It’s a small consolation to know Hillary Clinton received more votes than Donald Trump in Tuesday’s election. At last count, more than 200,000 votes were on her side of the ledger. The way the votes are tallied according to our Electoral College system, however, put a greater number in his column.
I remain uneasy about what Trump as president portends for our country. I regard a leader as someone who inspires me to be a better person. He does not.
I’d put just about anyone from Iola up against Mr. Trump as being the better person. And that’s where I take comfort. In my day-to-day affairs I don’t come across cheats or swindlers, habitual liars, sexual perverts, or blowhards.
I WILL remember President Obama’s presidency for three things: He rescued us from the brink of a Depression; he worked to give everyone health insurance; and he has worked for peace.
1. When Obama took office in 2009 the recession was in full swing with unemployment at 10 percent. His $787 billion stimulus package created hundreds of thousands of new jobs. In 2010, he authorized $858 billion in tax cuts, further boosting U.S. households’ bottom line. And he bailed out the auto industry, saving tens of thousands of jobs. Today unemployment is at 4.9 percent and U.S. incomes are rising, albeit too slowly as evidenced by Tuesday’s vote.
2. For the first time in our country’s history, health insurance is a right, not a privilege, though we still have a ways to go to making it more affordable. The Affordable Care Act has expanded coverage to an estimated 18 million Americans. Today, 95 percent of Americans have health insurance.
3. President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 for his efforts to reduce conflict in the Middle East. That is a noble deed.
WITH TRUMP as president I expect there will be a rebalancing of priorities. Right off the bat we know his world view is small and protectionist, while Obama’s is global and inclusive.
Whoever is president, however, cannot stop us from being the people, the community, we need to be.
If Trump preaches isolationism, we must work all the more to be a welcoming community. If social services are cut, we must be more generous as individuals.
We, in essence, must be the models we want of our leaders.
My son, Tim, said it best in an email Wednesday morning: “Our country is only ever as good as the everyday people in it. The people we elect are not in charge of fixing our problems. We have to do that. We have a lot to do.
“A better country is only ever built from the ground up. Let’s work to include all of us in a better America; every single day, not every four years.”
I’m ready to move on, first by going on the wagon so to speak by taking a break from politics. Enough already.
That’s not to say I’m going to hole up in a cave, but rather to devote myself to better understanding the issues and what it takes to effect positive change.
Also I’m going to look at people not as Democrats or Republicans but as people who have a common goal of making our neck of the woods a good place to live.
It starts with each of us.
You game?
