Thursday, November 10, 2016

What Should We Learn from the Tuesday Election?


I arrive at my opinions the way most critical thinking people do. My opinions are derived from the study of History, the search for truth in the midst of clutter and personal experience.

Sometimes those opinions do little more than guide me from one decision to the next, and at times, they help me determine how I will react to a current event but again, not much different from anyone else.

Elections do a lot more than simply determine who will be filling a soon to be vacated seat, they tell us a lot about the electorate. Every once in a while, the results are so astounding and the reaction to those results so volatile that we get a peek at what truly motivates each and every one of us.

I recall sensing more than a little trepidation when I awoke after the election in 2008 to find out the most Socialist President in our History had just been elected.  I felt betrayal, anger, and concern for the future of my family, business and most of all, for the Nation.

Having spent a significant percentage of my life, living under the shadow of the Oath I had taken to safeguard the Constitution, I was now faced with the real possibility that in one day, all that I held dear could be threatened and the Constitution so fundamentally changed as to render it unrecognizable to those who fought for it.

Those were real concerns, about real, physical and ideological things; foundational things upon which the United States was anchored.

I remembered that overwhelming feeling of dread that all I had sacrificed for might be swept away by a flood of emotionalism which selected a man who would now occupy the White House for four, if not eight years; a feeling I carried again, all night Tuesday, the eighth of November 2016.

I recall the relief, the next morning when it was finally revealed that I would not have to endure the same sensations I had felt 8 years prior. I also began to consider how the other fifty percent of the electorate must be feeling having had their visions of a continuance of policies they wanted squashed, in one day.

That is truly the extent of my empathy however; simply understanding that when people lose something that large, what follows is a hollowed out feeling. And so, I resolved not to jamb my rhetorical or metaphorical finger into the collective eye of those who List a good deal further to Port than the Victors do. They will need time to come to terms with the loss, and time, to realize their lives will not change and certainly will not be as dramatically affected as our would have been, if Clinton had won.

It should also be a wake-up call to those who lost to consider what the 2008 loss meant to us and to remember that the Sun does not Rise and Set on one political ideology; it does so for all of us.

Collectively, we need to work a lot harder at remembering that we are all American Citizens from a wide spectrum of ideology and we still must learn to live together because there are real threats out there who do not care where we sit on the political spectrum; all they know is we are Americans and they want us all, dead.

To my fellow Christian Brothers and Sisters I would say this; we fell on unanticipated and opposite sides during this election. Maybe I was living in a bubble in 2012 – or even 2008; assuming we were all thinking together. This election taught me a lot, about how little I actually know about some people I simply assumed to know. I hope the rift I observed open up, is temporary because we, more than any other class of Americans, have more in common. We have watched this country move God further away from the Public Square than at any point in our History. Convincing people of that error will take more than high-minded shunning; it will take interaction and a willingness to accept that everyone has a history and sometimes, a lot of spiritual scar tissue.

Personally, I feel hope for the future because even though I tend to be that curmudgeon who hates change, this time around, I truly feel like there is a chance to dig our way out of the pit we have watched widen, these past 25 years. It is going to require that we all think differently than we have been – not like some hyphenated variety of organic cucumbers but an actual definable, like-minded, concerned, industrious, caring people.

You know; Americans!


Semper Fi;

John Bernard



10 comments:

  1. Spot on, John. I too was amazed at those who name the name of Christ supporting a godless platform which included a biblically abhorrent lifestyle, the murder of infants up to full term and demands on Christians to change their beliefs and accept actions that God would never accept and will ultimately judge.

    Now, seeing all the protests, the violence and bitter hatred towards the President Elect and those who support him, I now realize how close we as a people, no we as a nation came to the precipice of disaster and the end of this grand experiment we call America if the results were otherwise.

    Semper Fi and thank you and your family for your service to this great nation!

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  2. Thanks James......t was amazingly close. God heard our prayers and gave us another chance...

    SF

    jb

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  3. John, I believe you are correct, no matter how bad a Christian can be at times, God will never abandon him or her. I believe he heard our prayers and as one might say; He has given us one last chance to turn from our sinful ways in this country, no one should have the right to take the life of a living child no matter how many months old the child is, as He said He new you before you were in your mothers womb. I will continue to pray for this country and its leaders. JPM

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  4. This was my comment on election night, to a great crowd of highly intelligent friends whom I was privileged to share the evening with:

    "Not to be cynical but, regardless of what happens tonight, America is deeply in debt and deeply divided in every possible way; therefore, I hope Americans are willing and able to pray for our Nation and to reconcile with one another so that we can face the challenges ahead of us with a united determination to rebuild our Nation, our relationships with one another, and to honor the Righteous God who has given this opportunity.

    The Obama years have devastated the melting pot mentality that Americans once shared and it's going to take time, effort and much prayer to heal the deep wounds in this Nation; therefore, I suggest we keep any gloating to a minimum."

    John, that division in our Nation is so profound that I am not certain it is possible for us to ever be a "melting pot" Nation again. Evil powers are stoking the flames of this division more than ever and a majority of Americans no longer possess the character or common sense to accept "losing" because they were raised by s culture that presented then with a trophy whether they won or lost.

    I pray God gives us mercy but I fear great judgment is at hand.

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  5. John, thank you for serving the country.

    I am disturbed by your attitude to Trump's win. I am also disturbed by the other comments I see to this post. You seem to be living in a xenophobic and prejudiced echo chamber, where minorities are not welcome.

    I am an American. I am also of Chinese origin so I also call myself a Chinese-American. I am a Buddhist, not a Christian. And, as you may have inferred, I am not white, I am Asian (which is the official US race classification). All of these things don't make me any less American than you or the other regular readers of your blog. So when you address this blog only to other "Christian Brothers and Sisters" and when you express relief at Trump's (a known xenophobe, misogynist and racist) victory, needless to say I am concerned.

    Concern. That's one of the characteristics that defines Americans according to you. I agree with that. I also agree with 'industrious' and 'caring'. I was raised to respect and nurture those qualities, in myself and others, by my parents. But John, you really think 'definable' and 'like-minded' are what makes an American? Definable as what? Like-minded to who? Would we share the same definition? Are the two of us really like-minded? Why is the diversity of our nation, our inherent strength, so troublesome for you? It is the very fact that a person like me can proudly call myself an American which bothers our enemies tremendously. This diversity should be nurtured and respected.

    You, and your readers, should be proud that you live in a nation where your neighbor may be a Muslim, or a Buddhist, or a black person, or a Christian, or Asian, or White, or of Iranian origin, or of French origin, or so many other things, and still call themselves an American.

    Whether you like it or not, this is America today. It's a place where a person like me is an American. If my existence bothers you, so be it. To me, you are another addition to the colorful fabric that makes us who we are.

    If you read this far, thank you for the attention. I take solace in the knowledge that we both want the land we live on, the place we call America, to prosper.

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  7. Daniel; You lost me. What I took from your diatribe is; " You support Trump so you hate everyone not like you"...

    Reading comprehension is a prerequisite before reading my blog...

    Read it again...see if you can broaden your understanding of what I said.


    Personally I don't care if you are Buddhist, Christian - or Wiccan; your eternal destination is between you and God.

    However I do take issue with those whose "god" commands them to kill, rape and subjugate those who will not take a knee to Allah.

    If you are inclined to continue to believe Islam is a peaceful religion having never studied it, you do so at your own risk - and I am not obligated to follow your lead.

    This is my Blog. If it bothers you, read something else.

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  8. Thanks James......t was amazingly close. God heard our prayers and gave us another chance...
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