on the state level. Conservatives – you won tonight, and I congratulate you. Now let’s set aside our differences and work together for a better, a brighter, and a happier future.

Respectfully Submitted,

Lukas