So I woke up yesterday morning in shock, as did most of the world probably. Once again, we have an election where the candidate who has won the popular vote didn’t win the electoral college vote, and therefore, isn’t president. Let’s not get into whether that is a good thing or bad thing for the country…
However, yesterday, I cried on my drive to Costco with the boys thinking about what all of this means. You see, I don’t have a political party. My beliefs don’t fit into the thinking of either party.
And for me, that is one of the worst parts of this past election. I voted because it was my duty to, and I voted for what I saw as the lesser of two very flawed candidates and against a particular candidate. I was never excited and passionate about either.
No matter what party Donald Trump would run under, I would not and could not have ever voted for him. I spent a year creating and then teaching a curriculum on technology for freshmen where a bit part of is about cyberbullying and and copyright. And here, we have a president who uses technology to be one of the biggest bullies I have ever seen and whose wife plagiarized part of her speech at the Republican National Convention. Not to mention, he would have failed any class I teach because of his constant use of vague words, phrases that mean nothing, and the fact that he doesn’t read. He thinks only about himself, and he has no self-control. His team had to take away his Twitter password, yet America is willing to give him the combination for nuclear weapons. I hate reality TV, and the world just got it’s newest show with him as president. I shudder to think that he is the commander-in-chief for the military and he couldn’t coherently talk about any military matters we are currently in with specifics. I have to wonder if he could have located them on a map.
Donald Trump has degraded so many Americans—women, Latinos, African Americans, LGBT, immigrants, refugees, non-Christians. I have taught inner city African Americans. I have taught teen girls at a school that is majority minority. I have taught Latino students, many of whom were from rural border towns in Texas. Trump has no place in his heart for any of them. He has been endorsed by the KKK. Think about that. It’s not too different that the scenarios that began genocides in many of the books I read with my sophomores in World Literature. The reason so many people are upset about him becoming president has little to do with politics. If Kasich had won the primary for the Republicans, I probably would have voted for him over Hillary. People are upset because Donald Trump now will hold an office that our children, our youth, and every American is supposed to look up to and respect, and because of the hateful things he has said and done, the majority of Americans don’t respect him. The people who voted for him aren’t single issue voters. The people who voted for him may not have liked Hillary and acknowledged her character and actions were flawed, but they know she would support women, our minorities, our LGBT population, and all religions.
We are stuck with Trump as president. I don’t trust anything he says he will do to improve America. My concern now is the the real issue: how to fix the political system. For so many Americans, this was not an election for who they wanted to be president. It was an election about who they wanted to be president the least. Americans have to fix this before 2020 so we can get candidates who we are passionate about and who we love. I would love to see people who decide to break free from their party and run with someone from the other side. The people need more control of the process. I respect so many leaders from both sides, and yet none of them ran. I don’t know how change happens, but I know that our current system is not working. I wish we didn’t see a third party vote as a wasted vote.
I want our leaders to be people I respect and who my kids can dream of being like one day. Now I have the job of explaining to my kids (and students) that we want them to treat people fairly, to be kind to everyone, even those who are different, and to follow the rules, even though it is apparently OK for our President of the United States, one of the most powerful people in the world, to do otherwise.
My role as a mom has changed so much of how I think. I want my daughter to feel like she can do anything and be anything in this great big world. Her gender and size should never hold her back. While I don’t like everything Hillary stands for and I think she was a deeply flawed candidate, I am glad that my daughter could see a women running for president in such a formational time in her life. Likewise, this election and so much of what has happened in the last few years in our country has left me pondering what it means to be a mom to two boys. I am constantly reminded that I am a mom to two male, white boys…the people who have the most power in this country. I want to help shape them into men who are compassionate, who embrace diversity in every form whether it is physical or ideological. I want all of my children to value the Jesuit motto of being men and women for others and that they grow up to be people who give to make the world better, not people who are takers to make themselves better. I hope that their choices in friends bring all sorts of diversity into our house. I want to them to grow up to be givers and leaders.
I hope that Trump does continue to make America great. Maybe he will surprise us and reach out to those outside of the Republican party to take roles in his cabinet, but if you look at who he has been rumored to invite in, they are just the same old politicians and insiders.
Exiting and leaving America is not the answer, either. It’s why I haven’t left the Catholic Church. If we don’t stay and try to make change, who will? I don’t think it’s a coincidence that when we get our eyes examined, 20/20 is what we strive for as perfect vision. I think this election has been a wake up call for many on how divisive and self-centered America has become. Hopefully, the year 2020 brings clarity for us and that in the next four years we can work to bridge the divides in our communities and fix the issues we know exist in the political system. I want badly to have a candidate in 2020 that excites me and who I think is an agent for good change; I don’t want to vote again for the lesser of two evils.
Let’s change this system. Let’s change these mindsets so that there’s unity. Let’s rethink how our democracy works. Let’s change America so we don’t have people with mindsets like Pol Pot or Hitler. (And yes, while you may think that is an exaggeration, after teaching World Literature for years, so many histories of hate and genocide begin with divisions like the one we have in our country.) Let’s mind our own business when we need to. Let’s talk to each other face to face or on the phone. Let’s refriend friends and family members we disagreed with online. Like it or not, we are stuck with Trump as president for four years. Let’s write to our politicians, speak to those in our community, and show by action that we aren’t a country who thinks like him.
