The election results of Nov. 8 has saddened me and has made me question what being an American truly means like nothing else in my life. I am an average American. And so is my family. For the last four
The election results of Nov. 8 has saddened me and has made me question what being an American truly means like nothing else in my life.
I am an average American. And so is my family.
For the last four generations when our country called our family responded. My grandfather for World War I, my father for World War II and Korea, myself and three of my brothers during Vietnam and after, and my nephew who is currently a serving Navy Seal.
None of my family have been heroes. None of us did anything more special than to do whatever our country asked of us.
We did this willingly, proudly and believed that we were simply doing our duty as Americans. My family thought that was our duty as Americans to serve in order to keep our country free, safe, and help continue to make the country a place we could be proud of.
But an America with a man like Donald Trump as president is an America I am ashamed of.
The new president-elect Donald Trump is the antithesis of what I believe are the qualities and beliefs that America stands for, and he makes a mockery of the very reasons we have served.
Mr. Trump’s election makes me believe our four generations of service to our country have been badly wasted in one quick, painful blow.
Winston Churchill is famously quoted as saying, “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”
But this is an instance when our democracy has failed us, and failed us badly.
We are just average Americans with the same complaints about our current government as everyone else.
I really get the anger and disgust of the average American with the current do-nothing, partisan politics filled with professional politicians enriching themselves at our expense and accomplishing little else.
I truly get it. And I agree that neither presidential candidate was a good answer to what we desperately need.
But is the current president-elect a solution to this? Or does his election simply show a protest against the status quo with little thought as to the consequences of such an action?
We have elected a failed businessman who is a reality-TV personality; a man completely unqualified by intellect or experience to be president; a man without a single original thought, completely devoid of a moral compass, who has pandered to the worst fears and prejudices of those among us to get their votes.
His own party members ran for the exits during his campaign because he expressed opinions and participated in behaviors that shocked even them. Now after his election, these same politicians are tripping over themselves to attach themselves to his coattails and pronounce “the voters have spoken.”
The America I know values freedom, is proud, is caring, fair-minded, is inclusive, and welcomes everyone of any color, religion, sexual orientation or nationality, and that celebrates the rights of all Americans, not just a specific group of us.
This is what makes us Americans.
Is this the type of person we have elected?
I think not.
•••
William T. Ivison is a resident of Princeville.
