A Scintilla of Hope

fall sevenI realized a surprising truth as I was thinking about today’s post. One reason why I am not as stressed as many friends about the election results: I am genuinely hopeful. I have lived through many elections, some that left the country reeling. The truth of Ralph Nader’s third-party votes was the loss of Al Gore. The truth of the resulting Bush Presidency was No Child Left Behind, and enormous damage to education, admittedly well-meant. But the Devil is in the details.

However, America let Gore’s loss go. Bush was “good enough” for many Americans who might have preferred another outcome. Also, rebelling against Bush’s policies interfered with daily life and daily life contented most of us. We did not see that we had much to fight for or against.

I’d love to see Americans get more involved in the electoral process and politics as a result of this election. I can see that happening. I hope we carry the momentum from the 2016 election forward in time. We have to stop trusting our leaders to solve all our problems. The people in the inner cities and broad swaths of Michigan already have lost that trust, and understandably so. Why did we elect Donald Trump? Because too many people no longer trust the status quo to have their best interests at heart. That’s the bottom line. Now what do we do next?

I’d like to recommend a NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/17/opinion/a-12-step-program-for-responding-to-president-elect-trump.html by Nicholas Kristof.