I’ve purposely avoided social media and WordPress for the last 48 hours.  I wanted to see what was going to happen after the election results came in and Donald Trump was named the President-Elect of the United States.  I didn’t vote for either candidate of the major parties, but here’s the thing: in American elections, we have peaceful transitions of power because we allow the system to work.  One candidate is named the winner, the others formally concede, and we all prepare for what the next four years hold.  That’s how elections have been since before I was born… until this year.  Since the results were announced people have begun protesting, and even rioting:

Some of these protesters destroyed public and private property, burned a likeness of Donald Trump and one protester even outright called for violence and death:

This is not who we are.  It is important to mention that these types of events seemed to be in the minority, but the fact that protests are being held with calls to impeach a President-Elect who has not done anything that he can impeached for yet is telling of where we are as a nation.

You Are Not Alone

To anyone who is upset that Donald Trump won this election, to anyone who wants to protest and riot, to those of you that feel isolated because the nation chose a man that many found to be a reprehensible human being allow me to share this with you: you are not alone.  I’ve kept out of the election more or less on this site, but anyone who knows me or has followed me on Facebook, Twitter, or Medium should know that I fought hard to get someone else nominated, and I fought hard to convince my fellow Christians, my fellow conservatives, and my fellow libertarians to vote for who and what they believed to be right; not simply to vote against the “greater evil”.  And yet, despite my best efforts and the efforts of millions of Americans, Donald J. Trump will be the 45th President of the United States of America.

I don’t quite know what to expect.  I am hopeful that my friends and family who voted for Donald Trump to defeat Hillary Clinton are right, and that he will be surrounded by good people.  I hope that he is willing to humble himself and listen to reason.  I hope that they are right that the crazy stuff he said he would do was just campaign sloganeering, but I am not sure.

The Trump candidacy was a scorched earth campaign.  He burned a lot of bridges and hurt a lot of people.  We can see by these protests and the fear seen on social media that a lot of people don’t know what is going to happen, and for those of us who aren’t weeping for Hillary Clinton but don’t want to see America divided, we need to stop seeing these people as political enemies and start seeing them as fellow citizens who don’t understand what the hell just happened.

Take it Easy – Talk it Over

To my friends on the Left: stop burning stuff.  Stop smashing windows, and stop trying to tip cars over.  Stop yelling, screaming, and protesting, and start listening for once.  Try to understand why “fly over nation” came out to vote for Donald Trump.  Have you taken a moment to think beyond the ideas that you have been indoctrinated with and realize that most of the people in this country, and most of the people who voted for Donald Trump are not racist, sexists, bigots, or homophobes?  Have you stopped to ask, “Why did they see Hillary Clinton as so dangerous?” because to be honest, most people on the Right disliked Trump, but they felt the same way about Clinton as you did about Trump.

And to my friends on the Right: stop boasting about the Trump victory because there is nothing to boast about.  He’s still the same man with the same proclivities toward vengeance and vulgarity that he had last week.  You need to be better than that.  I, personally, am happy that the Republicans held on to the House and the Senate, but Donald Trump has a long way to go to build trust with me and many other Americans today.

Finally, to my Christian friends: whether you voted for Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, or (like me) a third party candidate remember your first love (Revelation 2:1-7).  People are hurting and some of them are our brothers and sisters.  People are angry, and some of them are our brothers and sisters.  People are scared, and some of them are our brothers and sisters.

I’ll Stop the Whole World

I posted the Paramore song Monster at the beginning of this.  I think this song speaks to where we are today, and the chorus speaks to where the Children of God need to be moving forward.

I’ll stop the whole world,
I’ll stop the whole world
From turning into a monster
And eating us alive
Don’t you ever wonder
How we survive?
Well now that you’re gone,
The world is ours

The monster is us… it’s every American who is gloating, crying, yelling, and rioting.  We are being carried away by the machine we’ve built and we’re killing each other (figuratively speaking).  I can see the divide deepening, and I think many of you can as well.  We have to be the city on the hill (Matthew 5:14) that is willing to stop the whole world from turning into a monster to eat us all alive.