It’s mourning in America.
After the tumultuous darkness of election night gave way to the light of another day, I reluctantly awoke to a foreboding sense of loss. It wasn’t just that my candidate was defeated and the other one won. That’s what happens in elections, and I am a seasoned veteran at losing them. No, this time was different. This time it was about values, about who we are as a country. This time it was about America’s soul. This time it was about what is in our hearts. To me, the pain of this new day comes from the victory of hate over love, walls over bridges, exclusion over diversity, autocracy over working together.
At least that’s how it looked and felt to me. I readily admit, however, that people voting differently than I did were not all intentionally pulling a lever for hate, disharmony and exclusion. Many of them were voting against a rigged system they saw as beyond dysfunction, one that left them behind, one that is owned and controlled by a moneyed elite that cares nothing about their lives and what has become of them. In other words, many of those in yesterday’s “silent majority” voted out of a world view that was not that different from the one shared by those of us in the minority. We differed on the solution, not on the problem.
I’m still too stunned and broken over this election to even begin to think about how this badly battered and bruised nation can effectively come together in a meaningful way, one that reverses course and helps people build better lives with a more even distribution of opportunities. It has been said the longest journey begins with a single step. I think that step needs to start with how we treat each other. This campaign seemed to boil with an anger unlike any other. It split families, divided friends and damaged relationships. We can – and should – choose to do some repair work for at least two reasons. The obvious one is that relationships are important, regardless of the political divide. Secondly, as noted earlier, there is more common ground than there might appear between our two camps. If we really want meaningful change in how this country is governed, we need to listen to each other again.
In that spirit, and in the unlikely event that any of my Republican friends are reading this, please accept my sincere congratulations on your candidate’s victory. I do have a number of conservative Facebook friends and, to the best of my knowledge, none of them unfriended me during this campaign, nor did I let any of them go. I feel good about that. Respectful disagreement is an essential element in constructive relationships. That’s pretty easy to do in the abstract. We can disagree over tax policy or foreign relations and still have an enjoyable dinner conversation.
But as soon as Donald Trump entered the picture, things got pretty hot and heavy, and it’s been downhill ever since. Of course most candidates have their passionate followers and detractors. That was certainly true of both Hillary Clinton and President Obama. But Trump was a whole different deal, largely because of the sharply conflicting roles assigned to him by his followers and opponents. Many of us could not understand how any rational person would support someone who bragged about forcibly groping women, repeatedly made racist comments and seemed to be utterly unprepared for the presidency. His supporters, on the other hand, saw his candidacy in an entirely different light. To them, Trump’s total otherness, including his bombastic buffoonery, was just what they were looking for in order to turn the entire messed up system on its head. One of the more telling exit polls showed that a quarter of Trump voters said he was not qualified to be president. In fact, as much as they detested Clinton, these Trumpians saw her as more qualified. The point is they were not shopping for a qualified candidate to just keep on keeping on. They wanted everything shook up. While I obviously disagree with that methodology, I do understand it. As much as I came to abhor Trump as a person and a candidate, there is both rationale and precedent for their approach. It’s actually a radical leftist organizing tactic: don’t fix problems in a broken government, make it worse so that it can be replaced with a new system. The big difference, of course, is the Trump folks have no system ready for substitution; they just know that the one we have now must be blown up.
Therein lies an opportunity. Our current government is pretty badly broken. The distribution of wealth and power is way out of whack. People are hurting and there is no sign of help on the way. It does not take great clairvoyant powers to foresee an eventual disillusion with Trump on the part of at least some of his supporters, particularly those waiting for “terrific jobs” and a “fantastic life.” Those goals are consistent with the progressive agenda and only a unified and organized electorate can eventually deliver the votes to make it happen. These folks should not be left behind. It will get worse before it can get better, but our focus has to be on making sure it gets better. We must look past the differences between them and us so we can see the similarities.
As the late great poet, Maya Angelou, wrote:
“I note the obvious differences
between each sort and type,
but we are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.”
And as that other late great poet, Joe Hill, wrote:
“Don’t mourn, organize!”