Welcome to the five phases of post-election traumatic disorder: hand-wringing, teeth gnashing, blame gaming, and self-flagellation. Acceptance will take a minute.
There is one simple reason Donald J. Trump, a man who is the living repudiation of everything our Founders envisioned, has become the 45th person elected President of the United States.
Hubris.
The wounds are too fresh for me to belabor this assertion with explanation. It needs none. We all know it to be true. Too many, for a variety of reasons, including denial, vengeance, and appeasement, didn’t take his candidacy seriously.
The thing is if we flee to Canada or otherwise roll over, then we deserve this outcome.
Let’s face it. The forces that propelled that man to this victory were vehemently unhappy when Barack Hussein Obama was elected. Before his first election was certified, they had publicly resolved to fight him tooth and nail. And they did. They hated everything he symbolized so much they were willing to make the ultimate Faustian deal to achieve victory. And they just won.
Did they fight dirty? You betcha. So what?
If we care at all — and I know we do — in the fundamental precepts of our nation, in our economic security (as the stock market crashes on news of Trump’s election), in our position as a superpower, then we must look at this as merely a lost battle. It was a long, bloody, devastating one for which the casualties were our global reputation, the legitimacy of our Great Experiment, our very psyches. But, the fact is that we have fought battles before that shed real blood and literally tore our families and nation to tatters, yet we survived to become stronger, better, more vital and relevant versions of ourselves.
Because the idea of America matters in this world.
The unmatched genius of what our Founders wrought is that we get a chance at course correction ever four years. That gives us all a chance to hold ourselves to task and our elected officials to account.
Yes, the presidential election of 2016 was a bitter battle. I’m personally going to fight to win the war or die trying.
Are you with me? Benign acceptance is not an option.
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