American Decency
This election was never about political ideologies, or policy debates. It wasn't even about the Supreme Court. It was about character, and it was about our children. Only the most cynical of Americans wouldn't feel that Joe Biden isn't a better morally and ethically-upstanding president for our children to look up to.
We all see the climate change crisis, and parents want to know science is driving decisions about their kid's futures. People with family members in the military recognize that our armed forces acknowledge climate change as a significant threat. But these are still anscillary issues compared to character.
Americans will never forget Trump mocking disabled people. It wasn't funny then, it's not funny now. We will never forget Trump's race baiting as Nazis marched in our streets. Then, Trump created a Muslim ban. We saw him laughing at our military men and women, encouraging a Michigan militia's failed plot...The list goes on and on. It was disgusting policy, but mostly Americans were annoyed that Trump just wouldn't be more presidential.
Apparently everyone who knows Trump personally, says he is an ass. He demeans women, he's insecure, spoiled and cheats when he can. Yes, we were warned in 2016, but maybe it was too hard to believe he could be so offensive to so many, so often. Hell, his most ardent supporters wanted him to just shut up.
He could have easily won this election if he had just been less of an ass.
Many people even stuck by him when he told hard working American women he would "put their husbands back to work." I don't know about you, but I live in rural America, and women are some of the hardest working people I know, and rightfully they took offense. In baseball, that's called an unforced error. It's no longer 1950, and women across many sectors are widely credited with contributing to Trump's defeat.
Being culturally tone deaf is actually forgivable, but a policy of "us vs. them" is unsustainable, and for a majority of Americans, apparently it's intolerable. Low-wage workers voted for a man that gave tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires, so yes some people got duped, and single-issue voters aside, Trump will always have a following because he is simply a hell of a salesman.
Many good people still don't see Trump as the huckster he is, and while it's confounding, many Trump voters really are racists and xenophobes. It's that simple. Systemic racism is real and has been exposed for all to see, conscious and unconscious bias is well documented, and thanks to mandated body cameras and the modern phone (cameras), millions of people have finally accepted that there is wide spread police abuse, resulting in unneeded shootings and killings. The result? Over the last four years, millions of Americans quit falling for Trump's snake oil, and one by one they called bullshit. Trump pulled back the curtain, exposing America's dark side.
Did we really want change so bad that we'd elect someone who didn't read daily security briefings, and who tweeted like a 14-year old on espresso? Apparently.
Was Trump a reflection of America's most base instincts? Probably.
But, if that's the case, isn't the Biden/Harris win an aspirational reflection of who we want to be as a country, and to a more inspiring degree who we want our children to be? Hopefully.
In time, his supporters openly recognized Trump was a liar and cheat. They saw his entire orbit get busted and brought down on various forms of corruption—But, it was inexplicably tolerable to his supporters.
But, it was Trump's words and actions that went too far. Americans, and the data is clear that this includes those who elected Trump, voted for truth and decency.
Some who voted for him in 2016 just could not vote for him again because they have Mothers, religious advisors, spouses and kids. They know Dreamers and immigrants. They voted for a military Dad. They voted for someone with a long history as a faith-based candidate, and they saw through Trump, a religious poser with a borrowed Bible.
In places like Nebraska's second congressional district, the vulnerable Republican (Don Bacon) won, but Trump lost. These are the same voters. Americans voted for decency over party and policy. There are many stories like this from across America.
Millions regretted their vote when they saw how Trump belittled people and turned away from science. As China invests billions in alternative energy, voters simply wanted rational decision making. The fringe will always exist and it will always feel like the majority because the media loves to point cameras on them.
Because the right won state and federal congressional seats in stunning numbers, left-leaning conspiratorial pockets say that congressional elections were stolen. Similarly, In conspiracy pockets on the right, and with Trump egging them on, people say the presidential election was stolen. Sigh. It was all so predictable in an era where people can reaffirm their beliefs on the internet and overlook the unprecedented bipartisan election oversight.
As I write this, it's still happening. When people lash out because they lose on the baseball field, or in politics, it's pathetic and it's sad. It's just not decent, and it's not how we model ourselves as parents.
Americans voted for a man whose wife, Dr. Jill Biden, is highly accomplished, yet remarkably normal. A woman who has dedicated her life to education. Regarding the V.P., even the old white guys voted out an old white guy, and voted for a Mom who looks like America.
Millions of Republicans crossing over to vote for decency is a quintessential American statement about our values, and the chorus of conservatives telling Trump to step down represents the best of our democracy.
I love talking politics, but I don't like chaos. Maybe we need healing and we can get back to simply having different political views? Remember when we would debate policy?
Our experiment with total disruption, at least at the Presidential level, is over for now. So, it's incumbent upon all of us to expand our sphere of influence, and it's time to again be guided by science, and to recognize that while D.C may remain a shit show, the discord with your neighbors, friends and family is due in large part to us electing a bully.
America made a statement that we don't tolerate bullies. This election demonstrates to the rest of the world that we want to model better behavior for our children. We may not all like Biden's policies, but getting us all talking civilly again seems like a reasonable platform—Unity vs. division? Truth and science? Respect for all people? Yes, please.
Biden's lofty rhetoric may go over the heads of fools. But, as a parent in a confused and violent world, I'm ready for some honesty and stability. I am ready for someone—Republican or Democrat, left or right, libertarian or socialist in the White House whose reputation, and political platform, is to demonstrate decency. A majority of Americans feel similarly, and that is why Biden won. Why did Mitch McConnell go to Wilmington, Delaware for Beau Biden's funeral? Respect.
So, "...Just grab their pussies?" Real men don't don't say that, and decent men don't think that. Losers do.
-bd
Comments
Thank you for writing this article. I strongly agree that we need to listen to each other and create a sense of unity through our differences. I cannot believe that Trump was elected, but I sure am glad is is on the way out.