Chandler Collison
Political, personal, and long, so feel free to scroll on by. Or pour yourself a fresh cup and settle in…
I started writing this in my head as an open letter to Republicans. But then I realized it’s not just Republicans I want to talk to; it’s everyone.
So dear fellow Americans,
Today is a sad day for me, and I know I’m not alone in that sadness.
I’m not sad because my candidate lost (though she did; pretty much they all did), nor even because the party I’ve identified with for as long as I’ve had political and social values is about to have less institutional power than at any point in my lifetime. Of course I’m disappointed that my candidates lost, but my candidates have lost before (and often). I’m used to it, and I’m really okay with it: it’s part of what makes a civil society work.
No, what’s different today is that I am so fundamentally baffled by what’s happening and that level of confusion is profoundly unsettling and unnerving. I know I’m not alone in this either.
You see, Democrats are used to losing. But this? This is different. With President Reagan and the Bushes, I didn’t agree with them and didn’t vote for them. Sometimes I even had a hard time respecting them. But in all three cases (as well as with Dole, McCain, and Romney), I could understand why good, decent, smart people would vote for them. And I never felt like this.
Because this time around, I don’t just get it. But I do know good, decent, smart people who voted for our President-elect, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t understand it. I can’t understand how anyone can tacitly condone (or even just overlook) bragging about sexual assault. Or overt racism. I don’t understand how anyone can listen to our President-elect’s wandering, platitude-laced, self-aggrandizing tripe and characterize it as “straight talk.” I can’t understand how anyone can excuse – let alone defend – the bullying, the lying, the mocking. I can’t understand how a person with unprecedented financial entanglements, self-interest, and opacity can be elected in the name of restoring integrity to a system and set of institutions that are, indisputably, in sore need of more integrity and transparency.
I’m not asking anyone to justify their vote, as I think it’s time for us to all move on and because – and, Republicans, you need to hear this part – there is nothing anyone can say that will make voting for him seem okay to me. Nothing. Our President-elect has said and done literally innumerable things that simply disqualify him in my mind. I get that a lot of you were troubled by Mrs. Clinton, and I understand why. But that’s where my understanding ends. It doesn’t mean I hate you or that we can’t be friends anymore. We’ll never agree on this, but that can’t be the end of the conversation. In that sense, it IS time to move on.
But not the way I’ve heard so many Republicans tell us Democrats we need to.
The Republican approach to moving on seems to often be to tell us to quit crying, to shut up (often with two more words in there for good measure), and to accept that we lost. Nyeah, nyeah, nyeah.
Thanks. You know what? I DO accept that Mrs. Clinton lost. I DO accept that Republicans control the White House and both houses of Congress, as well as many governors’ mansions and state legislatures, and are also in position to fill the judiciary with a staggering number of judges, after years of refusing to move on Democrats’ (mostly very centrist) nominees.
I understand that we lost, and I am very happy to lose graciously: I am an American, and I love my country dearly. I believe in America, and I believe that losing graciously is part of being a good American.
But so is winning graciously.
And this is where I want to talk to you Republicans, because you won and won big but I’m not seeing a lot of grace. You have an enormous opportunity (as you very clearly know) but also an enormous responsibility (which you seem to be having a harder time with). So, Republicans, I have two big requests of you.
The first is that you stop telling liberals and progressives to shut up. We’re sad, and we’re angry. We have both a right to be and plenty of reason to be. Telling us to shut up is arrogant, rude, unkind, and unproductive. Being in power isn’t about shoving your will down the throat of the people who don’t have power, just because you can. Part of your responsibility is to recognize that you’re in charge of a diverse nation whose hundreds of millions of people don’t all agree with you. Part of your job is to represent and consider our interests too.
So let me maybe help you understand us a bit better, because I know we can be a frustrating and irritating bunch.
For starters, please remember that we love our country and that we believe fervently in our democratic institutions. The #NotMyPresident movement isn’t about disrespecting the Presidency. To the contrary: it’s because we think so highly of the office and are horrified that a racist, lying, xenophobic narcissist is about to assume that office. Our President-elect has done nothing to earn our respect – or even to ask for it! – so I, at least, will continue to respect the heck out of the office but not that man. He is about to be my President, and I accept that. I will not say he’s #NotMyPresident, because he is (or is about to be). But he doesn’t represent my values or the values I believe my country holds dear. And so I ask you Republicans to respect our right to feel unheard and disenfranchised, particularly in light of the years-long efforts of your party to systematically literally disenfranchise many of us through gerrymandering, screwed-up campaign finance laws, and inane voter ID laws aimed at preventing virtually non-existent voter fraud. Understand that in our anger and sadness, we may not always choose the best words. We may come across as angry (because we are). For the sake of our country and the civilness of our civil society, please try to listen more deeply and hear our Truth. Recognize that our anger and fear are neither baseless nor partisan.
The other thing you need to understand about telling us to shut up and come together is that it strikes us as unfathomably, preposterously disingenuous. I mean, really. Who the hell does Mitch McConnell think he is to say the American people won’t tolerate an obstructing Congress? You’ve GOT to be kidding me! And where the hell does anyone get off telling us to stop questioning the legitimacy of the President-elect’s election after multiple intelligence agencies reported with unprecedented unanimity that the Russians – the RUSSIANS!!! – worked to undermine our election, after the director of the FBI bizarrely threw a grenade into the last days of the campaign, after the President-elect himself went on and on about how you can’t trust the election, AND after he spent President Obama’s entire presidency questioning his legitimacy with utter fabrications aimed at stoking the racism we still have not been able to leave in our past?!
No. If you want us to shut up and come together with you, then YOU have to extend an olive branch, not us. You. Because you’re the ones in power. You need to show us that you care about our concerns, our values, our ideas. You need to show us that you respect us as Americans, as people who love our country and value our safety, who want our children and grandchildren to have better lives than even the blessed lives we’ve had. You need to show us that you understand that you’re asking us to do what you so stalwartly refused to do for President Obama’s entire time in office. When you show us those things, I, for one, will be happy to work together.
And that brings us to my second request of you Republicans, one which ought to be easy for you.
I want to ask all of you to remember that you love this country too, that you value our safety, and that you, like us, want your children and grandchildren to have better lives than you’ve been blessed with. Easy, right? Right. Because I know it’s true.
But here’s the first hard part: Remember that we Democrats want those same things. We may be liberals. Maybe our hearts bleed. Maybe we’re elitists who prefer arugula to lettuce. So what? We love this country. We’re proud to be Americans. We want a safe, prosperous world too. You see, we all want a lot of the same things; there IS common ground.
And here’s the second hard part: You love your country and want a safe and prosperous future, right? So govern like it. Live like it. Stop trying to win political points. Stop flexing your political muscle. Yeah, you won. We get it. Now act like you understand the magnitude, not of the opportunity you have, but of the responsibility you have. It’s awesome, and if you’re not a bit humbled and even daunted by it, then I don’t think you understand its magnitude. So please stop for a minute and let it sink in.
Look, I know that the Republican party is full of millions of good, decent, smart people who love this country. Many of them, even, are in government. And so I ask all of you to hold yourselves to the highest of standards and to hold our President-elect to these standards as well, to make decisions that are motivated by what you believe is truly best for our country and our world and our collective future, not what’s most expedient politically or financially beneficial to you. For starters, maybe ask yourself if you’re really okay with the President-elect’s refusal to release his tax returns. Or with his putting his kids in charge of his businesses and presenting it as a blind trust. With his saying one thing and then denying he ever said it. With his inability or unwillingness or crazy-like-a-fox refusal to ever speak clearly and concretely about how he thinks we can make the world a better place. With his spending billions of dollars on, of all things, a damn wall to protect us from – of all things – impoverished Mexicans who want better lives for their families. With his nominating millionaires and billionaires to run departments they don’t believe in, don’t understand, and (in at least one case) couldn’t even name. With the systematic intimidation of people who dare to voice opposition or ask a pointed question. And forget about the President-elect: Do you really think the ACA is such a disaster that it ought to be repealed without a replacement plan, or are you more motivated by tax cuts and the political points you can score by repealing President Obama’s flagship accomplishment? Do you really think the NEH and NEA should be eliminated or cut? If so, don’t tell us it’s about the budget, because you know it’s not. And do you really think Planned Parenthood doesn’t contribute positively to the health and wellbeing of millions of Americans?
And maybe most importantly, what kind of society do you want to live in and help create? I believe you really do care about the disadvantaged. I believe you really do want people to be able to get medical care. And education. And clean air and water. And economic opportunity. How could you not?
So again, please govern and live accordingly. Defend the press from baseless attacks and denigration. We NEED a vibrant and trusted press. All of us. Facts matter. There is such a thing as good journalism, and we all know it. So now that you’re in power, celebrate it and defend it. You may not always like what CNN reports about you, but you know damn well that CNN is not “fake news.”
And finally, to my fellow Democrats: I know you’re angry and upset. I am too. I know you’re mystified how we’ve ended up with this man as our next President, and I know you’re angry about how our outgoing President and his wife have been treated for the last eight years. But we too have a responsibility to live in accordance with the values we hold dear. Yes, protest. By all means, speak truth to power. But don’t cross the line into ugliness, pettiness, name-calling, and factlessness. Talk WITH people, not AT them. Listen, especially to those you don’t naturally agree with. I’m not asking you to condone or ignore sexual assault or racism or xenophobia or homophobia. Or small-minded governing. Or nepotism. Yeah, there’s a lot to be angry about. So be angry. But don’t be ugly or petty.
So, yeah, this is a sad day for me. But it’s also a hopeful day. Because I believe in America, and I believe in humanity and our collective and individual fundamental decency.
We all want America to be great. So let’s all act like it.
Peace and good wishes to you all.
No comments:
Post a Comment