It's all over but the shouting, except, in this case the shouting will continue, because it spews from the mouth of the presumptive Republican nominee, Donald J. Trump. On the morning after Trump seized the low ground by asserting that Hillary Clinton would be at five percent in the polls if she weren't the proud owner of a vagina, while also asserting his right to be called His Presumptiveness, there is much to say, and much to speculate over, beans to count, delegates to stalk, clichés to spread over our political discourse like rancid butter.
But I see a silver lining at the end of our pitched battle for the soul of America (see what I did there, with the clichés and mixed metaphors?).
We have an opportunity to unite not just a party, but a nation, in a resounding, unequivocal Trump Dumping in November. By bringing together reasonable people from both parties to stand against this loud mouth insult comic cartoon character of a nominee, we just might be able to rekindle a new sense of purpose about what we want the country to stand for, and be known for, throughout the world. This could be just the wake up call we need to rededicate ourselves, not to some American dream, but to some American purpose.
What an opportunity! The opportunity of a lifetime! By resoundingly rejecting Trump, we have the ripest opportunity for agreement to land in American politics since both Democrats and Republicans agreed that neither side was much in favor of Communism. The enemy now is Trumpism, and in rejecting that, might we find a new way forward, a New Majority?
Here's what that New Majority might look like. We reject the politics of personal insults, and affirm a politics of choice between plans, neither of which would bring doom and destruction, but one might just be better than the other. In this world, compromise is possible, because the other side is never the Devil Incarnate, just a group of fellow Americans with a different spin on the ball.
We reject the politics of encouraging hatred in any form, including racial and religious hatred against entire groups, because we know this is dangerous, too dangerous to use for temporary partisan advantage. We affirm the politics of the American frontier; your personal business, including your gender identity, gender preference, religion, reproductive freedom, is personal business, not government business. We reject simplistic arguments about anything, and ask the three most important words about political arguments before we agree with anybody. These three most important words are "based on what". These three words demonstrate we are interested in evidence, not spin. Real evidence, that can be shown, not the mere assertion that has nothing to back it up. If we reject the politics of mere assertion without evidence, then we must affirm that science should hold pride of place in our public policy.
We reject the current system of elections, including gerrymandered congressional districts that deny choice to our voters, and a system of campaign finance that turns all politicians who are not themselves millionaires into fund-raising machines first, and legislators and presidents second. We affirm the absolute necessity of reform to reassure the American people that we can hear their needs, the cries of their hearts, and that these needs can and ought to be translated into public policies that are as efficient as we can make them, for all people, of whatever race, religion, or country of origin.
The Founders wanted to build a nation where the passions of the moment would never boil over into another revolution. That's why they made a system of government requiring checks and balances, strong state governments side by side with a strong federal government. That's why American government has been stable, although it has not always been just or fair. If we can affirm a mighty desire to keep this stability for this generation and the generations to come, while continuing the long march towards fairness and freedom for everyone, rejecting the siren calls of simple solutions and revolutions of the left or the right, then we can do more than just reject Trump and Trumpism this November. We can use the opportunity to form that more perfect union we've been yearning for since the dark days of the Civil War.