Here’s my take on this year’s elections. Trump won because of several factors. One being Hillary had a tremendous amount of baggage to overcome. Some rightfully so and some also not. The truth was hard to find during the run for president. Two: the approval rating of congress was at an all-time low, less than 10%. Much less. Most everyone disapproved of what wasn’t getting done in Washington D.C. Everyone pointed fingers at everyone else. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican the answer was the same. The other “guy or gal” was to blame.
Along comes Donald Trump. He’s against the “establishment.” He’s going to make big changes, including “draining the swamp.” He was brash, bold, and relentless in attacking those in Washington. It didn’t matter which party, they were all unfit to be there. What I find interesting is what happened in the house and senate.
Name an incumbent that lost his or her position who wasn’t running for reelection or retiring? How many? Not more than a few. So why “draining the swamp” didn’t hit all of them? You’ve got 443 congress members that were elected, plus one third of the senate. How many “swing” districts are there where a republican wins and two years later a democrat wins? I don’t know, but I’ll bet each national committee knows.
The republicans aren’t going to win in San Francisco and the democrats aren’t going to win in Lexington. In one district in Seattle the election was between two democrats in Jim McDermott’s old district.
Many times Nancy Pelosi made outrageous statements, but she still got elected? Mitch McConnell says things that anger many people, but he doesn’t lose. So why does Trump fly into Washington while all the others who have been there decades get reelected?
My theory is NIMB (Not in My Backyard). We are all willing to get rid of the other guy, just not the representative in our district. In some cases only a token opponent was sent to be defeated by the other party in these districts. We are all eager to point at what the other party is doing and say how wrong they are.
In my opinion neither party is right or wrong. Both have really good ideas and hellacious bad vision. America wasn’t made great by our political parties, but by us, the American citizens. It doesn’t matter if you’re a janitor or a CEO. Many Americans work hard every day for large companies, small businesses, or themselves. We can all find fault with the other guy or gal. What we should be looking for is how to work to find the best solutions to all the problems around us. If the goal is to make sure the other party doesn’t win, we all lose.
Each of us knows what is best for ourselves. Living in a representative society we all need to compromise. Today we find so many issues that are either right or wrong. The list is long and getting longer.
I grew up in a rural area outside Seattle that was all white except for a couple families. My dad hated anyone from Japan, but he hired people from the Philippines. He grew up in Seattle in an area that was very poor and very black. I now have a few African American friends, but I have more African friends; people I’ve met and worked with to help some of the poorest areas of the world. If I can change, why can’t you?
So this New Year, lighten up a little. Show some common courtesy toward your fellow Americans no matter what part of the country they are from or the color of their skin or their religion. We made America.
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