Wednesday, November 9, 2016

An Open Letter to the Republican Party

I didn't plan on writing this because for me, like most people following polls, the Trump victory came as a surprise to me. I'm not contesting that my party lost fair and square, I'm just surprised. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't having a minor mental breakdown this morning for fear of my county's future, and there is something that should be noted: for the second time, the Electoral College has taken the presidency from my party.
The post that is supposed to be a representative of the country to the world did not (as of this writing) have a majority of the popular vote. Trump will be our president, but I want the rest of the world to remember that the majority of our country didn't support him, it was just an archaic election mechanic we still have some reason.
I'm upset by this, I think this is a major issue for the way we opperate as a country, but President Obama said something that made me think: the President asked the country to give Trump a chance. So, in spite of my dread toward every aspect of American policy, that's what I'm going to do; because, we now have a climate where Republicans don't have an excuse.
In January, we will have not only a Republican, but the Republican congressional majority is going to be maintained, and there will almost certainly be a conservative SCOTUS appointment leaning that right. The party will have majority power in all three branches of government, so, if their vision of America really is great, they have a chance to prove it to me.
To be fair, I am skeptical. I am genuinely embarrassed by my country now, but I'm not one to argue with results. I think a big part of the reason that the Obama administration hasn't met all of its lofty goals is the fact that most of his presidency was paired with a congress that would do anything it could to resist him. Now, it is easily within the frame of possibility for Republicans to have at least two years of uninterrupted policy changes, if not more.
So, impress me. If you really can improve the economy, stop illegal immigration, and secure the country, do it, you don't have any excuses. I'm willing to admit I'm wrong if it works because I want the best country I can have. That said, I really do see the potential for this to go very, very wrong.
Most people will note that the president doesn't actually have all that much power, and that is true; however, as I noted, we'll have a conservative controlled government. I'm willing to see where economic and security policies get us, I think it's going to be bad, but I am terrified at the prospect of where our social policies are headed.
This has the chance to overturn Roe v. Wade, defund Planned Parenthood, abolish gay marriage, enforce racially discriminatory laws (i.e. stop and frisk), persecute Muslims, segregate transgender people from bathrooms, disregard environmental policies, and demolish foreign relations. As someone planning to work with American diplomatic, that's a scary thing. I don't think that we can exist as an isolationist state ever again. Actually, I think a lot of Republicans are scared of this almost as much as I am.
Not that they don't like his political ideas, I think he's the logical result of the propaganda coming out of the elephant's trunk, but he's putting a real strain on the party. Most conservative ideas have at least some logic behind them, but Trump brings out support for the worst reasons, fear and anger in the face of a world changing in ways they're not ready for. I want them to hold together though, straight Democratic domination could be a threat.
To my fellow liberals, I'm also really, really scared about my future, but this is the direction our country is going. So, let's just hope for the best.

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