Three things I learned this week when reviewing 'The Evolution of Social Welfare Policy' timeline link:

1) Slavery began in the American Colony in 1700 A.D. when poor were auctioned off     to affluent businessmen and farmers.  Impotent poor lived in Almshouses while             able-bodied poor were confined to workhouses.

2) For the months of September and October investors lost $100 billion in assets and     the stock market lost 40% of its value.  On October 28, 1929 the stock market                 suffered a 13% loss, The next day, October 29, 1929 suffered a 12% with 164                 million shares traded.  This event marked the beginning of the Great Depression         and was called Black Tuesday. By July of 1932, the stock market value had lost             90% bottoming out.  It took 22 years to completely recover.

3) The Watts Riot in Los Angeles on August 11, 1965.  The Watts Riot broke out in         initial response to a highway Patrol officer pulling over  a black motorist on suspicion     of drunk driving.  This riot resulted in 34 dead, 1,000 people suffered injuries, and         600 buildings damaged.  The real reason for the riots was jobless rates, continued         racism, poor housing, and inadequate inner-city schools.  The good that came out         of  this riot was that President Johnson signed the "War on Poverty" a month after         the riots broke out.

       Win or lose it is the speech that says a lot about the person.  Both President Obama and Governor Romney gave gracious, appreciative speeches thanking all of their families, supporters, and the other person who won or lost.  They both seem to agree that it is time to put the party lines aside and work together to improve America.  Hopefully, this can happen at all levels of government/politics. 
    I worked from 6 am until 11:20 pm at the polls yesterday.  I did not come home and check the results due to being exhausted so I obtained my results online this morning.  I worked at Precinct 5 we had 972 voters.  At this Precinct Governor Romney won the Presidential race.  When we were packing up one of the gentlemen loading up equipment informed us that President Obama won the election per the information he heard on the news.
    For Michigan, hopefully this means a rising economy, more jobs, more incentives for education, less foreclosures, and a brighter future.  Time will only tell what will happen.  The leaders of this Country are doing what they feel is right for the American people.  Some programs will do well others will fail we will never know unless we try.  All of the Michigan proposals 1-6 were rejected.  I felt some of the proposals were moving us in the right direction, especially the renewable energy proposal.  The problem is they were attached to the Constitutional Amendment.  If they were proposed as laws I believe they may have pasted.  People do not want to touch the Constitutional Amendments.  With that said nothing will change at this time and we will carry on as always.
Congratulations to all those candidates who won and may you do an exceptional job for your constituents.  For those who lost the election, hold your head high you fought a good fight and won the reward of knowing you did your best.  The future is as bright as our dreams will take us!