The Road to Healing: How to Recover from One Hell of an Election
It’s been a few weeks since Election 2016, but most people are still reeling from the results.
For many, it still isn’t any easier to accept them. It still hurts. It still feels like half the country hates them. And people feel deeply betrayed.
How can we ever recover from this? Is it even possible?
Yes, and we can do it by believing in each other again.
Words Have Power, Be Careful How You Use Them
First we need to look at the roles of the DNC, RNC, and their media conglomerate allies.
Every election sees its share of slander. But this election takes the gold. I have never seen so many video clips and sound bites taken out of context at one time.
I haven’t seen CNN and Fox be so obvious with their biases.
And I haven’t seen people as upset as they are now.
What happened? Every election someone loses, and their supporters feel a sense of loss. That is normal.
But this election was different. It was far more intense.
Basically, the respective campaign machines, and their media allies, convinced us that the “other side” was the enemy.
- They are bad people…
- They want to take away your rights…
- They want to take away your guns…
- They want to deport you…
- They are everything that is wrong with this country…
At the root of it all: You can’t trust your fellow Americans. Your neighbors hate you. The only people you can trust are the people who vote like you. Otherwise, you’ve partnered with racism, bigotry, tyranny, and pure evil.
Both sides drove messages of fear down our throats about what might happen if the other person won.
They convinced us that the other side’s candidate, and their supporters, represented everything wrong with this country… and we believed them.
They convinced us that the other side’s candidate, and their supporters, represented everything wrong with this country… and we believed them.
We allowed our political parties to label half the country as “bad people”… and we accepted it.
If We Don’t Change This, Elections Are Going To Get Worse
What did we think was going to happen when both sides effectively convinced their followers that the other candidate, and their followers, were evil?
If I truly believed that Hillary was a murdering elitist, bent on nothing but her own gain, then it would be my DUTY to fight back.
If I swallow the party line–hook, line, and sinker–then I must come to one conclusion: The other side wants me in chains and to plunder my bank account.
It doesn’t matter which side I’m on, both sides are telling me this.
If I truly believed the stuff being said about the “other candidate,” then I would have to fight back. And I couldn’t be civil with their supporters.
Don’t be surprised when people feel betrayed after the democratic party spent 6 months screaming about how terrible Trump was, but now says we need to “calm down” and “give him a chance.”
People feel betrayed after the democratic party spent 6 months screaming about how terrible Trump was, but now says we need to “calm down” and “give him a chance.”
What?? Weren’t you just saying how TERRIBLE he’d be for the country? And weren’t you trying to convince me that our human rights could be violated if he won? Then how can you tell me to “calm down” and “give him a chance”???
Were you telling the truth? Or were you just saying whatever you thought would get your candidate elected?
The Post-Election Protests Reveal The True Integrity of Americans
If I were a Hillary supporter, my morals would require me to fight Trump and his followers… maybe even to violence.
Why? Because I believe his presidency may usher in the fourth reich… because that’s what my party told me.
If I were a Trump supporter, my principles would require me to fight Hillary and her followers… maybe even to violence.
Why? Because I believe she wants to establish a socialist police state straight out of 1984… because that’s why my party told me.
If I buy the party-lines, I MUST protest. If I don’t, I’m a hypocrite.
Integrity doesn’t mean you do good things. Integrity means that you are consistent with yourself. If you believe A, then you’ll perform actions that support A. If you believe A, but you do B, then you are a hypocrite and lack integrity.
All the violence and chaos during (and after) the election show us two things: 1) Many Americans swallowed their party’s kool aide, and 2) Most Americans have high levels of integrity.
If I were a Hillary supporter who believed my party, and I didn’t protest Trump’s election, I would be a hypocrite. Why? Because I would believe A (that Trump could be the next Hitler), but I do B (nothing).
The protests and anger after the election show us that Americans have spine and integrity (go America!).
The real problem comes down to 2 things: 1) People lied, and 2) we believed them.
What Do Your Actions Say About Your Values?
However, none of this would have happened if we all had done one thing: Given each other the benefit of the doubt.
I know this is crazy, but what if we believed in people again? Instead of assuming the worst in people, how about we assume the best in people (until they prove us wrong)?
If we all respected each other, and recognized that we all want what’s best for the country (we just disagree on how to do it), how different would this election have looked?
Instead of trying to beat the other side down with slander, half-truths, and out-right lies, we’d try to talk with them. We’d try to have real conversations about issues.
Instead of hurling insults, we’d ask questions… because we wouldn’t understand how a smart, good human being could hold a contrary view point.
We’d have to say things like, “That idea seems absurd, but these people seem to like it. Why are these smart people, who want good things for all Americans, supporting this idea? There must be something I don’t understand about their position. Or there must be something they don’t understand about mine. Or a little of both. But I should talk to them none-the-less.”
Can you imagine how different our political culture would be if we adopted this mindset?
In my life, I have adopted a core value that says, “All people (including their motives) are innocent until proven guilty.” I have chosen to believe that people are good until I have proof they are not. That’s what core values are. They are values that you’ve established in your life, either intentionally or unintentionally, that make decisions for you.
This core value makes decisions for me (especially when I need to be reminded of it). If I don’t have proof that Hillary is a liar (and I just think she is), then I must make decisions assuming she tells the truth (despite how I feel).
This isn’t easy at first. You have to stop yourself mid-thought and correct your thinking. But, once you do it for a while, it begins to be second nature, and you begin to think the best of people by default.
Instead of getting mad at someone for something they said or did, you start thinking of ways you might have misinterpreted them. And you become a happier person, because suddenly the world looks a lot different.
That’s how we heal. That’s how we rebuild. And that’s how we make American great again.
Originally published at www.seanedwards.com on November 29, 2016.
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