Politics, Media, and Decisions

I am not sharing this post on facebook because
politics offends too many people. This is for my record.
If you have found it, I hope you will not be hurt
or resentful over what I say.

Much as I hate politics—meaning mostly the fighting that accompanies it, and much as I try to avoid posting political stuff (except for how distasteful I find it), I am going to write about politics.

It looks like Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, will be our new president. I have heard nothing but bad of him from all over the place; he appears to be a self-centered, arrogant man. But neither have I heard anything but bad of the Democrat party candidate, Hillary Clinton. And, as she (and her husband) have been in office, and very much in the public eye since 1992, I believe she was the worst of the two. As someone said (on facebook, where everyone is so kind and generous), —I will paraphrase: "Trump is not a good guy, but at least (unlike Hillary) he doesn't try to hide it or lie about it."

I did not vote for the person I thought was the lesser of two evils—as if those two evils were the only choice we had. I voted for one who I believe is a good man, and who I think would have upheld the Constitution of the United States. I voted for Darrell Castle (of the Constitution Party), knowing that he had no chance of winning. I don't say this so that I can be self-righteous, or tell you what a great person I am; I wavered until the very end. I wavered for the same reason that so many people thought their only option was to choose the better of two bads:

THE MEDIA

The all-knowing, fear-mongering, dirt-dishing media have worked hand-in-hand with the Dems and Reps for decades to promote this lie:
"If you vote for a third party (not a Dem or a Rep) then you are throwing your vote away." This has been bandied around, and perpetuated for so long that the entire nation believes it. This lie only becomes true because we believe it; we make it true.

The truth is that the Dems and the Reps have the most money, so they get a lot more media coverage. They are in the news 99.99% more than any other party is; they are the ones in focus at every debate. The media keeps the focus on them good and sharp.

I couldn't count the number of despairing facebook posts over the last few months saying that they had no choice but to vote for ——— because the other candidate was (apparently) the manifestation of all that is evil. Or posts like this one from October 9: "I keep trying to watch the debate but I just can't stand it for more than a minute. It is seriously painful to listen to both Trump & Clinton. I watch for a minute again and have to turn it. Take your pick between the two but they are awful choices."

And this one from yesterday: "I need to stay out of politics after this so I will make a point to make this my only other comment about this election. The fact that either Hillary or Donald will win is sad. Beyond sad actually. I don't see any peace either way. I think Hillary is slightly more corrupt than Trump but that's just my perspective. I still don't know how I am going to vote today." 

Part of the problem is that I've seen almost nothing but the dirt that has been thrown at and smeared over both of those candidates. I can honestly say that I never saw anything good posted about either of them. Perhaps if we were seeking for the good things, the choice wouldn't have seemed so terrible. Instead it was as if when we freed the evil genie from his jar he told us, "I promised myself that the one who would release me would die, but you may choose the manner in which you would like to be killed."

Today, after the election is over and the results are in, I'm seeing posts like this one on facebook: "I admit that I would rather have a Republican in the White House than a democrat, but this was not what I had in mind. I feel sick to my stomach just thinking about it."

I won't offend you (or myself) by reposting the gloating, or mourning, or blaming memes that I've seen this morning.

This is the point of this whole post, the reason I am talking politics at all: When the whole country believes what the media is dishing out, when they wholeheartedly believe that their only option is to choose between two candidates that they despise, when they feel compelled to vote for the lesser of two evils, then what good result did they really expect? I may sound harsh or unfeeling, but this is true: If you were voting for the least bad, what did you expect but bad?

We all have four years to rethink this, to decide what is true and what isn't. In the meantime, Donald J. Trump will be the President of the United States. Instead of despairing, let us decide to discover what is good about him and hope and pray for those traits to prevail. Let us resolve to remember that it is in God we trust, not a man. The world is still spinning; let us use our privilege to pray that it turns in a good direction, and let us do whatever we can to help it.