I'm not going to tell you who I voted for. It's not any of your business. I thought about it a lot. I prayed about it. I looked at all the candidates (well, Trump, Clinton, and Johnson anyway - Sorry Jill Stein). I listened to all sorts of people on who they were voting for. I had a talk with my dad that was probably the longest and most honest one about politics that we've ever had. And I'm satisfied with my vote. I still felt empowered when I filled in that circle.
And there are people who are upset and angry, and there are people who are happy. But I think most people are like me. Somebody at work asked me what I thought about the new president, and I said "We'll see." I honestly don't know what's going to happen when Trump takes office. I personally think he's a loon, but if he keeps that speechwriter that he had at 3AM yesterday morning, I'll feel a little better.
It's such a weird thing to be a moderate voter. It's also such a weird thing to not be defined by party lines. I go back and forth every single election. I try and vote for who I think is the best for the job, based off what I want in a candidate. I suppose a little of my problem is that I'm a white guy. If there's a cop car behind me, I'm scared that I might get a ticket. I'm not scared of anything else. If I'm walking alone at night, I might be scared that someone will want my wallet (although they're almost certainly not going to want my flip phone). But that's it. I don't know what it means to be black or be a woman. But I try not to discount any of their feelings. And if this election has proven anything, it's that all types of people can be jerks. I consider myself lucky, though, because a lot (a lot!) of my Facebook friends on both sides of the issue are very considerate. But there's still a lot of sadness and that hurts.
I have no answers for anybody. I just know what I personally know. But I wanted to write something. Anything. My own decision would have been so much easier if it had been Bernie vs Trump. Bernie got my vote easy. As with every politician, I don't have to agree with them on every issue, but if they connect with me on some inner level, and actually have something to say, then I'm more than willing to listen.
Here's the thing - At my heart I'm a conservative. But as I get older, I've become more liberal. That's not usually how its supposed to work. But this year's election threw all of that out the window. Here's the thing that I don't think most Hillary supporters understood - How they thought about Trump (misogynist, racist, evil, sexist, etc), that's what Trump supporters thought about Hillary. Not those specific terms, but they equated her lying and shadiness on the same equal level as Trump's sexism and racism. Obviously, those are two very different ways of looking at each person, but the anti-Hillary group (because not all of them were actually Trump supporters) felt just as valid in their dislike of her, as the anti-Trumps did in theirs. And I only wonder if Bernie had been the candidate if he would have been able to pull over those with Republican leanings who just didn't like or trust Trump. I don't think people really knew how many Republican-leaning people wanted a viable alternative to these two, even if that viable alternative was a Democrat. Yes, yes, there will always be people who just blindly follow the party line, but there are still a lot of us who want a candidate to actually make a stand, even if it alienates some people in the short run.
My biggest concern with Trump becoming President is different than a lot of other peoples'. I'm more concerned with Free Speech and the Freedom of the Press. That's my own hot button topic. And the moment I see it in jeopardy, I'm going to have to do something Creatively anyways. I never (ever) want to be censored for what I write, and nor do I ever want to see anyone else in that same boat. There's all the Facebook "friends" who have an opinion. I'm glad about that. I may not like looking at all of said opinions, but I'm happy to be able to judge for myself (and do the research), to validate what people are saying.
This will be the only time that I may write about politics. I hope so, anyways. I try to avoid it. But this has been such a polarizing result, that I felt compelled to write something. I'm not trying to change minds. But I am hoping to crack open some of the doors that have been shut. And like I said, "We'll see."
