The greatest lesson I learned from this election
I'm writing this a bit after eleven p.m. here in Portland, Oregon, so it's after two a.m. back home. As of this moment, though no news agency (to my knowledge) has yet called the election, it looks extremely likely that Trump will be the next President of the United States.
I am beyond sad and angry at that thought.
I am also amazed. This election has taught me that a great many of my fellow Americans, apparently the majority of them, think so differently from the way I do that I do not understand them at all. I suppose I would be wise to remember this fact going forward.
That lesson will be true even if Clinton squeaks out a victory.
For now, I'm going to work a bit more, check the election news once more, and then crash.
Should the trend continue and Trump win, I hope I will be able to be as gracious a loser as I would have asked Trump's supporters to be.
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6 comments:
Dear Mark,
If you take it as a vote against Business as Usual, rather than a vote for any of the ridiculous statements he made during (and before) the election, it's easier to see.
Even supporters disliked Trump (a greater majority of voters than the majority which disliked Clinton). People who voted in the majority were voting against the Establishment--which Clinton is in spades.
You can say this was an ignorant choice (I voted for Clinton, though I would much have preferred Sanders); but it's not a stupid choice, unless you're happier with business as usual than I am.
As always,
Dave
That perspective is the obvious one, so, yes, I can see it. That said, we disagree about it being a stupid choice. I'm not happy with business as usual, but now we will have business with a Republican house, a Republican Senate, a conservative Supreme Court, and a racist, misogynistic, xenophobic jerk as President. So, yes, I consider it a stupid choice.
Looking on a more positive side, Trump cannot be worse than is suspected.
Mark, I sincerely hope you are correct.
Mr. Drake pointed out the same thing I was going to say. I think it's a vote against "career politicians" more than anything else and, if I were in that field, I'd be seeing a career counselor in the near future because this may be just the start of a wave (or a tsunami). Maybe it started some years back when, during a townhall-style debate between two candidates (congress? Massachusetts? don't recall exactly), an average guy went up to the microphone and asked, "How much is a loaf of bread?" and neither candidate had the slightest idea - they wanted to send their "people" out to do "research" on it. It's just such a vivid illustration of how out of touch many of the career politicos are; makes me think they might be an endangered species.
Another thing that might be endangered is the electoral college. I expect that to be done away with in my lifetime; it'll be interesting to see what happens.
I get voting against career politicians, but I cannot support voting for such a racist, misogynistic, xenophobic hate-monger.
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