I can’t take credit for the title. I traveled to it last
night in a lovely Chinese novel, “
Brothers,”
set during the Tiananmen Square upraising. At a time that brought students and
workers together to fight for…democracy. The protests around the country are
not lost on me, yet, I remember panicked rhetoric after Nixon’s and Bush 43’s
elections as well.
I have been searching all week for the words to capture my
string of thoughts on the outcome Tuesday.
I went to bed Tuesday night secure in the knowledge that I
would awake to the first woman president. My security was shaken by the first
email subject line I read Wednesday morning: “This is a very sad day for our
country.”
I immediately went in search of election results and was
stunned by the amount of red that swept our country. Including my own state,
Michigan, which went conservative for the first time since
1988 when President George
H.W. Bush was elected. I reasoned thoughtfully:
1.
I must be in an episode of “The
Twilight Zone” or for you younger readers “The Black Mirror.”
2.
I have to run this past
Snopes. This has to be someone’s idea of a
gag.
3.
Should I take the day off from
work to mourn? It seemed just and appropriate somehow.
I listened to the week’s coverage of the election and was
comforted by the thoughtful reporters and voices of our nation that reminded me
that all of Trump’s supporters weren’t the hateful bigots that he is. And
saddened by the realization that the same voters with the “dumb plan” to shake
things up in Washington had put their Republican incumbents back in office. The
very Washington insiders who have done nothing for the voters since they have
been too busy blocking this administration for their own personal and political
gain. “Dumb Anger, Dumb Plan.”
I was also comforted by at least one reporter on
NPR’s Sunday All
Things Considered, who acknowledged that while there were many hardworking
and sincere reporters out there covering this campaign, the media as a whole didn’t
do a very good job (my words) challenging a candidate who actually used a
campaign stop to promote his new Washington, DC hotel and the media covered it.
(International free advertising is exactly what the news media is apparently
about these days --- free advertising and pandering to the base interests of
the American people while the international media tries to legitimately cover
our news --- much to their own entertainment.)
Monday night, I had the opportunity to view Michael Moore’s “
Trumpland,” with Moore himself at a rally
in Flint. In the film, Moore reads an eloquent essay he wrote to the angry blue
collar white American man. He readily acknowledges all of the reasons these men
and their ethnic fellow Americans have a right to be angry. Yet, he cautions
all voters that when one votes in anger there will be consequences to pay long
after the moment spent in the voting booth. And those consequences, Moore
reminds his audience, affect the whole nation. Getting even through one’s vote
is a “dumb plan.” (I note the loss of union power over its membership in this
union state with this election. While the unions might endorse Democrats, the
workers are seriously conservative on social issues. I think the union members
just taught their union leadership a lesson in independent minds and votes.)
I am fearful now for my students, friends, family and
neighbors whose religions, cultures, races, disabilities, and gender
orientation put them more at risk than ever before. Pundits had predicted that
should Trump win, his legacy of hate on the campaign trail would give those,
who supported for him because he gave credence to their ignorance, fear and
hate, the license to act on their hate towards others unlike themselves. Other
pundits predicted that had he lost, those same haters would have reacted violently
toward other Americans and immigrants unlike themselves. I fear we may be in a “Catch
22” here. Win or lose, someone is going to get hurt who instead deserves the
equal protections under the law that we claim are afforded to all.
I am fearful about our “right to know” as Trump has already
prevented the media from reporting on his actions as president-elect. Our media
are already in a tenuous place and Trump’s disrespect for the First Amendment
and its role in our free and open society is concerning to say the least.
I am worried about human rights issues, the environment, and
our Democracy as it becomes ever more vulnerable to capitalism with Trump at
the helm and the Koch Brothers and others exercising their free speech rights
with piles of cash. We worried about Clinton booking the Lincoln Room for a
fee. What’s going to be for sale in DC with Trump as our CEO?
At this moment in time, I am going to choose to take comfort
in the belief that the good and decent men and women who hopefully still exist
in our Congress, will block Trump’s less lucid maniacal actions and protect the
values that those of us were taught by our parents, teachers, family, and
friends. You know, things like respect, fairness, honesty, kindness, generosity,
equality, and tolerance.
But I will be paying attention and I won’t hesitate to voice
my opinion and protest those actions that strike me as unjust.
I can’t help but wonder if our silent majority may have just
gotten what it deserves. Stay silent, don’t act, it will all be OK, is a “dumb
plan” too.
