During the past few days I have begun to breathe again. As I exhale, tensed muscles relax and feeling comes back into my body. I realize that I have been holding my breath not only for the days it took for the election results to come in, but for the past four years. After a long wait, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were finally declared the next President and Vice President of the United States. Their ability to pass legislation now hangs in the balance in the two Senate run-off elections that will be held in Georgia on January 5.
The outcome of these elections is uncertain, but we can take hope in the fact that Stacey Abrams will be doing everything she can to turn out the vote. If you are thinking of donating to the Georgia Senate races, please contribute to Abram’s Fair Fight, which registered almost 800, 000 new voters over the past two years, in order to ensure that your money will be spent on an on-the-ground campaign to get out the vote and not just on advertising.
Even if the Democrats win the Senate back, it remains uncertain how progressive the Biden presidency will be. But—with or without the Senate—we can expect Biden to issue a series of Executive Orders reversing the Executive Orders of Trump that were intended to decimate the social safety net and environmental protections. This will make an important difference in all of our lives.
Many questions remain about what chaos Trump will sow in the transition period and about what Biden and Harris will do when they take office.
But today I am breathing a big sigh of relief that Donald Trump will soon be leaving the White House. This is a reason to celebrate.
And let us not forget that we now have a woman of color as Vice President. A glass ceiling has been shattered, vindicating more than a century and a half of feminist activism in the United States. Kamala wore a white suit in honor of the suffragists.
If I had been in the United States on the day the election was declared, I would have been dancing in the streets!
Carol P. Christ is an internationally known feminist and ecofeminist writer, activist, and educator who lives in Heraklion, Crete. Carol’s recent book is Goddess and God in the World: Conversations in Embodied Theology. Carol has been leading Goddess Pilgrimage to Crete for over twenty years: join her in Crete. Carol’s photo by Michael Honneger.
Listen to Carol’s a-mazing interview with Mary Hynes on CBC’s Tapestry recorded in conjunction with her keynote address to the Parliament of World’s Religions.
feminismandreligion.com 
Thanks for posting the Abrams link!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This has been an amazing weekend with celebrations all over the world. What gives me even more hope for the future is the incredible web of progressive organizations that have been built over the past four years. In just my small town, a number of organizations representing different concerns have come into being that are all connected to each other and are all connected to state and national organizations. This network of people from all walks of life with a desire for positive change will, I believe, continue on in the weeks, months, and years ahead.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I feel too like I have been holding my breathe for 4 years. And amazing that I did not realize it until I exhaled. We still have a lot of work to do but this is a start!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yessss! Hooray!! Breathe!!! I’m sure we all know that Biden said that his first order of business will be to create a new Covid working group and to release the names today. Now the federal government will actually take action about the pandemic instead of just avoiding, delaying, and lying. Real news organizations like the NY Times have also reported that Biden will reverse as many of Trump’s awful decisions as he can–put the U.S. back into the Paris Accords and the WHO and reverse the ban on Muslim people and stop building that damn wall.
So what’s on my mind now is what can Trump do in the next 70-odd days? Paint the White House red??
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was ecstatic and disbelieving when I saw the news – I had to re -check to make certain the nightmare was over…. the high I was on crashed suddenly… and it took awhile to understand what happened. What follows are notes from my journal:…
” two days later this terrible heaviness – TRAUMA – survivors have to do what I do – suppress, repress, in order to survive – and that’s what I did to survive TRUMP…so now it is time to feel the full extent of my rage towards this monster who VIOLATED so many of us physically psychically, emotionally, spiritually – he stole so much -‘big daddy’ was the killer’ that crushed me into the ground and kept me there hopeless. I am grateful to understand my complex feelings… every trauma I endured at human hands was re-enacted by this monster.”
Happily, this grief was temporary and now I am finally breathing into my body with gratitude.
Whatever is ahead will not include this monster and this is all I care about.
I can’t help wondering if anyone else had this kind of reaction – it stunned me.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes, I did, too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
hmmm…. I wonder if there are more of us – I was so shocked by the crash until I understood why… The day Kavannaugh was elected I stopped interacting with politics in any way… never listened to news – left political conversations etc never watched a debate this fall – nothing – I see now that with the latter I couldn’t stand knowing anything about anyone that might lose to Trump… To have him gone is a dream come true – regardless of the difficulties we face. Thanks for telling me Elizabeth. I appreciate it and you so much.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m still struggling off and on but dancing–especially outdoors–helps. Outdoors always helps. I know you know!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am struggling too – terrifying nightmares about rape of both body and soul again last night – but these reinforce the reality of what happened for me – and keep me grounded in my truth – so I ended up feeling ok after unpacking the dreams…I am a bit startled that I am hearing so little about women’s trauma over the past four years – maybe it’s too soon?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fireworks in London, church bells ringing across Paris, people dancing in the streets in the cities throughout the United States—this is our reward for getting out the vote! Thank Goddess for Biden and Harris. I’ll be holding my breath (for Warnock and Ossoff) until Inauguration Day.
Carol, thank you for this post and thanks also for mentioning Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight. I will certainly donate to that organization! She is to be commended for the enormous effort she has put forth. I would like to see her in Biden’s administration.
Blessed be, friends.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Joining the chorus. Thanks for the Fair Fight link and recommendation. I am inundated with fundraising appeals for these senate races. Good to know the most effect way to support them.
No streets nearby for dancing, but I danced in the meadow!
LikeLiked by 3 people
I went outside and yelled to the trees “we did it”!!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes!!!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
We all around the world have the chance to breathe again! The conservatives here in Colombia, the warlords, the war defenders, were disappointed and angry for Trump’s defeat. Their reaction means that we, the ones trying to achieve peace and bring new air to politics and society, are on the right track when rejecting Trump’s lies regarding climate change, the US’s exploitation of natural resources in our lands, and the US sponsorship of our war. Yes, the US election impacts as all around the world, and having Trump away from the White House is a huge relief regardless of how progressive Biden will be. Finally, I join the horray! about having a woman of color in the vice presidency. Kamala is already an inspiration and symbolizes the years of women’s struggles to be heard. Let’s keep shining!
LikeLiked by 3 people
So much to be grateful for. So much! Breathing easier than I have in a long, long time. This has truly been a traumatic experience. However, I’m disheartened that the Blue Wave did not manifest and I agree with Ralph Nader as to why…..see link below — basically he said the Democrats did not focus enough on the evils of Trump. I know many people who still voted for Trump and it’s because they simply didn’t know all the evil he’s done. They’re either not watching news or watching Fox News.
And now even the pundits on MSNBC and CNN are talking about how Biden has to choose his cabinet so as not to alienate Mitch McConnell! That he has no mandate to employ progressive policies — which, in my humble opinion are not radical ideas, as moderates and Republicans like to call them. That false narrative that anything for the people is radical has to die. What about the majority of Americans who want Medicare for All, forgiveness of student debt, repealing Trump’s tax cuts for the rich, climate change legislation, regulating industries, and all the rest.
Here’s Nader’s article in Common Dreams….
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/11/07/biden-has-ousted-lying-and-corrupt-trump-doesnt-mean-democrats-had-great-election?cd-origin=rss&utm_term=AO&utm_campaign=Daily%20Newsletter&utm_content=email&utm_source=Daily%20Newsletter&utm_medium=Email
Is this going to be like every other time? Dems get into office, clean up the mess of the GOP, then cow-tow to their Corporate Masters and the people get nothing, or crumbs, leaving them unwilling to come out and vote next time, while rabid GOP voters continue to dominate policy. If we don’t win the Georgia Senate, Biden has to be as bold as Trump was with appointments and executive orders, otherwise the people are going to go back to staying home on election day. And we need to start working on getting rid of the Electoral College and stacking the Supreme Court so radical right wing ideas not in alignment with the majority of the country don’t affect our lives and liberties.
DONATE TO THE GEORGIA SENATE RACES. Everything will be easier if we can get the Senate back.
I pray I’m wrong about Biden not being bold enough. I for one am tired of the Democrats “bringing a knife to a gun fight!”
LikeLike
Carol you are just speaking out of my heart….. indeed I noticed that my breathing had changed, I can breath easily with the joy in my heart being relieved from seeing and listening to this heartless president. I actually cried of happiness. My female swimming friends, met at the beach celebrating the victory even it rained on us and our food, we clicked our glasses filled with a bit of champagne and danced with the oncoming waves from the ocean, because this election is also a big celebration for women.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much for the reference to Fair Fight. Bells may be ringing, but a whole lot of Republicans are out there. Much work remains to be done.
LikeLiked by 1 person