Photography And Half-Thoughts By Mitchell Hegman

...because some of it is pretty and some of it is not.

Friday, November 11, 2016

Lame Duck America


We have always called the period a sitting president and our legislative bodies spend in office between the election of successors and the successors assuming their offices a “lame duck session.”   Typically, little beyond formalities transpire during these sessions.  Not much decision-making occurs.
At the same time, the entire nation usually falls into something of a lame duck session of its own.  General numbness on the part of some.  Jubilation and hope on the on the winning side.
Things are much different this election.
Some on the losing side have protested in the streets.  People weeping, thrashing in disbelief and despair.  On the other side?  I have never seen such sore winners.  Gloating.  Every comment ending with disparaging—no—purely hateful remarks about Hillary Clinton.
Clearly we had two very different candidates this year.  The issues became personal.  Add to that a plethora of news media organizations that constantly cater to (and constantly feed) voters of a certain belief system.  Then, toss social media into the mix.
It’s an ugly bomb.
Social media is a tinderbox.  Everyone has matches they can strike and then flick into the tinderbox to set it aflame.  And they do.   This is especially true of Facebook.
We are clearly divided this lame duck session.  It helps very little that candidate Clinton appears to have taken the popular vote but lost the election by dint of the electoral college.
Thankfully, the sitting president, president-elect Trump, and candidate Clinton have each struck conciliatory tones.  Fact is, Trump won by all the rules as we know them.  We all must recognize this. 
I could use a little calm after this storm.  Once president-elect Trump assumes office and begins doing and saying things that offend half the nation (as every president does) we can go back to being our messy selves again.
Until then, please use Facebook to post a few cute puppy videos or a montage of sweet idiots falling on their face while attempting stupid tricks on skateboards.

--Mitchell Hegman

2 comments:

  1. I am quoting below what a friend said: "I have so much trouble accepting that 47% of the voters in this country stayed home on election day. So what we have now is a president who has been elected by less than 50% of the less than 50% of the eligible voters. I am having a lot of trouble wrapping my brain, and my heart, around this."

    As for me, I think that we should all care about what happens to our politics because whether we like it or not there's no getting away from it. It affects all aspects not only of our lives but even those of the generations to come. What we do today spells out our tomorrow. And we might try to run away from politics but it always catches up with us. Rather than close our eyes and play blind to what are going on around us, it would be better to help improve the political climate in our country. And that means looking at economic and social issues and enlightening others. Afterall apathy is a sad thing. It squanders opportunities to help improve things. Apathy is the death of a democracy.

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  2. I have always been upset by how few people vote. I don't understand that at all. I was (still am) disturbed by things Trump said and proposed. But talking about what you are going to do when running for office and "doing" are two vastly different beasts. I think he will be clashing with his own party. I suspect we will see a much "softer" man as president. I hope. Finally, I think Democrats failed to turn out because Hillary is perceived (correctly or not) to have so much baggage. Keep the faith, Ariel. We are a great nation!

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