An Election Reflection

Though Donald Trump was ahead in the electoral college when I turned out the lights and went to bed, I fully expected to wake up to the news that Hillary Clinton had won the presidency.  I could not believe my eyes and ears when I turned on the TV in the morning and learned that Trump had won.  Let me make myself clear before I go any further with my comments.  The two major parties could not have selected poorer choices to be their candidates than they did in the persons on Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.  If their names had been computer code in some computer language (C++ or something of that nature) the message would have read FATAL ERROR the first time a person had tried to run the program.  How we as a nation picked these two particular candidates is beyond me.  When I awoke Wednesday morning I was relieved that we as a nation had not elected Hillary Clinton and at the same time dismayed that we had selected Donald Trump.

With that little bit out of the way, I have had time to reflect on the election and why it turned out the way it did given the candidates that we were given.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that over a short period of time I had traveled from Maine to the Gulf Coast and on to Texas and New Mexico and back through the midsection of the country to New York.  During that trip I saw exactly one yard sign supporting Hillary Clinton.  In contrast, there were hundreds of yard signs and billboards supporting Donald Trump.  I concluded that if the election was to be determined by the signs along my route through America that Donald Trump would win the election.  I think many of those reading my comments dismissed my observation as wishful thinking.  However, I suggest that you take a good luck at the way counties across the country voted in this election.  The election map is a sea of red.  Yes, there is blue, but primarily on the west coast, New York and New Jersey and a few other spots here and there, primarily in large cities and university counties.

Those yard signs are a reflection of that map showing how counties voted in this election.  In a way, this election was a rural revolt against large cities and university towns that have traditionally leaned to the left.  Conservative rural communities rose up and said that they were not going to take it anymore.  They were tired of being marginalized.

I also made an observation about conversations I’ve overheard in diners and standing in checkout lines in stores.  I mentioned the empty warehouses, vacated farms, and boarded up businesses.  Those observations were poo-pooed by a few Facebook friends, yet those conversations and the boarded up businesses had significant meaning.  A lot of pollsters have been asking themselves how they could have been so wrong in their predictions of this election.  The fact is that they didn’t pay attention to what many Americans were saying in the diners and checkout lines; they didn’t look at the empty warehouses, boarded up business windows, and vacated farms.

Hillary Clinton could have won this election had she listened to the talk in the diners and thought about those empty warehouses, boarded up business windows, and vacant farms.

She made a few other missteps as well.

She spent more time on trying to break the glass ceiling than building the house.  Frankly, that offended a multitude of men AND women.  She appealed to everyone except one very large voting group: middle-aged, middle class, get-up-in-the-morning-and-work-harder-and-longer-for-less, average Joe, white American male.  She didn’t even try.

I know that many people would point to FOX News and suggest that this organization is responsible for putting Trump in the White House.  Indeed, FOX News has a plurality of viewers now, but certainly not a majority.  Clearly, FOX News leans to the right, but it is only one among the many that comprise the media block consisting of CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, and NBC,and all the left-leaning print news organizations.  If you wanted to see how “impartial” these good folks are you should have watched Robin Roberts on GMA on Wednesday morning (11/9/2016).  Her contempt for Trump was clear.  The point is that FOX News was virtually the only conservative view over cable against a wall of liberalism.  Any advantage Trump had because of FOX News was easily overcome by the other networks.  People were tired of the left-slanted editorializing of news.

Though Comey chose not to pursue Clinton on her private email server and the mishandling of classified emails, the public chose another path.  Had it been the first time she had made a mistake the public would have forgiven her.  But, it has been error after error after error.  There comes a time in people’s minds that too many errors are not oversights and mistakes, but intentional acts.

Hillary Clinton thought she could ride Obama’s coattails.  In spite of the more than 50% favorable rating of the President, that poll has the same flaws that the election polls and predictions have.  Whatever that flaw is, it is real.  Much of the American public see Obama’s presidency as flawed and failed.  Clinton’s decision to make her presidency a continuation of Obama’s presidency did her no favors.  Regardless, there are enough issues riding on Obama’s coattails that virtually shook off potential voters for Clinton.  Taken individually, none by itself would be enough to sway the election to Trump.  But, taken together?  Well, there’s a problem. 

At the top of the list is Obamacare.  Instead of making medical care affordable it has blown health care costs into the stratosphere.  Those who used to have care can no longer afford it and doctors who were walking on financial tightropes anyway left the practice of medicine.  Insurance companies are opting out of the program.  So much for the promise that if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor and that if you like your insurance you can keep your insurance. 

Then there is this little Second Amendment issue.  Mr. Obama never wasted a shooting to harp on taking away the people’s right to bear arms.  Unless you are a shooter, you didn’t see the scarcity of ammunition in the big box stores and the sporting goods stores.  For over a year it was nearly impossible to find popular firearms’ caliber ammunition.  It wasn’t because it was being bought up by the public, but the government was buying all of it before it hit the shelves.  He and Ms. Clinton never fully understood that the people want to preserve their liberties against big government as much as they want to protect their homes against traditional invaders and put wild game on the table.  They see fear of our own government as pure hogwash. 

Closely related to that is his complete neglect of law enforcement and the building of minorities into a froth over police shootings – both ways.  While he expressed outrage over wrongful killing of innocent (and not-so-innocent) citizens by police, he could not bring himself to express sorrow over the murder of police officers.  This irked police and law and order folks alike.  The message that was sent was loud and clear: Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives don’t.  Clinton has never been shy about her position on gun control, and her disdain for law enforcement is well documented. 

Much of America sees her relationship with Wall Street as being just a little too cozy.  Then there are those who see her sale of American uranium to Russia as treason.

Let’s move to another elephant (perhaps a Republican elephant) in the room.  It is called Benghazi.  It is hard to say which came first, the lies or the mishandling.  Chronologically, the mishandling came first, but the lies overshadowed the mishandling.  Americans are a forgiving people.  Had she come clean at first, Americans would have been upset with her but would also have said that she made a decision and rode with it.  But then, “what difference does it make?”

Religious freedom has been a huge issue for the evangelicals concerning Obama and Clinton.  When Obama’s commission came back and reported that religious freedom was code for all kinds of –isms and phobias, the moderate to conservative religions of the country unitedly balked in the form of a letter to the President.  Rarely do such diverse religions agree on a specific topic.  The threat of free speech and the free exercise of religion and religious practice were on the line for churches and synagogues.  Religious leaders were fearful that the government was going to step inside the sacred walls of the church and prohibit the teaching of doctrinal principles and practices.  There was legitimate concern as they already had seen the mayor of Houston, Texas, making that attempt.

Linked closely to religious freedom, a fear-mongering effort on the part of the Obama Administration and supported by Ms. Clinton, took root.  They, along with expert liberals, seriously misread the hearts of the American people.  This fear brought with it a whole new vocabulary that had millions of people scrambling to dictionaries and online definitions to discover what they were being accused of.  That vocabulary consisted of terms like xenophobia, misogyny, homophobia, and Islamaphobia.  Tagged with these unfamiliar terms were bigotry, sexism and racism.  Those were terms that the average working class American understood – and resented.

Closely related to the –isms and phobias that Obama so valiantly fought against was the embrace of political correctness.  To be sure, political correctness began long before Obama assumed the Presidency.  I point to the academic world, which decided that referring to human, him, he, and his were sexist and exclusionary of half of the world.  (I’m sure that feminists couldn’t agree more.)  We all know that this country along with the majority of men in the rest of the world has treated women differently.  We have slowly come out of the dark ages in assuming that women are less intelligent than men.  Along with that though has been the placement of women on a pedestal and in need of protection.  Indeed, there are those who abuse women, scorn women, hate women, are fearful of women, misuse women, belittle women, and all manner of terrible mean things to, of, and about women.  This is not the case with the vast majority of men, and men are tired of being painted with the same broad brush.  Men are also tired of being portrayed as bungling idiots who could not fight their way out of a well-lit paper bag.

Then there is the whole gender identity thing.  Most Americans can tolerate those who have their gender identity crisis or confusion or selection of whatever it is called, but do not want it shoved down their throats.  They question and have legitimate concerns.  Most Americans are asking when the majority can rule.

Most Americans born in the 20s through the 60s were familiar with the phrase sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me.  They are tired of the new bullying definitions, safe spaces, rioting when things don’t go the way rioters think they should go – even in the face of overwhelming evidence that their cause was wrong.  To add insult to injury, middle class American patriots are tired of the way the offended are coddled by the government.  They are tired of the federal government sticking its unwelcomed nose into local issues. 

Americans want the government to take care of America on the world stage and to stick up for America and represent America instead of apologizing to the world for America and then micromanaging American lives.  Obama in his rush to fundamentally change America into global citizens forgot that we are American citizens.  First.  We have not always been right as a nation but we have always responded to the pleas of the underdogs in the world and bailed our friends out when they faced conflict and destruction in spite of their disgust with us after we have rushed to their aid.  We have rushed aid where natural disasters have stricken.  We have sent our best and brightest against war, plague, famine, and storm.  Do we always get it right?  No!  Are we already a generous people?  Well, I think history will speak for itself.

Are there times when the federal government needs to be involved in the lives of Americans?  Yes, especially when there are significant inequities that state and local governments will not resolve on its own or when state and local resources cannot address.

Border security with its attendant influx of illegal immigrants and the threat of terrorism and the opening of the doors to refugees has been a major issue.  Americans by and large are good with, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free….”   Americans are not so benevolent with those who come in through a different path than what their ancestors or they themselves took.  If our nation is to follow the rule of law then the rule of law should be followed.  Crossing the border illegally into the United States means nothing if it isn’t enforced with immediate action.  By definition illegal crossing the border makes a person a criminal.  Now, not every person who crosses the border illegally engages in other criminal activity other than to work “off the books”.  But, those who engage in criminal activity need to be screened out and the best place to screen is at the border.

Americans are rightfully concerned about terrorism.  Most Americans understand that Central and South Americans are not the only ones slipping across the Rio Grande.  Illegals also come in through our ports and across our northern border with Canada.  As a sovereign nation we have an absolute right to protect ourselves against our enemies.  We have a right to know that when we fly from New York to Seattle that we won’t end up on the one-hundredth floor of an office building.  Those who adopt the progressive view have not considered the feelings of middle class America when it comes to border security.  And something as simple as referring to the Islamic State as ISIL instead of ISIS has rubbed Americans wrong.  Even worse has been the administration’s refusal to label Islamic Terrorism for what it is.  Americans understand that most Muslims are not terrorists and that Muslims should be no more offended by the term Islamic Terrorism than Christians would be offended by Christian Terrorism.  Bin Laden no more represented Islam than what Timothy McVeigh represented America or Christianity.

Meanwhile, refugees from the Middle East come into the United States and are already overwhelming services where they are settling.  Communities across the country are now saying, “No More!” to the influx of refugees.  At the same time, the vast majority of Americans want to be compassionate to those in need but fear both the small percentage that slip through the processing cracks and the refusal of immigrants to assimilate into the American Culture that has developed over the past two centuries.

Christians and Jews alike feel like Israel has been abandoned, contrary to Biblical belief systems.  This is totally unacceptable to them. 

Our entire Mideast policy is reflected in the scaling back of our military.  America has had a rich tradition of military strength and we have paid dearly during those occasions when our military was not as strong as it should be.  We learned that lesson during the American Revolution and the Barbary Coast Wars.  Americans learned that lesson and see threats to our nation from nations not deserving of our trust.  Likewise, the abandonment of our veterans is seen as totally disrespectful.  The unresolved issues of veteran health care and the mismanagement and cover-ups in the Veteran’s Administration remain sore and festering problems for the current administration.

There is more.  There are the energy policies that have put tens of thousands of people out of work.  There is the Cliven Bundy Effect and the incidents at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge where a rancher was shot and killed by federal law enforcement agents.  Both clashes had their origin with the Obama Administration.  Whether the ranchers or the federal government was out of line is immaterial.  What mattered in this last election was what many saw as government overreach into areas where the Administration either had no business or had reversed itself from previous agreements.  Candidate Clinton was riding on these coattails.

There are little things that are important to Americans such as Clinton’s associates dropping “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. 

There are the big things that are also important to Americans such as Clinton’s assertion that it was time for America to have a woman president and that she was that woman.  The fact that women were behind Clinton simply because she was a woman turned off thousands and thousands of voters.  The message that it was time for a woman to be President and that she was that woman was the wrong platform for our time; not because women are incompetent (they are not), but because she spouted off that it’s a woman’s turn.  It doesn’t work that way and it never will work that way.  A woman will be elected to the Presidency of the United States because of her ability to be President, not because it’s her turn.

Of course the matter of her honesty, integrity, demeanor, and character were issues.  Those who knew how she was behind the scenes saw what kind of person she really was.  Her Jekyll and Hyde personality did not serve her well.

Finally, she did herself no favors by insulting a quarter of the American public by referring to them as deplorables.  While time passed to allow for a little healing, many Republicans and undecided voters felt that she was talking about them.  You just cannot do that.

Of course it would be easy to now explain why Trump did not win the majority popular vote, but that isn’t what counts.  I’ll leave that to some pundit who wants to take that on.  As for me and my Election Reflection, I don’t claim to be an expert.  I’m just an observer explaining what I saw.  Very simply stated, what I saw was the neglect and marginalizing of the middle-aged, middle class, hard-working, average American male (with a whole lot of women) and a series of missteps.  These missteps taken individually would not have caused her the election.  But taken together, too many people had been adversely affected by too many failures and assaults on their way of life.

You may see it differently.  You are welcome to share your differences of opinion on your own blog or Facebook timeline.  I’m not looking for a fight.  It isn’t that I don’t respect your opinion; it’s just that some people don’t know how to counter an opinion without attacking the person and others can’t do it without using profanity.  I’m not interested in a debate on my timeline or blog.  I’m sure that many who read my reflections will find fault.  Whatever.  You don’t have to tell me that I’m wrong or that I misinterpreted events.  These are the things that played through the minds of a lot of people as they stood in the ballot booth deciding which lever to pull or which ballot to mark.

I anxiously wait to see President Trump in action and pray for his success.  I will stand behind him and support him in his presidency.  If he is out of line I will be more than happy to find fault.  In the meantime, God Bless The United States of America.