In most years the answer would be "yes". But who knows for sure this time. There is a major campaign and petition drive to urge the members of the electoral college not to cast their ballots for Trump as they are supposed to, but change to Clinton when they meet to make the election final in December? Can they do that? Yes, I understand that they can. Electors who change their vote can be hit with a small fine for doing so, but the petition organizers are offering to pay the fines for them. This would be a horrendous move, never before known in our history, and a real blow to democracy. But nothing should be unexpected in this election.
Protesters have been marching in cities and even destroying property because they didn't get their choice for president. Mob rule may be on the way in this country, effectively destroying democracy. A younger intolerant generation expects to always get its own way, and this election is no exception. I even read where one employer, the CEO of GrubHub, told his employees that if they agree with Trump they should immediately submit their resignation. This is America? The land where government transitions have proceeded peacefully, unlike those in other countries, ever since the start of elections here?
Now the election results have been very hard on many, even some of my dear friends. I have good friends who have not only been shocked but deeply hurt by Clinton's loss. They can't believe that a man like Trump could be elected, and maybe they are right. But Hillary wasn't any better. There have been tears and angry replies from a few. Some of them feel that they will lose many of their recent gains made under Obama, just as many of us felt we would lose more of our religious liberties under Hillary. And I do understand their pain and fears. Both sides should have known they could lose, although I am sure that the Democrats never really thought it could happen to them. And I realize that this is very tough for them to live with.
And in response it is very important for those of us on the "winning" side to be kind and understanding. And sometimes that isn't easy. One of my friends has claimed that she is being harshly treated by the "winners", and she probably is. I see many folks "gloating" by their posts on Facebook, the mark of a poor winner. I am trying to be kind in return, although I must admit that I was upset by one friend who sent me a post that asked me to sign the petition to upset the electoral college vote. I did post a very negative comment in return, but then a few hours later realized that it was the wrong response from me and I deleted it.
However, it is hard to sit back and listen to the accusations about why Hillary lost. Many are saying it is because she was a women. Nonsense, there are many good women that could have been elected if they were honest, qualified, and had values that we could support. Neither Hillary or Katie McGinty met those standards in my estimation. Unfortunately Trump really wasn't much better. So I don't feel it was a gender situation as many do. I also don't think it was a racial issue as many are also now claiming. The media's favorite lost and now they are pushing this excuse and making things worse.
I do think there were numerous reasons Hillary was unexpectedly upset. First there were her tragic positions on abortion and Planned Parenthood. There is no way to ever defend killing babies. Then there was her superior attitude which caused her to cause we common people despicable. That was nasty. We just weren't in her class and she couldn't hold back on her disdain for the common person who held different values. Of course there was also her illegal handling of the e-mails which she botched and resisted and by her actions demonstrated that she felt she was above the law. There was also her use of and support by Hollywood stars, especially in the final days. Their lifestyles and values are so opposite to those of most common folks. They gave to her and raised for her big bucks. They campaigned for her and provided free advertising. And they are part of a much different social status than those of us who actually provided the margin of victory for Trump. Trump campaigned the final days without the "stars" and drew huge crowds of common folks while the stars campaigned for her to try and draw crowds. Hollywood and the media just don't get it. It was also obvious that the liberal media promoted her throughout the campaign.
In my estimation, the final fatal mistake that Hillary made was devoting a slew of repeated ads the day before the election showing all the unkind remarks that Trump had made in the past, and sadly there were many. Over and over the same ads played every time there were breaks for ads on television. That was all she pushed at the very end instead of leaving a positive message. What Trump said was terrible and wrong, but her push was obnoxious and negative. It left a very bad taste for her in my mouth right before voting.
Now while I felt both candidates were terribly flawed, I will admit that I voted for Trump because of some values which hopefully might protect our religious freedoms as well as in the hope of getting a conservative Supreme Court. These are the important issues to me, despite the two personalities. Now will he follow through? Nothing is for sure in this election cycle. Only time will tell. But it was obvious Hillary would not have. Under her our religious freedoms would definitely have continued to erode and we would be stuck with a liberal Supreme Court for decades. And that is why I reluctantly voted the way I did.
Finally, it is interesting to note that massive amounts of prayer went into this battle, especially since so much was at stake. Folks like Franklin Graham took the election all over the country, without backing a specific candidate. Evangelical churches urged their congregations to vote but never backing a party or a candidate. If they had done that, as some falsely claim, the ACLU would have stepped in immediately. This election process may have been prayed for more than any other in history, without backing a candidate.
Now some of my close friends who are rather liberal claimed to be praying for Hillary and often sent me articles from pastors who were doing the same. And I believe they honestly were. But I guess I believe that many evangelical Christians were fervent in their prayers for the maintaining of Christian values, the rejecting of ultra liberal policies, and the formation of a conservative Supreme Court. And I personally believe that God answered in a positive way. But I must admit that I felt that maybe this country had turned its back on God so much in recent years that He would just leave us to suffer the consequences. Maybe there is still some hope for the United States despite its sin.
Now I realize that some of you who will strongly disagree with me. I am sorry if I hurt you. I really don't want to do that. I am just expressing my personal opinions as I often do in this blog. Your friendship is important and I trust that we can just disagree, as friends. And maybe we can join together in praying for our country, for the new president, and for a peaceful acceptance of the results and new administration. The election is over and it is time to move on ... with a common purpose.
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