Last night, the Republicans lost big — and while I could offer thoughts on what that means for the party (hopefully brings significant reform) and what it means for our country (hopefully that the Republican House can hold strong…), I won’t. I’m not an expert and unlike many people out in the social media universe, I’m very comfortable saying I’m not informed enough on a topic. So for a better analysis, I’d direct you to a great post by Erick Erickson.

However, I do feel comfortable sharing what I found so upsetting about this election personally:

• That an election that should have been about a poor record was turned into being about social issues that, I personally, don’t believe were ever threatened.
• That I hesitated to write the above bullet even though I have never hesitated to share those feelings before.
• That women were pandered to and patronized with idiotic debate questions and online ads. And that because the women’s vote continues to be crucial, we’ll probably see more of this the next time around.
• That there exists so much hostility on the simple subject of party that I cannot even discuss politics for 30 seconds in the most base terms with my left-leaning significant other, mother, brother, or sister-in-law.
• That my boyfriend would tell you the only thing he’d change about me is my political beliefs because “I’m so smart about everything else.”
• That I wanted to smack him for saying the above.

But most importantly, that I try very very hard to make sure I separate people’s political opinions from judgments as to whether they are good/bad or smart/dumb and I started to hear my own internal monologue shift. I read through my newsfeed of almost entirely liberal friends/acquaintances/people I still enjoy cyber-stalking and heard myself saying “well, she’s a moron” after the fifteenth “OBAMA!!!!!!!!!!!” post.

To be fair, this may not seem like a big deal to those who know me well enough to find this post, but I really haven’t attached those thoughts to my friend’s political opinions before. So for me, that’s the biggest loss: that this election has turned me into a partisan malcontent.

Here’s to hoping that changes.