By John Johansen / For The Herald
I’ve always been an independent at heart, though I did not vote in this presidential election and have not for some time.
There are those who take umbrage at that, and I recognize their stance. The Electoral College exists, and while it can sometimes be tempting to think a purely popular vote would be the correct path, I accept the Founders’ logic in crafting a system what would evolve to recognize popular vote as one metric and regionalization as another. On election night, Donald Trump captured both.
This fact is profound, and I fear its honest consideration is something some Americans are approaching in too reductive a manner. As a classroom teacher, I understand more than most the temptation to look for overly simplistic explanations for complex observations. While I do not deny the existence of tiny fringes of extremism in this country, it is at best foolish — at worst willfully ignorant — to wholesale label these voters as Nazis or fascists. I’ve spent time around some pretty hardcore conservatives and self=identified Libertarians: Nazis they are not. In fairness, the rhetoric put forth by some Republicans about an imminent socialist threat is just as ridiculous. While there certainly is a socialist party within the United States, the vast majority of Americans are not advocating for workers forcibly seizing the means of production.
No, this is simpler, at least to the folks I talk to. Most Americans want a nation of abundant resources, affordably priced goods, protected enumerated rights, and state-level policies reflective of their values. They want law and order, an immigration system that allows for proper vetting, schools focused primarily on academics, merit-based hiring practices free of discrimination on the basis of inborn characteristics, less money spent on foreign wars when there’s massive issues at home, and reduction of the “HR-ification” of our nation which makes ideas into forms of violence that must be punishable as such.
Polls indicate nearly 65 percent of Americans believe there are two genders, and policy around athletics, shared spaces, and government funded medical care should be structured around this belief. It is not surprising to me that voters’ actions reflect these things, and right now they apparently feel Trump is the closer of the two candidates to achieving them. Are they right? Time will tell.
I’ve never been a “yuge” Trump fan. My wife, and the men who’ve joined me around the fraternal campfire know this. I don’t hate him, either. I liked BarackObama, imperfect a candidate as he was, but he presided over very different circumstances. I thought both Joe Biden and George W. Bush were jocular in their presidencies; funny at times, but generally well intentioned. If you ask me, neither did enough to get us out of foreign wars and occupations. I’m skeptical Trump will; there’s just too damn much money in it.
I think it’s high time Americans admit we’re not going to agree on some things. State level policies are the obvious answer in my mind. There’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that abortion is going away in California or Washington. It’s probably not going to become law of the land nationally, either, and it’s worth remembering Obama didn’t move to codify Roe v. Wade even with control of the House, Senate and presidency.
Social Security is politically untouchable. It might be reduced in an upside-down fertility rate period, but it’s not going to vaporize: too many Republicans and Democrats alike get those checks. For my vocal leftist (not Democrat; they’ll correct you) friends, I’m sorry to say a “universal basic income” while androids do our jobs isn’t happening either, at least not while any of us riled up about this election are extant.
On election night, my new neighbor displayed red lights on his deck. I haven’t met him yet; that’s on this week’s agenda. Just down the road is a Harris yard sign. Really nice lady. I don’t think she’s a socialist and I don’t think he’s a Nazi. My Grandfather, who fought the Nazis, would tell me to do my best to get along with both of them. That’s what I’m going to do. Hopefully, they can accept my wife and I, too, for not wearing either team’s jersey.
I cannot say exactly what the future will hold under this new presidency. I can say we need to become more accepting of things we cannot change, in our nation and in each other, if we are ever going to escape the exhausting cyclic four-year exchange in which we find ourselves.
I thus encourage every American to examine the idiom sometimes shared as a quip in tense online discourse: “The first thing you need to know about me is I’m not you. A lot more will make sense after that.”
Perhaps, we can embrace this phrase as a positive. “Those people” are not like me; they’re still Americans; and that’s going to have to be OK for this nation to endure.
John Johansen is an English language arts teacher for the Lakewood School District. He lives on Lake Howard with his wife, Rachel, and two enormously spoiled Australian shepherds. When not teaching, he can be found adventure motorcycling, camping, or enjoying a burger at The Paddle Pub.
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