General

We are the People

These last couple of days have been crazy. I have three observations to make and a challenge. Hopefully this will make us all step back and think. Americans, we need to come together.

First, I will say up front that I am glad Trump beat Hillary. Mrs. Clinton supports many causes which I find deplorable (pun intended). Her support of late term abortion is inconceivable to me. Even early term abortion is abhorrent, but Mrs. Clinton’s views take it much further and I could not even stomach such a thought. I voted for Donald Trump. I did not do so because I was thrilled to support him. I did so because what Hillary stands for is far more dire than what President-elect Trump has done or said in the past. Mr. Trump might change and I hope he will. Hillary is proud of her folly and thinks it is a moral good. She built her platform on some things which I find disgusting. That was unacceptable to me, but I don’t fault those who voted Hillary and I understand some of why you did. I applaud you for voting your conscience. That’s the best any of us can do.

Second, we live in a great Republic… the Great Republic. Our form of government means that the people themselves form the most critical check and balance, insuring that dictatorship cannot win the day here. Political shifting in this country is good. Shifts in power mean that no one side can run rule the other indefinitely. It is designed to work this way. Today, many have failed to appreciate our republic. Those who have thrown fits, protested, burned flags and damaged public structures are actually attacking the very structure of our democratic-republican style of government. For true representative government to stand, we the people must accept the results of free elections, even and especially when they do not go our way. Understand that power must continue to shift if our republic is to stand. Otherwise, tyranny will one day rule us.

Third, tolerance must run both ways or it cannot run at all. So many of my liberal friends have called for tolerance. I applaud that call. They have been outspoken about President-elect Trump’s inflammatory and ungracious speech towards women and minorities. I couldn’t agree with their criticisms more than I do. However, many of them have also said some pretty terrible things lately about the so-called basket of deplorable people who supported Trump. You want tolerance? Then you must be tolerant of those who are different from you, even those who you think are hateful and wrong. The word bigot has been thrown around a lot. A bigot is anyone who hates someone different than them simply because they are different. Ironically, it is incredibly bigoted of liberals to treat Trump supporters so hatefully. Many liberals have spot-lighted their own bigotry by their actions over the past few days.

I write this today with one thing in mind. We are all broken. This Republic, by and for the people is broken because the people are broken. We are all bigots from time to time and if we want to get better, we need to see that. Each person’s bigotry may look different from another’s, but no one bigoted position is better or worse than another. Liberals and conservatives alike, we must not point the finger and lob hateful words at the other side. We shall never move forward together like that. Instead we must accept that we are different, that we often vehemently disagree, and then we must try to understand one another. Respect is the key. After all, we are all bigots by definition of the word. None of us is perfect or has it all figured out but we still have to live together and govern together. We are “the people.” Black, white, young, old, rural, urban, rich, poor, liberal, or conservative… we are truly in this together and we are supposed to check and balance one another.

Today, Donald Trump is President of us all and he was freely elected by the fine people of this Republic. Maybe for once, let’s try to understand one another and work together. Who knows? Maybe we will find that we have more in common than we realized.

-Nick T.

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