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
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."
ReplyDeleteAs 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.
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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