Forgive me a minute of talking politics, my heart is heavy today and I needed to vent some of that pain. I have no illusions that it will accomplish anything, since I think people on both sides have made up their minds, but maybe getting this out is part of the healing process for me. What makes all of this so difficult to stomach has nothing to do with politics. I'm not a member of the democratic party and I think that they are by and large an organization rife with inefficient practices and undelivered promises. I'm not sad because two political platforms squared off and one or the other one lost. I'm sad because for me, that's not what happened at all.
Trump didn't run on a platform. He didn't have any real or clear political aims, he just had ambiguous ideas. What he ran on was a constant fanning of fear and hate. He didn't run FOR something, not in the eyes of a lot of us, he ran AGAINST something. And that something was us. He ran against the immigrants. He ran against the minorities. He ran against the non-christians. He ran against women. He ran against the LGBTQ community. He ran on a platform that said he will take the country back from those of us who have stolen it and give it back to those to whom it rightfully belongs.
It's impossible for us for these election results to not feel personal. We came in to last night believing that this country that would never allow that kind of message to win. We came out of last night with a completely different perception of where we actually stood in the eyes of our countrymen and neighbors. That's the part that will be hard to heal and move on from.
I'm not really all that worried about what trump will do. I think he'll probably abandon a lot of the campaign rhetoric and surround himself with smart, capable people. I'm a little worried about the supreme court and taking the country back 50 years on things like abortion, marriage equality, and voter rights, but I'm willing to take a wait and see approach there. Don't get me wrong, I'm a little worried, but I'm convinced(perhaps foolishly?) that reason will win out the day and that where it doesn't, the inability of our elected officials to get much done will slow the tide.
What I am worried about is that it felt like our country was moving in one direction with regards to acceptance and equality and now it's becoming more and more clear that we aren't. I'm worried that the people on the other side don't realize that for many of us, this is the most unsafe and unwelcome we've ever felt in our own country. It's hard to accept that so many people embrace some of the things that were said during this campaign, but a lot of us have lived with that all of our lives and have accepted it. What's harder for me is all of the other voters. The ones who chose politics and party and disregarded the inherent danger of what they were embracing. I'm worried that it will take more character than I have to be able to forgive the people who when faced with this choice, turned their backs on us. Abandoned us.
I know logically that it's more complicated than that, but it's hard to accept that emotionally right now. I am hopeful that I can get there. Tomorrow maybe, or the day after. Today it's hard.