So I’m honestly just writing this because an election of a new president is big enough of a deal to warrant one of my infamous thrice-yearly blog posts. I’ve been stumbling around mentally (as I do) trying to figure out just what the heck to write.
I’m not here to be the next Matt Walsh, eloquently bashing the left with the kind and gentle nuance of a forty-seven ton sledgehammer-steamroller-mind-cannon combo. Neither do I want to throw on a pink crocheted hat, Planned Parenthood t-shirt and skinny jeans and stand in solidarity with the Women’s March. I just want to write, ’cause it’s darn fun, I like doing it and I kinda feel like on (rare) occasions I come up with enough skill (luck) to write something worth reading.
It’s hard for me, even as an ardent righty to really celebrate Hillary’s loss, publicly or privately. There are few things being said by Trumps opponents that are easy to refute offhand. Is he an opportunistic, greedy, lecherous man whos primary goal is to promote himself and little else? It’s hard to argue otherwise.
On the other hand he’s a successful businessman who just ran arguably the smartest presidential campaign in history, and (joy) absolutely confounded the uppity ruling class elites, Republican and Democrat, while absolutely destroying the mainstream media. Who doesn’t enjoy seeing that? (Mom, yes I understand there was a YUGE run-on sentence in that paragraph)
Bad men have been president before, and the nation has survived. Bad men have been bad presidents, and bad men have left the country better than it was before their term in office. I certainly hope the latter is the case here.
What I hope for equally as much though, is that all of us voters can move past what has obviously been a tragic time for many, and a joyous time for others, and end up in a place where we can co-exist and focus more on what makes us the same, not what drives wedges between us.
As any lazy writer would do, I did a quick Google search and came up with this article written by Katherine Goldstein, a Democrat voter, after Obama won his second term. She did all the work for me in pulling together a good chunk of the Left’s glee at the prospects of another 4 years in control of the White House. To quote a big chunk of her piece referencing her joy at Obama’s re-election vs her despair at Bush’s 2004 victory…
If there is one thing in this whole country that liberals and conservatives can agree on, it’s that we live in a deeply polarized, angry, divided nation. Social media seems to encourage blasting our basest feelings to everyone we know, and it’s caused some of us to totally mute our human sense of empathy. If I had logged into 2012-style Facebook and Twitter at the depths of my own political despair in 2004, I can only imagine how painful it would have been to be see strangers and friends alike basking in my pain. Frankly, I think it would have made it even harder for me to let go of my political wounds and move on. It would have just made me that much angrier.
See what I did there? I, a right-winger, quoted an article written by a left-wing journalist positively who wrote positively about not being a jerk to right-wingers! It can be done! Bi-partisanship humanity in the house!
We all need to let go. Keep working towards what you feel is right, but temper our passions with the realization that 99% of the people on the other side are not out to get you. So, I’m going to do my part. I’m laying low politically on social media, and praying Trump does right by the country. With all the outrage from the political left regarding his policies and executive orders, maybe we can build some common ground realizing we elect presidents not kings, and maybe, just maybe this can all lead to more of what this country was founded to be.
~ Danny