To the People I Love

I have been having a hard time with the political firestorm, so basically feel like it is best to get my feelings and thoughts out. It breaks my heart to hear people I love rationalize what Donald Trump stands for and normalizing or making excuses for his abusive words and actions. I also think that telling me or others to “just get over it” or “it’s time to move on” is harmful to a relationship. Just as each of us must grieve a loss in our own time frame, please recognize that all of the people who didn’t vote for Trump (Democrats, Independents and many Republicans) are grieving what we see as the death of democracy as we know it. 

I love you all soooo much and care deeply for many people in my life who made the choice to select Trump as their President. I never once thought any of you were “deplorables” and truly believe that you voted for the person you believed would be best for our nation. I know you have seen my many posts and the fact that I still cannot accept him as “My President” and probably never will. I now feel like there is a wall between us because I can’t understand supporting this man. This is not like me at all. This is the first time in my life that I have felt so negatively about the winner of our Presidential race. And my chosen candidates have lost in the past. This is the first time in my life that I have feared for America and the democracy it represents to the world. This is the first time in my life that I find myself banging against a wall that looms between me and people I love. After the election I had hopes that he would become more presidential, but as each day passes, I am more alarmed at his unpresidential behavior. I am having great difficulty understanding how people I love see him as a great leader, the answer to all of our problems. To me, he is uneducated, inarticulate, has a scattered unfocused thought process and seems to be only interested in his own self rather than stepping up to the plate to be President for over 300 million Americans. Many of us did not vote for him and I have seen no movement on his part to try to allay our fears about his inability to govern in a responsible way, no reaching out across our nation to reassure his non-supporters that it will be okay. So just as you believed he would be the best choice, I believe that he is absolutely the worst person to lead our nation.

As I watch the Republican Congress make moves to dismantle health care for over 20 million people, one of which is my granddaughter who was born with a pre-existing condition, I am appalled that they think this is the right thing to do. And now I have two pre-existing conditions as well. They have had six years to come up with a better plan and for six years have presented no viable alternative.  I think all of us agree that the ACA is not perfect, but fix it! Or replace it simultaneously with a plan that doesn’t strip the rights of 20 million Americans  to health care. Please follow this link to read about how people with employer covered insurance will also be affected by its repeal.  http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2017/01/11/get-health-insurance-through-your-employer-aca-repeal-will-affect-you-too/    

His refusal to take daily intelligence briefings while President elect, his attack of the intelligence agencies in our country, his lack of veracity makes me fear for the safety of our nation. I pray daily that he will not start a nuclear war. 

Paul Ryan has had an agenda for years to privatize Medicare and Social Security. He is quite determined to do this. Repealing ACA DOES affect Medicare benefits as well. Cancer and diabetes screenings gone. Recommended preventive services without cost sharing through employers will be gone…so mammograms, flu shots, etc. I am pleading with you and others to please investigate and study ALL of the issues.

Pence is hell bound to get rid of Planned Parenthood and believes that we can use conversion therapy to “cure” being gay. Planned Parenthood cannot by law use federal funds for abortions and abortions are only a very small part of services offered through this organization. They provide mammograms, pap smears, pre-natal care, birth control options and many other preventive health care services for millions of low-income women. I don’t want us to go back to back alley abortions with coat hangers. Real people are affected by this. I also feel strongly that no man or governing entity should have the right to make decisions about my body. I have spent many years in maternal health care and never participated in any abortion procedures because personally I am Pro-Life. But, I will fiercely defend anyone else’s right to make that choice. I have NO right to dictate to someone else what they feel they must do. Their body, their life. That makes me Pro-Choice.  I also wonder why it matters so much to other humans that everyone needs to be the same? Diversity is what has made this nation great. Isn’t it enough to just take care of your own life?

My bottom line though is that I think he is a despicable human being, a homophobic, xenophobic, racist, narcissistic lying sexual predator who wants only to increase his own wealth on the backs of hard-working American citizens. I can’t erase the image of him mocking a handicapped journalist nor can I erase hearing the words he uttered while boasting of being a sexual predator. If he truly cared about being “presidential” and wanted to alleviate the fears that he has sown throughout the past 1.5 years, then release his tax returns, put his holdings into a true blind trust. At least make an effort to show me and millions of Americans that he is worthy of the job. I also ask Trump supporters this question….If any other Republican or Democrat running for the office of the Presidency did just half of the things Donald Trump did and said, would those who so fiercely support him, have given them a pass as well on any of the above outrageous words and actions? 

Sorry, but I have to go dark. I just cannot assimilate how to resolve the emotions within me. I am desperately trying to figure out how I can dismantle the wall that I feel exists between me and the people I love whose beliefs are so far from my own. I absolutely recognize that resolving this crisis in my life is definitively my problem. I am hopeful that I will be able to shatter that wall, but not sure how long that might take.  And Trump could facilitate this process if he would begin to adhere to his campaign promises of “not touching Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security” or giving us “healthcare for all” which should be a right for every citizen, not an option based on personal wealth. Sadly though, all I am seeing so far is implementation of executive orders allowing our environment to be raped for oil profits, anti-abortion acts being reinstated, and tax cuts for the wealthy.

Above all, I am an American. I love my country. Above all, I am a patriot, not a Democrat, Republican or Independent. As a patriot, I am doing what I believe in my heart is the right thing to do….Resist any attempt to normalize unacceptable behavior, resist any attempt to ignore the Constitution, resist any attempt to stifle freedom of speech, resist racism, resist homophobia, resist misogyny and xenophobia, resist any and all things that threaten the freedoms that so many have shed blood to protect and defend.

Millions of Americans are grieving right now. I think Lady Liberty is grieving as well.