I have been quiet since the election because I've been processing my own feelings around it, as well as observing the conversations about it that are going on around me. The fear and confusion I felt at the outcome of the election have been outweighed by the sadness I feel at witnessing the fighting among friends that has taken place since.
There have been a few productive conversations, but for the most part, they have looked more like people throwing grenades at each other from behind their own private blast walls made of bricks of self-denial. "You're a racist!" Bang. "And you're a cry baby!" Bang. The grenades are shaking the walls, but not breaking down the barriers. Everyone's yelling and no one's listening. It's been disheartening and at times downright depressing to watch.
I think it would help us to remember that, in general, people are inherently selfish/self-centered/ego driven. This is our biological truth and our main spiritual challenge during our time here on earth. So I do understand the logic that people who voted for Trump voted against some of us. I get it because as a woman, with a daughter, then they voted against us too. But I find this thinking to be too personal. The truth is that they weren't thinking about us when they voted. They were thinking about their own best interests. Which is only human. It's how people usually vote. It's how we live.
The undeniable fact is that these people are our neighbors, our friends, our family members, people we live among and do business with every day. I know they are not all racist misogynists because I know so many of them personally. I do understand the anger people are feeling because I have also had moments where I find myself asking, 'how could anybody who knows and loves my daughter... how could you vote for that pig?' There are no two ways about it, that's what he is. And if it were up to me alone, there'd be no way he'd be allowed anywhere near my daughter or the White House.
But, as far as the presidency goes, it's not up to me alone. It's up to all of us. And many of us voted with different things in mind. It wasn't personal. And I hope that if you're hurting right now, you can let your wall down just enough to take solace in this idea: lots and lots of people voted, like people historically do, with their bank accounts in mind. People are tired of being forced to pay another whole mortgage payment for shitty health insurance. I can understand that. They're tired of worrying about $100K college bills for each of their children. Whoa, that's steep. Many of them are tired of being un-or underemployed because so many of the decent, middle class jobs have moved away. Hopelessness. The Rust Belt that voted for President Obama twice didn't flip because they're suddenly racist. They flipped because, after eight years, their job prospects still suck. When we set aside our own worries for a moment, it's easy to empathize with these alternate reasons for voting for Trump.
And quite frankly, anyone who is not angry or hopeless over these issues, anyone who, with their vote, said, "Yes, more of the same, please," is probably not checking their own privilege. In other words, they've got good benefits from a well paying job. If the status quo is good enough for you, then you should consider yourself lucky. Because it's not for many, many people. And that's surely what Secretary Clinton was promising to give us: More. Of. The. Same.
I love President Obama as a person almost as much as Joe does. I think he's smart and charismatic and classy. But Democrats around the country have conveniently ignored the fact that many of the policies he upheld or enacted go against supposed Democratic values. Drone strikes? Wall Street bailouts? Supporting the TPP? Really? And, I'll say it again, Secretary Clinton promised us more of the same. In fact, she made her military ambitions quite clear during the first two debates. How is that okay? Sending young, (usually) poor or working class people of all colors to fight and die violently. How is that consistent with Democratic values? How is voting for her *not* voting against young, African American, Latinx and white people who have so few options in our country and its wonky economy that they join up to fight and die? How is voting for someone who supports the TPP *not* voting against those same working class people?
I understand the impulse to blame Trump voters and all their blank-isms and fill-in-the-phobias for the outcome of this election. They are easy targets, especially when we're looking out and not in. However, it's been a week--hopefully time enough for the shock to have passed and for us to pull ourselves out of our fear-based first chakras and put our critical thinking caps back on. And, please, don't call me out on my white privilege. Because I am a woman, a female with a pussy to grab and a daughter who means the world to me. I live fear every moment of every day, regardless of who is in office. I live with it and I think critically, at the same time. Just like we all have to. And once you get there, you have to admit that this whole thing is way more nuanced than Trump voter=racist.
The most blatant culprit of all, in my mind, is the horror show called the DNC. Don't even get me started on the pending lawsuits against them. And the super-delegate bullshit? Come on. They changed that super-delegate rule purposely so that they could put up the candidate they wanted, without having to bend to the will of the people. In this cycle, they acted both illegally and immorally in order to remove the populist candidate that energized voters and filled stadiums during the primary. I blame the DNC. Bigly.
And, finally, I blame Secretary Clinton for making this election about her. At a time that, as she knows better than anyone, is extremely important to our country, she chose herself. She made the ultimate selfish decision and colluded with people who were willing to break the rules in order to put aside the populist candidate in an election cycle that was clearly leaning towards populism. Out of touch? Sure. But also extremely selfish.
It's not fair for Democrats to place all the blame on Trump voters when their own party betrayed them. And, in fact, they did nothing about it. Democrats accepted the betrayal, accepted the mainstream media's bullshit party line, and went along #withher. And here we are now.
Time for all of us to accept our own responsibility in this so that we can move forward together and deal with it. Hopefully we can escape our bubbles, let down our own walls enough to at least hear, and reach out and make up with our friends and family members. In our day to day lives, they matter far more than any president or candidate.
