America the Beautiful

A somewhat bedraggled, hobo-geared, soot-smeared Judy Garland singing “America the Beautiful” is precisely how I feel at this moment in time. Exuberant. Exhausted. Even more exhausted. The final, final results won’t be truly known for a bit. But America showed up. The America that believes in equality, empathy, generosity and kindness as its governing principals showed the fuck up.

Sure, did not flip the Senate. But flipped that was always really a pipe dream (even though Democrats have close 10 million more votes for senate candidates nationwide, we’ve somehow lost seats because, uh, America…) But the House, the House fucking matters. Now we control all of the investigative committees. Trump’s taxes. Emolument. Russia, Russia, Russia. LGBTQ candidates, candidates of color and women had a hell of a night. The first openly gay person elected to the U.S. Senate kept her seat (Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin). The first out gay man was elected to a governorship (Jared Polis in Colorado). The first Native American and lesbian woman elected to the House (Sharice “Badass Ex-MMA Fighter Lesbian” Davids in Kansas). The first Muslim women are elected to Congress (Rashida Tlaib and Minnesota's Ilhan Omar in Michigan). A 29-year-old has become the youngest ever elected to the House (Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York). For the first time ever there are projected to be more than 100 women in the U.S. House of Representatives. Massachusetts massed Question 3, protecting trans people in the state. Oh, and that bigoted, bad-haired Kentucky Clerk who refused to marry same-sex couples was soundly defeated (Bye, Kim Davis, bye). Gay karma is the best karma.

And I cannot think of a better song to celebrate that spirit with than “America the Beautiful.” Far from being just another cheesy patriotic anthem, it started as a poem written by Katharine Lee Bates, a late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century writer, social justice activist and lesbian. She advocated for immigrants, labor unions and feminist causes throughout her lifetime. She also lived for 25 years with her companion, Katharine Coman, in what was called a “Boston Marriage” back in the day. Imagine what she would think of us now.