"We are a nation that has a government - not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth." In the wake of November's election, and in the face of President-Elect Donald Trump's inauguration later this month, perhaps these words from Ronald Reagan's first inaugural address are just what we need to hear. After a long, brutal campaign of divisive rhetoric and mudslinging the likes of which hasn't been seen since "McClintock," many Americans are about ready to echo Michael Dante's departing quip: "Good party, but no whisky. We go home." However, another, more drastic emotion has been creeping and worming its way into the American consciousness as well: fear.
The left fears that all their hard work over the past eight years will be undone. The LGBT community fears rampant persecution. The right fears that Trump will turn out to be further left than he claims. Joe Biden fears that Santa won't know where to bring the presents next year. Americans have taken to the streets in violent, riotous protest to cries of "NOT MY PRESIDENT."
When we fall to petty bickering and squabbling over how the new, conservative government is going to trample all over our rights and burn the villages and eat the babies, we ought to remember that this is not the first time we have elected a President of a different political bent than his predecessor. Eight years ago, America voted to elect a Democrat, after eight years of Republican government, which itself came after a Democrat took office from a Republican, who himself took it from a Democrat.
We ought to remember that America's government does not exist to serve its own needs. It exists to serve governed with their consent. Trump's election, and the election of a vastly conservative government, indicates that America has decided that political liberalism doesn't work. It doesn't mean that your neighbors hate your sexual preferences. It doesn't mean your barista is disgusted by the color of your skin. It doesn't mean that I, as a conservative, think that my gay and lesbian friends should be herded up and locked away in a concentration camp. It means that America tried the liberal way, realized that all the Hope and Change that Obama could muster didn't actually equate to an improvement, and decided to try something different.
That's the beauty of living in America. In other places in the world, if the government doesn't work for you, well, that's too bad. You're stuck until another revolutionary with more guns takes power, and then it's a rousing round of "Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss." In America, we as a nation can see that something doesn't work and change it, and we have an incredible system for doing it, complete with checks and balances to prevent one man from taking too much power.
And at the end of the day, your neighbors are still the same people they were before the election. We still live in the same America. No one is going to be rounding anyone up. Racism is still unacceptable. Sexism is still disgusting. And Santa will still be able to find you, Joe.
Oh, and I have some good news for everyone who believes he's "Not My President." He's not. Not until January 20th.
