I’ve done a fair amount of thinking over the past couple days. As I said in my last post, the election result was emotional for me and my family. However, I’ve taken a couple days now to digest it with the help of a few voices.
Stephen Colbert is a stirring orator.
Hillary Clinton gives a warm concession speech.
Even Donald Trump was gracious in his acceptance speech.
The NPR Politics Podcast team really helped to dive into the facts and implications.
And the Cracked Podcast really helped to bring some clarity to things.
Of course, President Obama helped me and the rest of us face this with dignity and class.
Ultimately, I’ve come to a decision, but first I want to say this. I’ve been seeing, mostly in my Facebook feed, fellow liberals claiming that he’s “not MY president” and other, similar sentiments. I disagree with this very strongly for two reasons. First, he is president to all of us, whether we like it or not. He is our president. He is my president. Whether I am proud of him or have to apologize for him doesn’t make this less true. I am an American, as are all of my fellow Democrats, and that doesn’t change because we dislike the president.
The decision I’ve reached is that I’m re-gearing my NaNoWriMo words into writing these posts and drafting up interviews. This election has motivated me like no other before, and I’m finally feeling the importance of my Political Science and Humanities degrees. I know how to research and how to study, so that’s what I’ll do. I’ve already committed to writing a certain number of words for November (50,000), so I’m still shooting for that. However, the subject will be different.
As I said above, I’m going to be conducting some interviews. With whom? Conservative voters. Lots of people like to blame hatred or the system for this outcome, but I think it is probably best that we start trying to understand those that did vote for Trump. I have a sneaking suspicion that many of them voted for him in spite of his rhetoric rather than because of it. I know, that’s not the most popular idea amongst my liberal circles. So, I’m going to find some Trump voters, probably starting with friends and family, and talk to them. I need their perspective. We all do.
Wish me luck!
Picture credit: Simpleicon via Flaticon.