"Ask not what this country can do for you, but what you can do for this country."
-President John F. Kennedy
Well America, we've done it. Or almost have anyway. We've come dangerously close to nominating Donald Trump as the Republican nominee. And who knows? Maybe if he wins, he'll finally take off that ridiculous toupee, and we can finally have Lex Luthor as President.
Now before I go any further, let me just make myself clear: I despise the Donald.
Why, you may ask? Well, for several reasons. He's rude, demagogic, misogynistic, crass, short-tempered, and narcissistic, just to name a few of my favorite adjectives.
In short, he's a Candidate who's more sound bytes than substance. And quite frankly, I'd just like to poke him with a safety pin to see all the hot air come out.
Now, I know that by no means are my opinions on Trump unpopular. He's hated overwhelmingly by both the Left and the Right. In fact, sometimes I wonder where all his support comes from. In all my political conversations (too many to count), I've only met two or three people who genuinely support the guy.
But let's face it America, Trump could very well be our next president.
At first, many people jokingly suggested moving to Canada if Trump made it to the White House. But now that the Oval Office is within his sights, such jokes are becoming quite serious. Indeed, Google saw a spike in searches of "how to move to Canada" after the Donald started winning primaries.
But even if Trump did win, and Americans flocked to Canada (which let's be honest, we won't), would this be the right thing to do?
I began this article with a quote by President Kennedy for a reason; I think it captures the true essence of what democracy is. What is democracy except a state truly influenced by the people?
For example, name a single President between Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. Without a quick Google search, most of you probably couldn't. That's because many of these presidents were mediocre at best and simply awful at worst (I'm looking at you, Andrew Johnson).
During the late 19th century, this country had a lot of problems. There was a lack of rights for workers, women, and African-Americans. Government corruption was rampant in what Mark Twain famously called "The Gilded Age." Most of our presidents at this time were highly ineffectual at dealing with the problems. But we sure weren't.
Yes, I said "we", as in "we the people", the first three words of the Constitution.
Even though the government sat on its hands during the "Gilded Age", American citizens were busy changing this country for the better. Susan B. Anthony fought for women's right to vote. Upton Sinclair raised awareness of the dismal working conditions in the American factory. Norris Wright Cuney worked to make the lives of recently freed slaves better in Texas. Did these people leave when America wasn't going the way they wanted? Did they just up and leave society at the first sign of trouble?
No. They stayed and did what they could to make society better, like good democrats.
Now many of you may criticize the position I'm taking. Maybe I'm being too harsh, maybe I'm being unfair. Maybe I'm ignoring the fact that the people I just mentioned really didn't have much of a choice and had to do what they did because they had nowhere else to go.
Well, maybe I am, but does that mean we can't learn something from these people? They didn't wait every four years to vote for some political Messiah who was going to save us all, then let corrosive cynicism erode their faith in American society when things didn't end up going their way.
They took matters into their own hands and did something about it.
If Trump gets elected, of course things could very well be a mess. But so what? We've dealt with worse. It's not like we've never had racist xenophobes in the White House before (looking at you, Wilson).
Look, I understand the Trump to Hitler comparisons. I really do think some of the parallels are uncomfortably accurate. But Trump's America is not going to be Nazi Germany. We have too many checks in place.
Will it be a messy four years? Quite possibly. But does that mean we give up on America? Does that mean we say, "well, there's nothing we can do, hope I can go somewhere else." Let me ask you this, what are you going to do when Canada elects its Donald Trump? Will you just bounce to the next country that seems stable at the time?
Trump's America probably won't be great, but it won't be the end of the world either. People around the world have endured far worse regimes. As long as we're willing to step up and act as responsible citizens, as long we continue to work for the issues we're passionate about in a clear and level-headed way, we can still improve American society, despite Donald Trump.
And that, dear readers, is how we make America great again.
