Hello Diesel,
I appreciate your perspective, your optimism, and your thoughtful post. You sound like me two or three years ago. I am so far past that. The 2016 election was difficult for most people. I didn't vote for Trump (I didn't vote for Clinton either), but I did not hold a vote for Trump (or Clinton) against anyone. I spent at least the first year and probably close to the first two years of the Trump presidency pleading for unity. I joined online forums to learn why Trump supporters supported him. I had long, patient conversations with relatives and friends who supported Trump. I made a monumental effort to come to terms with the Trumpists in my life and Trumpists in general.
Yet the situation only degraded. Trump dug the death grave deeper every waking hour of every godforsaken day for five long years. He never stopped lying. He hired people to lie for him. How did his supporters react? We all know the answer. They swallowed the poison pill hook, line, and sinker. They completely abandoned reality. They denied things that were undoubtedly true. They insisted on things that were undoubtedly false. They even claimed that the word "fact" doesn't have a definition. In fact, they claimed that no words have definitions, that everything is subjective and relative. There is no universal truth about anything. They claimed that their "opinions", however uniformed or blatantly deceptive, were equally as valid as proven science, medicine, and basic, provable facts. They continue to do all of those things to this very day.
So tell me please, PoliTalker, if you can: How are we supposed to achieve unity with people who don't even operate in reality? If you don't agree that 2 + 2 = 4, then a conversation about math is pointless. If you think that purple is a dinosaur and not a color, we don't have any common ground for a meeting of the minds. This is not about political disagreement. This is about honesty. This is about being a normal, rational person who understands words, uses them appropriately, and acts honestly. Trumpists are none of those things. I would love to restrict our disagreements to budget bills and the national deficit and trade agreements and foreign policy. Instead, we have tens of millions of Americans who believe that their political opponents are satan worshippers who rape babies in the basement of a pizza joint.
Lastly, I do believe in forgiveness, but I also believe that once someone shows their true colors, I should never forget it. I don't hate the Trumpists. I watched them proudly display overt, vile, hurtful, unapologetic racism and hatred for at least four years. They can be part of the American fabric. They're already here. But they may never, ever be a part of my life again. I will not unify with people who hate me because I am not white and not straight. I will not unify with people who trade in lies and then use their religion to condemn me. I'm just not there anymore. I will not be a battered spouse who continues to be abused just because I love my country and my fellow Americans. If Trumpists ever come to their senses, I will reevaluate my position, but I have no hope in the world that that will ever happen.
I can certainly appreciate your perspective. I thank you for sharing your thoughts. I don't know what the future will bring or how we can heal this nation from the tremendous overwhelming hurt inflicted by Trump. All I do know at this point is that we have to try. The alternative of letting this nation dissolve and go away is just unthinkable. I can't imagine what would replace it, or if it would all even be one nation, several, or parts be consumed by other nations. I've got to fight for America to endure. I can't think of any other way at this point than to push for unity even when it looks seemingly impossible for that to happen in such a dark hour.
It really boils down, for me, to my faith that human good is stronger than bad. That there are more good people than bad people. That the collective goodness of America is still stronger than the collective badness. Even though America is bruised and weakened by Trumpism and hatred, love must and shall prevail.
It's a basic struggle between hate and love.
Do we hate our neighbors for being different? Or do we love them for the diversity, even if it is not all beautiful. We know that some of our neighbors hate us for being different. Should we hate them for hating us? Where is that going to lead if everyone did that? The break up of America?
I don't want that. Most Americans don't want that.
You know, conservatives used to say: "America, love it or leave it." That was their old way of being intransigent. That led to a view that liberals should just leave America. Well, that didn't happen of course. Liberals love being Americans just as much as conservatives do. So now that that didn't happen, conservatives have decided to simply ignore that liberals exist. They want to pretend our institutions, such as strong government and the main stream media, are all BS. All along, they have clung to a hope that all of America can become conservative. They tried nicely inviting us to leave, (as they saw it,) and now they have progressed to insulting us and demanding that we share their beliefs or be silent.
Well, obviously neither position is workable. So, we are at this point where everything is bitterly divided and it has boiled down into name-calling contests. Which accomplishes nothing and poisons meaningful progress.
Out of this morass of hatred, we have got to pick up the pieces and find our way forward. We need good leadership.
I think we just found it. Nobody got too excited about Biden. He is seen as dull and a non-star. An old has-been. Maybe that's just what we need. Maybe he is the perfect experienced wise leader to take us from where we are now and try to end the separation, try to draw us closer.
I think we are at a point in America where we need to just slow down and take it all in. Where we are, how we got here, and just where we are going.
I'm ready to let things ride, leave the lines of communication open, so when the right is done with this hateful hissy fit we can again talk. I am under no misconception that all of the hatred has come from the right. Many on the left have answered the hatred with hatred of their own. That has not worked well.
I am truly sorry that American gave no more than lip service to Marianne Williamson. I supported her message of fighting hatred with love. Nobody wanted to hear it, but I did. She was right. I would like to see Biden incorporate her into his administration. Maybe we need a federal of love!
