Cooler heads in my office, though Democrats, are more focused on decisions made from now on rather than share the widespread fear shown on TV right now. Republicans, mostly, held the same "business as usual" attitude, opting to focus on the economic aspects that they voted for. Unfortunately, the appointments so far do not bode well. As one of my Democrat pals say, "Can you fault him for catering to his constituents?" Well, my answer was, "Not promising still."
But this normality is very different from what I read on internet and TV. Nobody who says anything on social media wants to listen, just yelling their point and assuming winning a yelling match is justice. That isn't just on social media. That happened during lunch at office one day this past week.
This person has always shown no respect for the civil rights of others even before the incident. The topic that tilted for the worst was on the security around the president-elect's proposed border wall. It is not unthinkable that it will not deter desperate people on trying to beat the system, trying to cross despite the way. What this extremist said was that border patrol should shoot them, even if they are women and children. To make matters worse, me particularly, this extremist tried to justify these comments by relating it to Singapore's use of caning for vandalism. I was so disturbed that other Republicans I know had to personally convey their denouncement to this insanity.
This is an extreme case of the current problem. The election result empowered people like this extremist to think they are right to ignore human rights. However, the left painting Republicans with the president-elect's rhetoric word for word is not leaving any room for reconciliation either. It is easy to say they are at least willing to overlook the hateful rhetoric, but rhetoric and action aren't the same thing. One causes fear and one causes actual hurt. Support can help ease fear but conviction is the only way to oppose bad intentions. And if they made good decisions, isn't that good? Isn't trying to smash our beliefs into others the same as bullying and propaganda? Funny how the SNL weekend update SNL said similar things (why not praise them to get them to do what you want?)
But I digress. The troubling part is not just the extreme nature, but knowledge that this person will not hear reason. Much like people drawing swastikas to show their unbridled hate. The same as those on the left swearing off people for exercising their right to vote and voting the president-elect into office. The same left blaming people voting third party candidates for the same right. The same attitude neutrals and right calling left leaning comedians smug and not admitting a single point they made. The willingness to ignore another's viewpoint completely, in my opinion, the first and defining step for them to ignore other people's lives. The hypocrisy not unnoticed by Jon Stewart and that is what is most disturbing to me. The world made better by science not having room for facts and ideas. And according to John Oliver, 38% of right leaning falsehoods and 19% of left leaning falsehoods. Just because one is lower doesn't mean it's better. Both sides are just as bad. Not that science is in good shape these days with corporate-funded scientific publications.
I see the current events as a testament of how the current democracy is working correctly, the checks and balances, though unfortunately all falling for the Republicans. An undesirable candidate voted in because he connected with an underserved constituency. A series of peaceful protests being allowed to voice their displeasure. Sure, the appointees do not look good social policy wise, but many are able to exercise their right to protest it. And when they get to work and try to pass laws we don't agree with, we need to continue to show our disapproval. If they do something good, we should praise them and if they are not, we should denounce them and voice our displeasure.
Solidarity and support for the underrepresented is far more important than trying to drill our egos and beliefs into another party. I feel the elected's remarks are obnoxious, but denying the result of the vote is undemocratic. Perhaps the worst we could do is to make for an unproductive four years because people are protesting so much, assuming for the right reasons and against bad legislation.
Interestingly, at this time, I am watching SNL, a few hours after watching Jon Stewart's interview. It seems that people are catching on, how this left against right is the true toxin and enabling the right to fight back more when the left complains, much like the robots in WestWorld resisting the humans' control. OK, perhaps that not like robots.
At this time, I feel better, though knowing the negatives happening outside, the appointments, the arguments to and fro, the alternatives, all are not well but we can do something, we still have our voice. Perhaps the president-elect will make bad decisions and will become the terrible leader we all predicted him to be. But if we break the rules that got him there in fear of him, we'll no better and we'll regret it. We should provide alternative ideas and advocate through identifying shortcomings.
It was wonderful to hear mayor de Blasio for keeping NYC a sanctuary city and hopefully others will follow suit. He's not doing well on the homeless problem but hopefully he can turn it around. And if anything I hope the president elect accomplishes, it would be term limits. The positives of term limits are there but so are the negatives, so hopefully a balance can be struck.
My biggest concern for his presidency, as big as the drastic negative effects he and his appointees can make and already pointed out by many others, would be his conflicts of interest. The reason behind this fear is that these conflicts of interest can and will be the undercurrents for all of his decision making, particularly the bad ones. The availability of a monetary incentive for a decision to be made other than it being the right thing is a mistake. That in itself is allowing a can of worms to exist. Having his daughter in the same meeting with Shinzo Abe is quite a preview to how these conflicts of interest can lead to, especially if they are discussing economic policies that can affect real estate.
Without severing his family from his business through a blind trust, major conflicts of interest is there. Not "there" as "valid points", but actual breaches of trust and office. None of his children and relatives should be in business while he is in office, Hopefully, we will not have to see massive protests to right the possibly many wrongs that can be made. That I'm just worried because I am over preparing. I can write a whole lot that could go wrong but I hope they will not come at all.
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