I am like an absentee recipient of the scorn from both political parties. I voted the Libertarian ticket. The only enemy greater than that other side is a third party vote. During this election cycle I concluded like many other Americans, that neither major party had provided a credible candidate. Subsequently, I’ve generated at least a couple dozen articles alternately criticizing one, the other, or both candidates. The failure of both parties in the quest for a credible presidential candidate hammered home the necessity to build a multi-party option. While Johnson/Weld were considered unelectable to most, not to mention a political impossibility, I nevertheless supported what I hope will be an ongoing alternate party movement.
Both Hillary and Trump scared me but I have to admit, Hillary scared me even more. Via the Clinton Foundation, Hillary was the iceberg tip to an alternate unsanctioned shadow government that layered itself onto the legitimate operations of American politics, ergo, the function of that innocuous little harmless ‘homebrew server’ serving as a conduit from Hillary’s position to the outside. While that statement will place me in the tinfoil hat department in a lot of peoples eyes right now, I will leave it to time and ongoing revelations to root this out with more dedicated research.
I do not like Trump any more now than I did before the election, but now he is the President elect. That dictates a requisite amount of deference, particularly until he performs in his office for a time. In my original writing about Trump, I wondered if it was possible that he could bring the outsider effectiveness of a Reagan to the office. I did not believe so then but now we will find out in real time history. I do believe that stepping into the office of President will have an effect on parts of his behavior and belief. Trump the President will not be the same as Trump the candidate.
So far, a book could be written for each day of the post-election. Some of the despair on the Dems side will blow over in a few weeks but two huge aggrieved groups of people are now in open conflict in a way not present even just before the election: the great rural disaffected underclass against the urban underclass, landmass dominance vs. population density dominance. I’ve hinted at the risk of something on the scale of a civil war and we’re not out of the woods on that risk so far. A strong and equitable President could avert this. A weak or inequitable President would facilitate it. America still hangs in the balance.
Personally, I did feel some relief on Wednesday morning. The campaign season from hell was over and instead of looking at two scary candidates, I was looking at one President elect. Hillary, Obama, and Trump all gave temperate speeches. I’m as shocked as anyone at the level of hate and hysteria by some – certainly worth far more dissection, but for a brief moment, we’ll enjoy a pause, an exhale, before we have to take up our causes yet again:
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Eccl 3:1-8 NIV