Thursday, January 21, 2021

Some Thoughts on the Currently-In-Process Transition of Political Power in USAmerica

 I did not vote for Donald Trump in the 2016 election. While I found him to be impersonal and disconnected from an average person’s reality, those judgements had nothing to do with my vote. Rather, I looked at his policy proposals and decided that my theology and political perspective differed too much from those proposals. 


I did vote for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. While I found her to be impersonal and disconnected from an average person’s reality, those judgements had nothing to do with my vote. Instead, I looked at her policy proposals and decided that they were more in line with my own theology and political perspective than not. 


I was disappointed that the candidate I voted for didn’t win the election in 2016, just like I’ve been disappointed every time the candidate I voted for didn’t win an election. I was disappointed by the vitriol and hatred spewed by those who were disappointed in the results of the 2008 election. I was disappointed by the vitriol and hatred demonstrated by those who were saddened by the results of the 2012 election. I was embarrassed by the vitriol and hatred embodied by those who were dissatisfied by the results of the 2016 election. 


For the past four years I’ve prayed regularly for President Trump. He was our president, elected legally by a minority of voters and a majority of the electoral college. I wished the best for him, because as our nation is successful our President is successful.


And yesterday our next president was inaugurated. I will pray regularly for President Biden because he is our president, elected legally by a majority of voters and a majority of the electoral college. I wish the best for him, because as our nation is successful then he will be successful.


The election didn’t go the way I hoped in 2016. But I’ve never once said that President Trump was not my president. I’m a citizen of the United States of America; Mr. Trump was properly elected as our President; therefore, he was my president. I disagreed with many of the decisions he made and many of the policy positions he promoted. He was the president of the nation of which I’m a citizen, so he was my president. 


One of the things I’ve heard yelled on social media is something like, “If you don’t like our president, you should move to a different country.” I disagree. Part of the founding and foundation of our nation is that we have the freedom to disagree with the ruling authorities. Healthy disagreements are essential to the health and vitality of our nation and our democratic republican government.


Those who say something like, “He’s not my president” probably should pick up and move to a different country, what they’re disagreeing with is our system of electing officials and not with a singular president’s policy decisions. I thought that over the past four years, and I think that now. 


$0.02

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for putting these thoughts out there. It’s really disappointing when your candidate doesn’t win. Hopefully it is an inspiration to find a better way to connect with and advocate for the electorate. I just wish the racist dog whistles would stop being used by the GOP. I feel like those views, even they are shared by the electorate, are poisonous and wrong. It would be nice to see GOP leaders who would lead people away from that rather than exploit it. Then we could have meaningful policy discussions that are important and useful.

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