After The Math

My, my what a different winter we are looking at than the one many of us imagined.

A woman whose friendship I value said the other day, “Telling someone to calm down is not going to make them calm down.” So true but too bad.

So instead what I’d like to tell the ½ of the country that seems to be a teensy bit upset that Hillary Clinton is not going to be our next president is that I understand exactly how you feel and I know it sucks. Not because I am upset Hillary lost, but because I know how it feels to face four to eight years of feeling disenfranchised and being governed by leaders who don’t represent your point of view and who shove a bunch of stuff down your throat that makes you absolutely vomit. Though in fairness, Trump really hasn’t done any of that yet but I know better than to argue with you.

I don’t think we on the right expressed our displeasure any less vehemently or gently in 2008 or 2012 than those on the left are now, although I have to say I don’t remember us setting things on fire and rioting and looting and the like. But we were just as unhappy about it. I don’t mean to imply that all Trump haters are violent and childish. Just unhappy, distraught, near suicidal and feeling hopeless.  I understand.  We spent eight years there.

                What we didn’t have was a media that trumpeted every emotion we felt while we were waiting for our coffee to brew.

                Oh, I know, we have Rush Limbaugh and those lying bastards on Fox News. All I can say is those guys must be really good if your side can equate one news network and one talk show host with ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, HLN, The BBC, NPR, The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post and almost every major newspaper in every major town in the United States, but we can debate that next time we get together to smear feces on each other’s windshields or whatever you had in mind for the holidays this year.

                If you can suspend your disbelief enough to believe that most people in between coasts didn’t want to be ruled by California and New York maybe you can suspend it enough to believe we think you have more media at your disposal to make more noise about your displeasure. But I’m trying to agree with you here—I’m trying to tell you I know you’re upset and we on the right know how you feel (at least those of you who didn’t need days off and therapy and pla-doh and stuff—we don’t know how to really relate to that).

                You guys, for eight years we woke up every day frustrated and fearful of what the government and you-know-who might do that day to make America look a little less like the one of which we were once so proud. We didn’t like a lot of stuff. We didn’t much like Obamacare (although everybody likes no exclusions for preexisting conditions, c’mon); we didn’t really think much of Obama’s international apology tour or drawing imaginary lines in the sand or feeling like we had become the laughing stock of the global community.

                We didn’t like being told the economy was great when we set a record for food stamp recipients; equaled mid-70’s numbers for citizens not in the work force; and saw household income levels decline, all the while being told it was OK because this was the new normal.  I know, I know, all the bad stuff was George Bush’s fault. Obama is only responsible for happy things. So if your guy couldn’t fix it in eight years is it too much to ask for him to get out of the way because we are pretty sure our guy can?

                Yes? Too soon? Sorry.

                And my personal favorite, the racial division infection that has abscessed in this country under Obama’s leadership or lack thereof. I know, you don’t think that was his fault either, but believe me I am being kind when I tell you that I think his biggest failing as the nation’s first black president was the giant step backwards in race relations that he personally nurtured and encouraged.

                And good lord, the list of crap that made us puke is way longer than this but you get the picture and I promised a friend of mine who complained that I would try and keep new blogs around 1,000 words because he has a short attention span. (I should’ve mentioned the debt and border security, illegals and Sanctuary cities. Oh well, we’ll get to those another time.)

                So yes, we get it, and so should you: there is going to be a lot of stuff happen in at least the next four years that you aren’t going to like very much. Good grief, Trump isn’t even president yet and the mainstream media says doom is upon us.  I don’t know what to tell you other than you have my empathy.

                I’d like to tell you that we on the right will try and be more compassionate during the implementation of policies we’d like to see happen before our country is crippled beyond repair but I can’t speak for everyone, and many days I’m only one stupid liberal comment away from losing my stuff myself.

                Eventually President Trump will be sworn in in spite of fake news about fake news, Russian hackers (who thought it would be a good idea to see the U.S. ramp up its military again?), and aliens from the Planet Zoltar.

                I’d like to ask you to give Trump a chance to make your health care more affordable, your paychecks bigger, your borders more secure, your communities safer and your nation less vulnerable to defeat in the next war someone decides to declare on us but I’m not hopeful you will do that. Which brings us back to me knowing exactly how you are going to feel for the next four to eight years and I’m sorry.

For you.