A French Friend Asks for Feed Back from Us Bay Area Folks

After hearing the good news that Biden was the predicted winner of the presidential race, a good French friend, Annie,  sent a message to three of us Americans and two French friends living in the Bay Area, where Annie and her family lived between 1999 and 2003 or so.  Here's her message and my response:

 Finally!!! 
> I want to share your relief and rejoice with you, mostly for your new gorgeous vice president!! 
> 😉👍😍🙏😀💐😊💕😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘
> 

So nice to celebrate with you, Annie, and the others included in this message!  Hours before the election, I'd gotten good wishes from Jutta in Germany and Daan in the Netherlands--two friends I've known since 1963, when Jutta was my penpal, and 1972, when I met Daan in Amsterdam on my way to Madrid.  They said they hoped the Democrats would win and that there wouldn't be violence.  

I got the good news from Jonathan, who texted our little family in the Bay Area at 8:49 am PST yesterday.  What a relief!  I was on my way to a rally called, aptly, "Count Every Vote" at the Embarcadero and wanted to take a walk before joining the rally.  I feel that we've gone from Attila the Hun to Mr. Rogers, but of course Trump has not gone yet and continues making threats.

Not to dampen spirits, but some of the Senate and House races have been disappointing, as have some of the state propositions.  Poor Biden!  He's going to have a recalcitrant Senate to work with, and even though the Democrats flipped two house seats,  the Republicans flipped four.  (If this has changed, I think Nicole can fill us in.)  There are still more Democrats in the House than in the Senate, but it's a narrower margin

Prop 15, the one so many of us worked on for so long, did not pass.  It would have brought the schools and communities $11 billion by closing the loophole in Prop 13 from 1978 that helps the richest commercial property owners not pay their share of taxes.  Those opposing it used scare tactics that were dishonest and misleading. 

Prop 16, to make it lawful to bring back affirmative action, was voted down.  I think it was from the NYTimes podcast that I heard people wondering, "What's happened to California, which was once so progressive?"  But San Francisco voters once again voted to tax ourselves in several different ways to support the public good.  

I was campaigning for Anita Martinez for CCSF Board of Trustees (still too close to call), and a man saw the sign I was carrying.  He said, "I wouldn't vote for any of those damn people!  I have to pay $449 in four parcel taxes on top of the $4000 I pay for my house taxes.  Damn them."

I thought, "Oh, how grateful I am that I have a roof over my head and even own it.  I'm so glad that I am in a position to pay parcel taxes."   Of course, parcel taxes aren't really the solution.  We should have income taxes that are really fair, but unfortunately Americans have been trained to think of taxes as an infringement on human rights.  

Anyway, I appreciate your asking, Annie, and it's nice to be joined together  with Debora, Nicole, Francoise, and Christiane--like (well, not quite like ) old times!

Love to you all and hope for the world and our nations.

Tina