This election has been hard on me. As much as I try not to be a one sided partisan, my views lean toward progressive. I can’t think of anyone less progressive than Donald Trump. I’ve tried over and over in my head to try and figure out how and why this happened. Forget political ideology, the America I thought I knew would never elect a man who was so crude, mean and disrespectful. My America never would have supported someone who brings out the worst of America’s racist past, who mocks a disabled person, who so openly rejects people who are different. But they did.

Before the election I suspected that some would support Donald Trump just because they are republicans just like many liberals supported Hillary because they were democrats. I suspected that others would vote for trump because they were really frustrated with president Obama because there taxes had gone up or their they didn’t get a subsidy under the Affordable Care Act. And I knew that some people just wanted a white male in the White House. But I never suspected that the vast majority of white people would vote for Trump and that he would win based on this voting block. I thought that at some level, we would reject all of the terrible things that Donald Trump had done and stands for. But we didn’t.

I live in a conservative county in Colorado. The type of county that overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump. After the election, on more than one occasion, I have been in a conversation with someone who I never would of guessed is a Trump supporter - in the end though, they are. During these conversations I always find myself thinking in my head, “this person is too nice to be a Trump supporter” or “they are too smart to vote for Trump”. In the end though, these people are nice and intelligent people and they are fervent trump supporters. The truth is many of my neighbors, coworkers, family and friends who I never thought would vote for Trump, did.

How could I be so wrong about these people? I think of myself as a thoughtful ration person and I pried myself on being open and paying attention to other peoples opinions and beliefs. But several conversations I’ have had since the election have brought me to the realization that not only did more people vote for Trump than I ever would have imagined, but that more people voted for him that I know, like and respect. This fact has lead me to do a little soul searching. I find myself constantly thinking:

  1. “Is my view of the world correct?”
  2. “If my view of the world is correct, why did these people vote for Trump?”
  3. “What does Trump’s support mean for my future and the future of America?”

Is my view of the world correct?

The question: “is my view of the world correct?” is too large of a subject to cover as part of this post. But expect that posts over the next year will center around this question.

Let’s just say that I think people in America would benefit greatly if they would question their political beliefs more. It boggles my mind how so many people that I know adamantly pushes their side of the political line as if the subjects they are talking about are all a sure thing. As complex as the world is, it would seem that more people would question their political beliefs. People see so sure about how we should tax people, who we should help, who we should not, who is good and who is bad and, most frustratingly, what party is right. You so often hear things like: “Obama should have been harder on Syria” or “We should stop Muslims from entering this country” or “We should immediately remove all soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan” or “We should end all domestic drilling for fossil fuels”. To me all of these decisions will likely have large longterm ramifications that are difficult to predict. And it seems like these ideas are supported as stand alone entities, with little thought into their actual ramifications. I also don’t understand that given the fact that most people have jobs, how have so many people become policy experts. These issues are complex and very hard to understand, even for policy wonks. But yet, they are so often said mater of factly by those of one side or the other.

I’m just as bad as the rest. Recently I was reminded of how difficult it is to understand the consequences of policies while listening to The Weeds one of my favorite podcasts. In the episode they were discussing the potential outcomes of increasing taxes on the rich, something I have been an advocate of for a while. Until I listened to that podcast I had been basing my support of the policy based on a what I thought was a clear logic:

  1. Income inequality is increasing.
  2. This is a result of wealthier Americans having too much power in our society.
  3. If we raise there taxes this redistribution of wealth will sway the power back to those with lower incomes and gradually produce a better more even society.
  4. This will make people happier and more productive and increase the quality of living for Americans.

While some of these assumptions still stand, they are far from the complete picture. The episode made me realize, that I had strong beliefs about a subject that I had never done research on. I had to admit I had very little idea what the impacts would be of raising taxes on the rich (even now I still know very little, I’ve only listened to one podcast and that does not make me an expert). Despite this I was still a supporter of it.

It’s not that I think that everyone in America should stop having a political stance because we are all too dumb to vote. I just think that if people were more willing to question there own ideologies, they would not be so hostile towards others.

Why did people vote for Trump?

Why did people vote for Trump? To be honest, I don’t really know. The one thing that I can tell you is, I don’t believe Trump’s supporters are bad people. In fact (with only those in my community as evidence) I don’t believe that Trump voters are any better or worse than Clinton/liberal voters. Sure, some of Trumps supporters are crazy assholes (exhibit A), but I’ve met plenty of holier-than-thow liberals who are single minded assholes too (lots of people don’t think twice about pushing for the end cattle ranching on public lands, effectively ending employment and a way of life for millions of Americans).

Still it bothers me that a man that said so many terrible things was elected to lead our country. What does this say to our children or other countries? Sure I think we over do the politically correct culture, but not for the president. Remember the president of the United States. is supposed to be the leader of the free world. Not a bad example.

The Future

I keep trying to figure out what the next four years will look like. And I’m very worried about those that have been chosen to be leaders in Trump’s cabinet (I’m particularly worried about the nations open spaces and public lands). But I’m trying to keep an open mind. This is a time, as liberals, we get to test if we are right or wrong in our world views. After all there’s a good argument to be made that there are too many regulations in this country and that these regulations may be hampering the development of new industries and technologies. Maybe I’ve been wrong, maybe the Trump administration will be good for the U.S.? On the other hand, maybe he will be a disaster.

Regardless, now more than ever, it is important to remember that it is our neighbors who elected him.