In the wake of the election, I've been reading quite a few comments--or perhaps I should describe them as laments regarding the outcome. Some are from Monday Morning Quarterbacks diagnosing all the missteps, while others level accusations at one demographic group or another for the way they voted. But the comments that concern me the most are from the doomsayers who cannot wait for the worst possible nightmares to unfold.
Let me say that I share the anxiety based on what I have heard and read from the incoming administration, but I am at the opposite end when it comes to wishing for disaster. With an almost morbid glee, some folks cannot wait to see our country collapse. A few commented on the imminent ruin of Social Security --a legitimate concern given the teetering finances propping it up while Congress through inactivity and opposition kicked the can down the road year after year. It is a fixable problem, not without some change to be sure but some folks want it to fail just to punish those they believe voted the wrong way. Imagine wishing for the financial ruin and hardship this would visit on millions?
Other posts anticipated reporting neighbors or relatives for deportation, both those they know or believe voted for the incoming administration. So those who were opposed to this mass dehumanization now want revenge on the very people they wished to protect because they suspect they voted for it. What's next, will we become a nation of Quislings?
It doesn't stop there. Parents are disowning children and many children are disowning their parents. Divorce filings in the days following the election have sharply risen, along with online searches regarding expatriation. So a nation of immigrants now intends to pursue a policy of expelling millions of other immigrants while yet others seek self imposed expulsion. As much as I am concerned about the daily stream of threats and retributions echoing in the press, it would seem some folks are busy dismantling our nation even before anyone has taken office.
How does any of this behavior help? The outcome of the election was decided by about 2 million voters about 1.42% of those who voted, one of the slimmest margins in our country's history. Nearly 90 million eligible citizens chose not to exercise their right as citizens, fully a third of the country. Apparently they were content to abdicate their right to decide how we will be governed. To claim a mandate or the will of the people is an outrageous overstatement. As Lincoln famously observed, a house divided against itself, cannot stand.
I am reminded of a joke told to me some years ago about a man who comes home early from work to find his wife in bed with a lover. He snatches a gun from the bedside table and puts it to his own head. The lovers begin to laugh at this absurdity, whereupon the man responds, "what's so funny, you're next." It's not funny, but it's not entirely clear who will be next in the face of such self directed schadenfreude.
The election is over but the imposition of policies and the passage of laws that can tear our country apart awaits in the wings. Wishing to hasten that outcome is complicity with the very actions so deeply opposed. Hopelessness serves no one and nothing, and passivity in the face of injustice will almost certainly guarantee the worst possible outcomes.
Goring our own ox to punish those with whom we are at odds or worse yet wishing for others to suffer will do nothing to spare us a nightmarish future. Only resistance by every legal means against any and every threatened violation of our rights, an unceasing outpouring of mail, phone calls, and texts to our legislators registering our views, and a galvanizing effort by every citizen--including those who refrained from exercising the most sacred of rights, can hope to prevail. Whether we got what we deserved or get what we are willing to fight for hangs in the balance.
Comentarios