Grrrr

Last night, after work, I went to the gym and hit the elliptical. When I came home, I took a shower and watched Netflix. I did not want to see the election results - at all. I peeked at CNN once, saw that Trump was winning, and went to bed. When I woke up this morning, I picked up my phone and checked CNN. "Fuck."

You won't be surprised to know that I voted for Clinton. Was she my first choice? Nope. I was a Bernie supporter. I had actually hoped that Elizabeth Warren would run - I thinks she's amazing. I would have voted for her in a heartbeat.

As is the case with many Americans, my religion does factor into my politics. As a Unitarian Universalist, I affirm (and do my best to adhere to) the Seven Principles, some of which are:
  • The inherent worth and dignity of every person.
  • Justice, equity and compassion in human relations.
  • The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all
Social justice is very important in my religion. UUs fight for prison reform, support the Black Lives Matter movement, go to bat for immigrants, and support the LGBT community with our own "Standing on the Side of Love" campaign. Simply put, a lot of people that I care about, very deeply, would have been safer under Clinton's watch.

In about a half hour, my daughter's alarm clock will go off. She'll ignore it, because that's how she rolls, but when she does get up, I'll have to inform her that a man who says things like "Grab 'em by the pussy" now holds the highest office in the land. A man who hates women and minorities. You know, as a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat, I was not a fan of President Bush (I did like Laura, though, in case I get any points for that). But, even though I disagreed with his politics and most of his decisions, I never felt like he was an inherently evil person.  I felt like he was just another rich white dude in office.

Yes, it is not lost on me that I am affirming a belief in the "worth and dignity of every person" while failing to extend that sentiment to Donald Trump. I am trying. I really am. At this point, all I can do is to hope the has some sensible handlers around him that will keep him from doing too much damage over the next four years.

I have not met one single person in my entire life whose job has been lost to an illegal immigrant. Not one. The irony of a nation of immigrants wanting to kick out immigrants - aaaaaaah, it makes my brain hurt. Make America great again? How far back are we going here? Maybe back 20 years so that I can make less money than my husband and raise my daughter with far fewer opportunities? Let's roll back the advances the LGBT community has made, too, I guess. We're already locking up people of color in outrageous numbers, so we can't really push those folks back any farther than they already are.

Needless to say, I am heartbroken. The hate-speak that was tossed around at Trump rallies makes me lose all faith in America. I mean, the KKK's official newspaper endorsed Trump. Come on!

If you voted for Trump, please don't say "He's just like us." He's not like you and he's not like me. "He is not a politician - he says what's on his mind." What's on his mind is some horrible mix of racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and other fancy words that I can't think of at 5:00 in the morning. I took a quick peek at my Facebook feed this morning and while many of my friends are horrified, I can see the especially keen fear in my friends who are gay or transgender as well as those who fall into any of the groups that have battled disenfranchisement their whole lives. To them I say, "I'm sorry."

I need to go dig out my mourning dress now.




Comments

Unknown said…
Well said Claudia. Thank you for sharing this.
Deedeeree52 said…
Gosh, I'm proud. That's all I can say, sweetie, gosh I'm proud of who you are.

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