If you’re reading this, we’ve survived one of the nastiest election cycles in recent history.
Now we’re looking at what happens after ballots have been cast and average citizens have made their choices known.
Not everyone will be pleased. Some will be outraged. But everyone needs to take a deep breath and realize that we’ll probably survive this election, no matter what the outcome.
If conservatives have won, there’s not a lot of changing ahead in Washington. If liberals have won, all bets are off as far as what that means. And I’m not indulging in “liberal shaming” or whatever the politically correct phrase is for saying that with the elections over it’s time for both groups to roll up their sleeves and start acting like adults.
Most of us don’t care which party controls the House -or the Senate. What concerns us is the constant partisan cat-fighting that keeps the nation in near-constant turmoil. Don’t know about you, but I’d clearly like to see that come to an end, but I realize that’s about as likely as the recurring joke in “Miss Congeniality” that puts “and world peace” at the end of every contestant’s answer to questions about what they’d include in their personal wish lists. Unfortunately, Gracie Freebush isn’t available to go to Washington and clean that spectacle up for us. Seems happy endings in Washington disappeared about the time Mr. Smith left town.
Movie references aside, today’s the day we should all start planning for “life after” the elections. We can’t change the outcomes, despite the fact that there will doubtless be calls for “rage rallies” and we’ll hear claims of PTSD from those whose sensibilities were offended by the outcomes of some races.
As my dad used to tell me, “that’s life. Get over it -or die.” Yes, tough love was practiced back in the unenlightened age when I was a child. We were taught that there were absolutes in life and two of them aren’t particularly well accepted today: Yes and No.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation and other organizations worked-feverishly-before polls opened yesterday to try and “energize their base”- the pro-gun voters. Now, they’re working feverishly to help put some perspective on the election outcomes. They’re holding a two-pronged, post-election webinar for members on Tuesday, November 13 in which Patrick Rothwell, the Managing Director, Government Relations - Federal Affairs will provide the NSSF’s overview of the outcome of the vote on Congress and federal legislation. Immediately after, NSSF Managing Director-Government Relations- State Affairs Jake McGuigan will address the changes to state legislators and governor’s mansions that will likely impact the bottom lines of firearms-related businesses.
It’s another of those sessions that reminds me why I’m glad I’m an NSSF member. Their perspective is one of the business-first approaches that impacts the industry - and all of us who are consumers of their products.
Waiting a week to talk about outcomes might seem a long time to those accustomed to the instant analysis offered by today’s news media. As a longtime participant in that “instant analysis” process, it would seem important to remind you that a majority of that analysis will be designed to either: 1) crow about correct predictions, or 2) offer a dizzying array of reasons why the expert insight offered before the election wasn’t wrong, it was just “misinterpreted.”
In other words, perspective in all things is like perspective on life- it takes some time.
We’ll keep you posted.
—Jim Shepherd