Project November 9th

We Have the Power to Change the World No Matter What

Some of you 1980s movie buffs will remember the festival scene from Willow where Willow Ufgood and two of his fellow Nelwyn come before the High Aldwin seeking to be his choice for apprentice.

The High Aldwin stands before the three potential apprentices and holds up his hand. He asks: “the power to control the world is in which finger?” Each of the first two apprentices chooses one of the outstretched fingers only to have the High Aldwin shake his head. Willow is the third potential apprentice and hesitates for several moments (even contemplates his own hand for a moment) before he finally reaches out and reluctantly selects one of the High Aldwin’s fingers.

Later, the High Aldwin confronts Willow about his choice. Willow confesses that the thought crossed his mind to choose his own finger. “That was the correct answer.” he tells Willow.

A lot of blogs and postings are going to spend a considerable amount of time today and tomorrow analyzing how Donald Trump overcame conventional wisdom, beat the polls and predictions and won the presidency. There will be those who will celebrate Trump’s anti-establishment, kick-down-the-door, turn-DC-on-its-head mentality, and how he brought that attitude to the forefront of the election; those who will celebrate the fact that the Supreme Court has been saved from overreaching judicial activism; and those who will celebrate the how the election has turned the pollsters and the media on their collective heads. I will leave those who want to celebrate to their celebrations, those who want to crunch the numbers to their analysis, and those who wish to bemoan their fate, punch holes in their drywall, and move to Canada to their travel plans and their despondency. I want to go in another direction.

I went to the polls Tuesday morning and was hit with the most powerful impression I have had this entire election season. There were about 300+ people in line with me of different ages and ethnicities, and I presume different political ideologies (I live in northern Harris County about 20 miles north of Houston. Hillary won my county by a considerable margin and I know plenty of people who didn’t vote for her), and we were all peacefully awaiting our turn at the voting booths. The room was absent of the rancor and animosity that has plagued many a social media page of late. Instead, we were Americans doing what Americans do best: voting for a peaceful transition of power. And though I do not know any of these people personally, they are my fellow country men and women and we are all in this together.

On Wednesday, November 9th, we will have the opportunity to cast another vote for the direction this country is headed. In many ways this vote is more important. Unlike the election, this vote need not be decided in one day. Some will come to the decision early, some later, and some not at all. But the choices must be made by all Americans. There are three:

1. Will you recognize the peaceful transfer of power? Many Trump supporters went to bed last night believing they had dodged the bullet of the second coming of the Clinton regime. Many Clinton supporters went to bed in disbelief hoping they would wake up to news of an automatic recount in the rust belt states. But no matter your political persuasion, you must come to terms with the election results — whether that means being a gracious winner and not rubbing the win in others’ faces, or being a gracious loser and honoring the vote counts. For well over a year, we have fought tooth and nail both for and against candidates we believed in. It is our right and responsibility to let our voices be heard. But just as Hillary Clinton congratulated Donald Trump for his election victory, we must begin to recognize that the power in Washington will be shifting in January. We must be willing to support the president-elect in a lawful way as our Commander in Chief, even if we still feel the need to exercise our first amendment freedoms in opposition to his polices.
2. Will you seek for more tolerance and understanding when talking to those with whom you disagree? I have spent my fair share of time on social media sites engaged in heated political discussions. I tried my best to seek to understand the positions of my political friends and foes before I shared my own. I tried to listen more and talk less. I tried to be more empathetic and less judgmental. At times I was successful and at times I failed. I awake today with renewed desire to bridge the gap that separates us. For too long we have let anger and and frustration govern our words especially across the aisle and especially with those who hold beliefs different from our own. We must begin to heal those differences, not in agreement, necessarily; but in light of our common humanity and divinity, we must come together in understanding and love. We must remember that our similarities outnumber our differences and we should speak and act accordingly.
3. Will you take your power seriously? For too long we have abdicated our responsibilities as citizens to Washington DC, foolishly believing that they knew better than we by which rules we should conduct our lives. We must, like Willow Ufgood, realize that we have more power in our fingers, minds and bodies than we ever thought possible, no matter who the president is. We must use that power for good. We have the power to do at least three things: 1) We can follow the traditional courses of action and be engaged in the political process, communicating our desires to our elected representatives. 2) We can encourage our state representatives to pass legislation for the Convention of States, a grass roots Constitutional effort to limit federal overreach. 3) We can foster effective dialog (i.e. without name calling, simplistic memes or unverified links) across political ideologies in an effort to understand before we are understood.

The next few years will undoubtedly be a hard road. There have been a few moments in the election cycle (Trump’s acceptance speech or Obama’s defense of a Trump supporter at a Clinton rally) where the country’s leadership demonstrated moral courage or sought common ground. Instead they, like many of us, have been prone to follow the easy path of partisan angst and belittling. But no longer. It is time for new leadership, leadership from the bottom-up; the leadership and example of We The People. We will need all voices on deck — those in favor, those in opposition, those in between and those with the unusual take on things — in order to rise above our petty disputes of the past and work together for the common good.

In the coming days, we will be launching Project November 9th — a website and a movement to encourage disparate voices to come together to speak in challenging and empathetic ways. Learn more here. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.