I bet you saw this coming

The election is over, mostly. I think it is safe to say I have struggled through most of it. When I came home from Costa Rica, nearly one year ago I thought it was a joke that he was in the line up and for better or worse successfully convinced myself it was, until he won GOP primaries. Then I successfully convinced myself he would ruin his chances all on his own, because of his obvious character flaws and nonsensical policy. Now that it has come to pass that the people have chosen their president elect, I still struggle to say it aloud. Do I think he is the worst, yes. He sort of represents what, in my lifetime, I have learned and concluded to be what holds us back from being a truly great society, progressive and socially inclusive, up with the times. Little did I, or many for that matter, understand what was really happening in our country, how pissed off "middle" America had become and how united, in front of the soap box of a con man, they would become. 

His campaign, while I assume usually go unchecked and are quickly forgotten about, fanned the flames of latent –isms that the other side was convinced we had done away with. But we somehow came away with a man that has almost no moral compass,  that is willing to say anything and behave like a petulant child who name calls when he doesn’t get his way, a man that asked his constituents to overlook some of his most aggressive and vial rhetoric all in the name of change (which usually I am a big fan of.) My struggle is not in getting over him being real, here we are and we will move on from. My struggle is that so many people I know and love and figured would put basic human dignity above political battlefields voted for him and it almost broke my heart. I know they aren't bad people but their willingness to overlook what I hold dear for a political grudge against democrats was hard to swallow. Pre- election, there was little to no common ground. I forced myself to search for a silver lining. My favorite was that at least he would get people off their ass to say how much they oppose what he stands for and what he has said (which is indeed happening, so peaceful others not so much, can't win for loosing). He is a man and yes he was running a campaign to get elected (not the best excuse but proven to be widely accepted after 4 years of something totally different). 

But from what I can make sense of, he found where democrats/ politics were failing at serving the people and he validated their sense of disenfranchisement and gave them the change candidate. Now that this political shortcoming has been exposed, I encourage everyone to get more involved. On the left: the fight is almost never won, but it must be fought, don’t sit it out, fight for our right to happiness and peace and a real democracy based on the voice of the people. On the right: if you aren’t in line with the vile rhetoric, say so, stand up for your fellow Americans, we all deserve dignity and the children of the future deserve better, hold him accountable to really bring us together. Post election, I see where the seam comes back together, we all what a responsible, people first government. No one wants to lose any of what we have gained that makes us great. Without the red and blue caution tape we can hopefully start to look at each other as humans again. Through conversations we can learn. If we first seek to understand, then to be understood, we can find a balance. 

This may sound like a bunch of kumbaya whatever, but democracy is hard, we have gotten lazy. It requires the willingness to unlearn what you have self-selected to surround yourself by (thank you facebook/msnbc/fox etc) To really listen to the other side and seek to find common ground takes courage, because you may realize you weren’t totally right. To own misguided conclusions and seek change requires humility. When did we become so unwilling to grow? When will we get back to a respect for differences at the table, without name calling or undermining. Im not saying im perfect but I know what kind of world I want to live in and I will fight for it.