It is now over a month since the 2016 Presidential election
and we have been treated to thousands of post-election analyses. The left—and the some of the right—have issued
dark mutterings about the dystopia to come with the Age of Trump. The left seems to concentrate on their
predictions of the ascendency of racism, sexism, militarism, disregard for the
poor, and a general atmosphere of division and hate. Those on the right focus—as they had from
Trump’s announcement of his run in 2015—on his disqualifications to be called a
“conservative” and the damage he will do to the traditional conservative agenda
of liberty and limited government.
The dissatisfied on the right have uniformly accepted the legitimacy
of Trump’s election while being of different minds on why he beat out the host
of other Republican candidates and why he succeeded in becoming President in
the end. The host of conservative “never-Trumper’s”
still vow to be critical and oppositional toward Trump even though—as they see
it-- most conservatives didn’t have the good sense to follow their lead during
the election.
The left, on the other hand, has taken a four prong
approach. The first being outright rage
involving mass protests and nationwide incidents of violence. Second, a dissection finding the dark forces
in America which allegedly thrust Trump to high office. The third involved a menagerie of conspiratorial
theories from the clandestine exposure of Democrat officials’ emails, F.B.I.
head James Comey’s opening-closing-and reopening of Hilary Clinton’s handling
of state secrets, and Russian digital interference in the election. And, fourth, several efforts to undermine the
legitimacy of Trump’s election: recounts
of voting in crucial states, questioning the validity of the Electoral College’
authority over the popular vote, attempts to persuade the Electors to switch
their votes to Clinton, disqualifying Trump citing possible conflicts of
interests between affairs of state and his business holdings, promising mass disruptions
of the inauguration, and even issuing threats of impeachment
All this being said, we’d be best advised to approach a
Trump Presidency with a little humility and historical restraint. In all the aftermaths of each American
President—whether good or bad-- America survived. Sometimes for the worse. Sometimes for the better. But the Republic still stands. We have no reason to believe that under Trump
we will cease to be a free and self-governing people. Yes, there is no situation so bad it can’t
get worse. But, on the other hand, many
times we have wound up with a better nation—sometimes in spite of ourselves. Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, the
Bushes, Clinton, and Obama didn’t destroy the United States. Our nation is stronger than that.
On another note, however, one of the unhappiest elements of
the election is some folks abandoning their friendships and no longer speaking
to one another due to the candidate they supported. I myself have lost a few friends and have a
few family members who no long speak to me.
I hope this is all temporary.
Maybe this folly will come to an end as tempers cool and the election
sinks further into the past. Until then,
I leave all of you with this little cartoon.
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