Nice to Meet You, I Am Your Enemy

I’m writing this to my Republican, Trump-voting friends, or anyone who might take the time to read this who isn’t part of the left-wing echo chamber.

I promise I am not writing this to try to change your mind, or convince you of anything. I get it, the battle lines have been drawn, and we’re on opposite sides. I’m writing this because away from politics, we mix in similar circles, and I’m afraid you might have the wrong idea of me.

From what I can tell from the links you’ve been posting, to websites like Breitbart and Fox News, you’ve been reading a lot about me. Even the President keeps talking about me. You know my type; I am a liberal Democrat. I’m a Hillary Clinton voter, a protestor, and a guy who is losing his shit over Donald Trump and the Republican congress. I am, by definition, the “Democratic base.”

From those articles, I sound pretty awful. I’m surprised you even want to know me, honestly. I hope nobody invites me to a party; I don’t sound like much fun.

We’re going to keep crossing paths, though, because I love sports and country music and beer and other normal things that bring me outside of the liberal bubble into the actual world. And if you do see me, I want you to hear my side of the story now, before you assume I’m trying to sabotage your country and turn it into a welfare state under Sharia law. I’d like a few minutes to speak for myself.

First, I want you to understand, even if you think I’m an idiot or a communist because I’m protesting Donald Trump, I genuinely do love my country, and I vote the way I do because I truly believe I am doing the right thing for America. It doesn’t mean I’m right, but I believe I am, and that’s why I vote that way. I assume it’s why you vote your way, too, and I can respect that.

I am a proud American, and I’ve been giving free drinks to veterans for as long as I’ve been a bartender. I don’t hate our freedom; I exist because of it. My father immigrated to America as a child to escape the holocaust in Belgium. He spent more than sixty years in the country, earned his citizenship, paid his taxes, and when he died, his headstone said, simply, “Captain, U.S. Army”.

I’m not writing this while sipping a latte at my local ACORN office; I’m in the middle of a cheap beer and a cigarette. I grew up in a small town in Virginia, drove an F-150, and hosted a talk show about football. For me, family vacations were trips to the North Carolina mountains, and dates in high school were sunset drives to the Dairy Queen in the next town.

I’m not a liberal because I want “free stuff”. I wouldn’t even be around to get it; I’m living overseas now, where I’ve opened two bars that play country music, serve bourbon, and got their names from American sports.

I don’t actually believe, and neither does anyone else I know, that dodgeball should be banned in schools. Life is hard, and I think it’s incredibly valuable for every child to occasionally get smacked in the face with a rubber ball, thrown by a bigger child.

I don’t need a safe space, and anyone who does is no friend of mine. If you call me a snowflake, you might need a safe space.

I think government exists to keep the schools open, cops on the street, and the roads clear when it snows. Beyond that, I believe, more or less, that government should get out of the way. I think it’s ridiculous that bars in Virginia close at 2 AM. Doesn’t the free market mean a business owner can decide when to open or close a business?

I agree with you that there are people taking advantage of the welfare system. Of course I agree that a lot of our tax dollars are wasted. And I don’t want Nancy Pelosi or anyone else to tell me if I can or can’t have a large cup of soda, or a pack of fucking Marlboros.

I also believe that nobody should die or be forced to sell their house because they get sick or injured, and couldn’t afford treatment. I believe that lenders should not be able to bankrupt a customer on late or overdraft fees. And I believe that corporations and executives should pay enough in taxes to support the education and health care of those who can’t afford it, rather than the middle class overpaying in taxes so that corporations and executives can use loopholes and pay nothing.

I stand for the national anthem, and salute the flag. But the flag I salute represents a country that fosters innovation, and welcomes the best and brightest from anywhere in the world. It’s a country where everybody has a chance to succeed, if they’ll put in the work. It’s a country with national parks, blue skies, and clean drinking water.

Of course it bothers me to see rising crime and urban decay in my country. But I believe the way to solve this problem is with access to education and gun control, not with stop-and-frisk or longer prison sentences. I believe that ambition and hope is a better deterrent than incarceration. If you disagree with me, fine, I’ll have that argument, but come armed with statistics. I’m not a peacenik wearing Birkenstocks and flowers in my hair. I simply believe that those in power who want you to think I’m a weakling for saying this, should be required to also inform you how much money they’ve taken from the for-profit prisons they so strongly believe in.

I could say “I believe in global warming”, but of course I do. I spend a month or so each year setting up backpacker trips and motorbike rentals in Medan, Sumatra; a wonderful city that is literally sinking into the ocean right now. It’s catastrophically worse than it was when I first arrived, in 2012. That’s not normal, and just because we don’t see it in America doesn’t mean it isn’t real. I cannot vote for a candidate who claims this is not happening, especially while taking money from the same oil companies that are profiting from it.

I’m sure we both believe that our children should have a quality education, but I believe the best way to achieve that is to pay teachers more and limit standardized testing, to attract more strong candidates to choose this profession. I do not believe that penalizing schools for low test scores accomplishes anything, except taking money away from the schools that need them most. Again, we agree on our priorities. We just believe in different solutions.

I believe that the coal mining and iron working jobs that Americans lost a generation ago are never coming back. I believe that any politician who tells me that they will get those jobs back, is lying to me to get my vote, rather than respecting me enough to speak the truth. It’s 2017 and the world is a different place; one that simply doesn’t need as many coal mines or steel mills. I believe that a candidate who wants to finance vocational training and affordable education can do more good than a candidate who spouts slogans about “bringing jobs back”. Americans are tough, resilient people. Talk to us honestly instead of pandering for our votes.

I believe Donald Trump is a liar, a narcissist, and a traitor. I also know I’m not going to change your mind, just as you won’t change mine.

Eventually, something is going to have to change. We can’t sustain this level of tension forever. That’s the thing about tension; it’s released, or eventually something snaps.

I believe that end will almost definitely come from a disaster; from a war, started by Donald Trump or another like him, that turns America into a de-facto dictatorship, causes unimaginable suffering, and leads to a shameful multi-generation rebuild, like what faced Germany after the Third Reich. America will survive, but scarred, and we’ll deal with the consequences of this period in history forever.

But I also remember that you believed that the end would come from Barack Obama declaring Sharia law and turning America into a dystopian welfare state dependent on government handouts. You were wrong.

Maybe I am, too.

And if I am, if you’re right and Donald Trump truly does want to Make America Great Again, if the policies I strongly disagree with actually succeed in lowering unemployment and keeping the country safe, even in spite of decades of evidence; if Trump maintains America’s place as the world’s leader in innovation, if he safeguards our democracy and upholds our constitution, I will be thankful and I will celebrate his presidency. Because all I want is what’s best for the country, for my family and friends and neighbors. This isn’t football, I don’t root for the Democrats like I would my team; I root for wins for Americans.

But I do want to ask you, though, why you don’t feel the same. After Barack Obama left office, and you realized you were wrong, did you consider hating me a little bit less? President Obama didn’t take your guns away, he didn’t impose Islamic law, and he did, in fact, lower unemployment, pull us out of a recession, and unequivocally keep America safe. What’s the worst thing that Obama actually did? Push for health care coverage in a way you don’t agree with? And yet you still voted to replace him with the guy who was best known for accusing him of being born in Kenya, and not one conservative voice has spoken out to say, ok, maybe Barack Hussein Obama did some good. Sometimes it feels to me like you hate me more than you love the country.

And if my prediction is right, and Donald Trump puts us on the path towards national disgrace and disaster, you will still have a place in my country as we rebuild together, but I won’t forget. I won’t forget that you let this happen to a place I love, a place that created me. If my children don’t get to have the same life I did; playing in clean rivers, climbing pristine mountains, riding their bike to the neighborhood school, advancing themselves through hard work- I want you to know that you own this. You’ve put their future in the hands of Donald Trump. You’d better be right, or at least, help me hold him accountable if you aren’t.

But as we sit at this tipping point, I will try to remember that we are both Americans, and we want the same thing, and if our country were invaded, we would fight together, side by side, to protect and defend this place that we’ve built.

I will try to remember that you voted the way you did because you believed you were doing the right thing for the country. And the next time you read about me, the protester, the liberal, the “left wing activist”, please remember that I did the same.