'Neighbor, How Stands the Union?'

T-t-they did WHAT?!

I can't deny that --along with the majority of the country-- I'm still struggling post-election.


At the same time I appreciate the fact that I'm a writer of genre fiction not a political pundit and my activism needs to be saved for my own time and my own dime. I cannot be raining my despair all over everybody looking to see what I've got next in the way of an entertaining mystery or a heart-warming romance.


That's not why people follow me and it's not why they buy my books. Although, yes, I do think my generally optimistic vision of the world is part of the charm of my stories -- given that my vision is based on a lifetime of real-life practical experience.


So I'm just going to get a couple of things off my chest and then leave it.


Mostly I have faith in my fellow Americans, and I am encouraged that Trump did not win the popular vote--most people did NOT vote for him--although the fact that pretty much half the country did is not encouraging. One hell of a lot of people DID vote for him, despite the fact that much of what he said appalled them. My conservative friends assure me he didn't really mean all that stuff about the wall and reversing equal marriage and banning Muslims and Mexicans being rapists and and and and and...he just said that stuff to get elected. To which I have to reply, WHAT THE HELL DOES *THAT* MEAN? HOW IS THAT BETTER?


The electoral college has outlived its usefulness and is now a tool for gerrymandering and manipulation, yes. (And if you want to actually understand the electoral college and why it's time to for reform, you can start here.) The problem is, the electoral college has nothing to do with reinstating the most ineffective, unproductive and self-serving congress in the history of our nation. You can't blame the electoral college for that one. And that utterly partisan and do-nothing congress has been matched with the most inexperienced and unqualified president in the history of the country.


That's...wow.


I get that half the country feels that the government has failed them. That we are on the wrong track. That they aren't getting their piece of the pie, the American Dream, the whatever. They have a right to demand change and it's surely positive that the demands are being made through our Democratic processes. Maybe there is a grievance culture at work here, but a lot of the grievance is real and legitimate. Hell, these people have grievances they don't even know about: their lack of education, for one. The misinformation that is fed them on a daily basis regarding everything from their diet to how their government works. They have a right to be angry and depressed and afraid.


And who knows. Who the hell knows? Maybe Trump will surprise the rest of us. The majority of us. Maybe he will rise to the challenge. He does, frankly, look scared to death. He's got every possible tool at his disposable, including the tools in both houses of congress, so there will be no excuse if he doesn't achieve all he promised. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Not because I think he'll succeed, but because this is how Democracy works. He won, fair and square, given the creaky limitations of our antiquated representational democracy.


There are just two things I feel I have to say. Please don't talk about your success in "taking back OUR country" when half -- the bigger half -- of the population voted against this.


 The difference between the fear and despair and anger you felt over Obama being elected is that your emotion was based on things he never said--were the antithesis of what he believed--and never did. Never. Said. Never. Did. Our fear, despair and anger is based on what Trump actually said. Repeatedly. And is now honor-bound to try his best to do.