The Limits of Acceptance

I accept the process and its results. I will never accept the man and his hatefulness.

[I let this one sit for three days. Then Trump decided that having white supremacists like Steve Bannon on his staff was a great idea. So, here it is.]

I accept that Donald J. Trump has secured enough electoral votes to become the next President of the United States, and thus, will take up that burden in late January.

I accept the Electoral College system in its entirety. I believe that the United States, as currently constituted, is a confederation of states, not a nation of people. I accept that the Electoral College’s primary purpose is not, in fact, to filter out demagogues, but rather to ensure that the President is elected by the proportional representation of the states, not directly by the people. It’s true the Founding Fathers believed that structure to be adequate for filtering demagogues as well, but that’s not what it’s actually for.

I do not accept Trump’s policies and attitudes — not toward Muslims, not toward minorities, not toward refugees, not toward women, not toward LBTQ+, not toward foreign nations, not toward foreign threats. I do not accept his hate, his disdain, his disrespect, his fabrications, his paranoia, or his cronyism.

I accept that many people who voted for Donald Trump did so despite the fact that he’s a hateful bigot who has incited hate groups to acts of violence. I accept that many of those people do not condone those acts of violence.

I do not accept that people who voted for Trump for non-bigoted reasons should somehow be excused for their vote. When you vote for a candidate, you are ultimately voting for the entire candidate, including the parts that actually make you uncomfortable. If they win, you are still partially responsible for what comes next, even if it’s not the reason you voted for them.

If you vote for a hateful bigot who says he’ll make the trains run on time because you want your trains to run on time, you still voted for hateful bigotry, as well as timely trains.

I do not accept the idea that we must now be calm and relax and let Trump prove himself. He’s proven himself to be an asshole, and he will now be the Asshole In Chief. We do not have to accept his behaviour. Even if you voted for him — especially if you voted for him, but genuinely do not accept his hatred and bigotry — we can and should and must stand up to the bullying, stand up to the negativity, stand up for our friends and our families and our beliefs.

I accept that I must do everything I can, small or large as that may prove to be, to protect those I care about, to speak out and work for equal rights and equal justice, to not give up the fight for human progress. I’ve said it before and will say it many times again: awesome futures don’t just happen. Awesome futures are made.