Thursday, November 10, 2016

Post-Election


            Stunning images dominated the presidential elections, beginning for me with the post-election map of the United States by county. Except for slivers of blue along both coasts and pockets of blue in urban areas, the map was almost all red. Then we got TV reports on street protests in several large cities and flag-burnings on college campuses. These images tell us a lot about how divided a nation we have become.

            The map shows a stark division between rural and urban America. The protests, moreover, confirm, beyond simple geography, that we have two Americas with essentially different values. These differences have always existed, but it took an election between two flawed candidates with enormous negatives to arouse passions on both sides.

            The majority of citizens outside our cities, feeling disenfranchised by a leftist government insensitive to their needs, voted against what they saw as a corrupt Democrat machine that would only make matters worse. “Drain the Swamp” became the perfect expression of their anger, as they rallied for the one man who heard their cries and gave them hope. What the biased media and the pollsters missed was the depth of their passion.

            The street and campus protesters railed against election results that threaten their generous entitlements. Will they now be forced to pay for their own food, their own medical care, and, as Hillary promised, their free college education? The eruption of slanders from an embarrassed media says it all: How will we survive in a country run by bigots and racists?

            I submit that we are not a nation of bigots and racists. Most Americans are not haters. They are law-abiding citizens who believe in equality and in the freedom and opportunity to enjoy their God-given rights of “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Maybe it’s time for all of us to retreat to a quiet corner and to re-read the Declaration of Independence. In this season of Thanksgiving, we should all be grateful to be living in this great country of ours.

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