And now, both the media and engineers of the campaigns tell us it's time to restore unity.  It's time to heal the huge fracture caused by this campaign.  Now, it's time to reach across the divide and graciously accept that over half of the voting public made their choice based on ideas of exclusion, morality and fear? 

I can not be united with those values. 

Any number of people will say:  But that's the democratic process and you have to accept the majority's will in these things. 

And I do.  I accept it is the majority's will.  I even accept that it's the consequence of the process. 

But I do not accept that the process was treated with the same respect by the re-elected administration.  It was thick with reckless and inaccurate rhetoric.  It traded honesty for the votes of the religious conservatives.  It stirred fears and then promised sanctuary. 

It's wonderful that Republicans could have galvanized their base.  Good for them.  But I had access to way too much Republican literature.  It was inflammatory,distinctly apocalyptic, always - ALWAYS - fear mongering, and finally, it echoed President Bush's mockery of liberalism. 

And I do not accept that a society should be so illiterate that it can't interpret literature. 

In my voting lifetime, I have over and over voted for the greater good - with the exception of this election (and I might still argue that I was voting for the greater good).  But ... I made choices that weren't a reflection of my personal interests.  I might have taken the idea of the greater good a little too far, but I did it anyway.  I quietly accepted that things I care about are of little interest to the majority.  So.  I worked on my own time and definitely my own dime for those things. 

It was always my choice and remains my choice to contribute what I could, to participate whenever possible.

However, I am now invited to join with the voters who have traded the erosion of rights for a nebulous idea of security, refused the idea of full participation for gays, have eagerly accepted an administration's religious beliefs and hope to impose them on the nation at the same time they're happy if the government stays out of their business (what a curious line to draw, since business is traditionally a man's arena - pregnacy, traditionally, the arena of a woman) ...

I am now invited to unity with so many who voted with tiny self-interests, who believe the Republican platform not only without much question, but without scrutiny!!! 

No.  I stand in opposition.  I live in opposition.  And I pity the person who dares to even imply that my patriotism is lesser.  I pity the person who so stupidly throws out the line:  If you don't like it, leave. 

If it's even flitting across your mind, you should remember that people actually ARE mobile.  And they will take their contributions elsewhere.