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The Reality of It


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By John LaRoe, February 2017

Here is the reality of it.

A substantial minority of my fellow citizens amassed sufficient votes in sufficient voting locations to surrender American sovereignty to a foreign enemy of all the things I most admired about the America of my youth: freedom of speech, religion and movement; equality of opportunity and justice; love of humanity and planet.

They did this to "make America great again."

The things they were offered to accomplish this included sexual aggression, bigotry, xenophobia, racism, Islamophobia, misogyny, coruption, anti-intellectualism, pomposity, lying, bullying and whining.

As my fellow citizens chose items from these offerings, I would like to think that they relabelled their choices: sexual aggression might have become "strength" or "success;" bigotry, "common sense;" xenophobpia, "patriotism;" and so on. But the selections were clear. They celebrated the candidate who offered these choices for "telling it like it is."

While no one person who voted for any of these things necessarily wanted all of the others, everyone who voted for any of them was fond enough of at least one of them to accept the rest.

None of those offerings were new to America. But clearly, the things that they admire and that I admire about America are very different.

Surprisingly, a significant number of this substantial minority was comfortable during the presidential campaign with an explicit and public solicitation of intervention on the part of a foreign despot in our election to achieve whatever they thought they needed ... to "make America great again."

That was new.

And still more surprisingly, following the selection of their candidate, a significant number of this substantial minority has indicated that they are comfortable with the subjugation of America's foreign policy and international interests to that despot ... to "make America great again."

Nothing was hidden from us. All of us made our choices freely.

They had every right to choose all those things, from the sexual aggression all the way through to the foreign intervention. The candidate they chose will be installed in the office of the presidency and he will promote those things. He and the foreign despot they empowered with their choice will enjoy their victory, though those who made that victory possible may not.

But I, too, have a right to promote the things that I, and a significantly larger number of my fellow citizens, admire about America. And we will.

And, as those who chose bigotry, racism and misogyny see how all that works out for them and for their children, I invite them to re-join us as they set those things aside, to make America admirable again.



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