America’s Next 4 Years
THE UNITED STATES HEADS DOWN A TOO FAMILIAR ROAD
W e may not realize it, but we’ve all been here before. Amidst all this political chaos, it seems like we’re creating dangerous precedents. I know it certainly feels like we’re heading into uncharted territories.
Perhaps it would be best for all of us if we were indeed breaking new grounds. At least then, our future would be unknown, and in that uncertainly there could lie hope and potential.
Yet, I’ve come to realize that this is far too familiar ground. I won’t get all doom and gloom I promise. But perhaps thinking of the 2016 election as something unprecedented ignores the fact that we were exactly here only 8 years ago. If we don’t ignore where we were 8 years go, we can see where the future is going.
I know Donald Trump seems like a huge departure from politics as usual. Without a doubt, Donald Trump has shattered expectations from every political spectator.
However, I see Donald Trump not as a break from what’s normal, but an eventually to what has become the new normal.
ITS 2008 ALL OVER AGAIN
Something happened in 2008 that I had not seen happen in any election I’ve experienced prior.
The 2000 election was incredibly contested. The parties and the people were both heavily invested in their candidates. And we all know the battle that took place for the presidency. As fierce as that competition was, and as much as you may or may not have agreed with its outcome, we got over it! Whether you approved Bush or not, he was president, and the people moved on. Even if the politics didn’t.
In 2008, it was a different story. McCain and Palin, in particularly Palin, established a rhetoric that did not end with the election. To best their chances, the McCain campaign and Republican Party created a toxic atmosphere that painted Obama as the enemy instead of the opposition.
The tactic was not something new, but its impression on the American population was permanent. The divisions that were created were reinforced by politics that refused to cooperate. Unlike what I’ve experienced in my lifetime, the people and politics did not recover from the negative and vicious landscape the elections created.
THE AFTERMATH OF 2008
As a result, Obama presided over two political terms that simply refused to heal. Rather than getting past their defeat and working together, the right found a home in the toxic environment they created.
The Republican party doubled down on the notion that the Democrats and Obama were the enemy. They reinforced the idea in order to save American, the GOP would be uncompromising.
A gap was created between different world views, and the division was further reinforced by political actions. When the right became uncompromising, the left became self sufficient, and the electorate became polarized along philosophical, racial and economical lines.
Its important to remember that left vs right, conservative vs liberal, republican vs democrats are not opposites of each other. They are not mutually exclusive viewpoints or organizations. They are umbrellas that more often that not cover the same ground.
FAST FORWARD TO 2016
The 2008 campaign created an atmosphere of hatred towards the opposition that outlived the election season. It set the tone for the politics that Obama would face during his presidency. It took a big step towards a normal that seeks to demonize your opposition, never compromise, and never unite.
That’s the exact same tone and direction Donald Trump’s campaign has perpetuated in 2016.
Knowing or not, intentional or not, Donald Trump is reinforcing and highlighting every negative, hate inspiring rhetoric the 2008 campaign established. Donald Trump is taking long strides down a dark road that we should never have gone down, and that we can’t seem to come back from.
When Donald Trump says the things he may be aware its a political act. His campaign may be aware that the theater isn’t real. However the passionate hate and anger that their rhetoric inspires ISN’T FAKE. Their actions are inspiring real hatred, real animosity that isn’t going to end when the votes are cast in November. Politicians seem to not understand that their rhetoric and presentation are not just a strategy to the electorate.
THE NEXT 4 YEARS
America has already lost the election no matter who wins. November will not simply erase the damage done by the 2008 and 2016 political campaigns.
Whether Hillary Clinton or Trump take the oval office, they will preside over a political and cultural environment that is bitter and ever more divided.
Hillary Clinton in particular will face opposition that has been taken over by more extreme voices.
We saw the aftermath of 2008 with the Obama administration. Obama has been the most consequential president of my lifetime. Yet I can only imagine the great things America could have accomplished if he had a congress was willing to work together.
We squandered an incredible opportunity with Obama to accomplish more because 2008 created an environment where if America wins, the GOP loses.
Hillary Clinton will face an even more toxic environment, and one where the GOP will be at yet another crossroad.
MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN
On the other hand Donald Trump and the GOP really do have an opportunity to truly “Make America Great Again”.
In order to start reversing the damaged caused by the toxic political pollution released into our atmosphere, the GOP will have to admit they’ve made a mistake. Not just Trump, but 2008 and everything in between.
If Donald Trump and the GOP spend the next 3 months taking the wind out of the hated they’ve inspired, choosing to lose the election if it means healing the country, they would have lived up to their motto.
Right now Trump is defining the next 4 or 8 years even if he doesn’t get elected. I hope that by some miracle, he and GOP come to their senses and maybe deliver of their promise and for the first time in my lifetime, put country over politics.
