Of late there has a boat load of conjecture by a bevy of analysts as why the impossible happened. The MSM has even resorted to blaming us, the people, for lying or deceiving them about who we were for, which led them to happily assume “H” would move to the White House again. I have even posted some of my assumptions as to why this historic event played out.
A friend sent me this open letter via email, which I believe explains it in terms that maybe, just maybe, our participation trophy-trained generation might be able to comprehend. But then, maybe not since they know better because their parents raised them that way. You decide. I can’t wait for 1/20/2017, but I will begrudgingly have to — sixty-two days and counting!
The letter comes from
Chris Bitterlin, Mooresville, NC 28117
Dear all,
Four years ago, I sent along my View from the Porch after Mitt Romney lost to President Obama. I had suggested that the Republican party needed to reinvent itself due to changing demographics in the electorate. I did not envision a candidate like Donald Trump emerging as the nominee for the party and I seriously doubt that anyone else did either. I had always felt that the great American experiment called Democracy had, at its core, the ability to straighten out the snake when it weaved itself too far left or right. As of last Tuesday evening as late as 10PM, I also thought that the snake had veered so far off course that it was hopelessly lost. Two hours later, the wisdom of those who designed the republic 240 years ago emerged as the people chose a new leader. To those who could never vote for Donald Trump because of the public comments about women and others, I get it and many others do as well. This election, however, was clearly about far more existential issues than distasteful and politically incorrect comments by one candidate or the other.
I have no data nor have I researched such regarding the underlying miracle behind the Trump election but I am offering my opinion. I think that it goes much deeper than low voter turnout for Hilary.
The miracle I believe lies in a fictional character whom I am going to name Clarence (our dog’s name and also a wonderful character in a movie we all know). Clarence is a guy who lives in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, or North Carolina. He gets up every day and transports our goods, fixes our broken pipes, erects buildings in the middle of winter, maintains our power plants, operates a small business that is struggling to survive, patches our roofs in freezing temperatures and, in addition to working 60 hours/week, really contributes to our tax base. In years past, Clarence may or may not have participated in the electoral process because he was either too busy scratching out a living on election day and he could not make it to the polls or was simply too tired to go at the end of the day. Clarence is the heart and soul of our great nation, Donald Trump knows that and Clarence decided to participate and vote for him on Election Day. Clarence was also motivated by his questions about and objection to the far left direction that Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid had taken the country and other things that he did not understand or agree with as follows:
1) Clarence is trying to figure out for what Black Lives Matter is asking. Juries similar to the OJ trial, reparations 160 years later, their more convenient version of the truth? Even Hilary on a hot microphone asked BLM the same question. And, he is trying to figure out what Al Sharpton wants other than chaos.
2) The coddling of students at Yale, Berkeley and other institutions of “higher learning” who demand “safe spaces” for protection. Clarence does not have a safe space when he is welding steel 20 floors up in January in Cleveland. And, Clarence’s good friend in the Navy Seals does not have a safe space in the mountains of Afghanistan either while he fights to defend the First Amendment right for the Yale student to speak his/her mind.
3) Why is he paying more and more for his healthcare while Obama brags about the number of new Obamacare enrollees who are covered but who pay nothing for premiums nor contribute to the tax base?
4) Why is he struggling to make ends meet, paying his taxes when 50% of the population contributes nothing and expects everything? He found the time just recently to learn about how that worked out for Greece and he thinks it can certainly happen here as well. As smart as he is, he cannot get his arms around $20 TRILLION (and rising) in national debt.
5) Why do we have sanctuary cities who create a safe harbor for those who break the laws that we have? Clarence doesn’t want to raid every house in America with illegal immigrants, just those who are felons and drug dealers.
6) Why was he a victim of hate when he chose to wear his Trump hat to the local school play in which his kids were performing? Contrary to what the left had screamed, Clarence does not hate Hilary supporters, black people, Hispanics, women or Muslims (unless you are an Islamic terrorist in which case he does hate you). He is too busy working, supporting his family and paying his taxes to be filled with hate.
7) He does not care what LeBron, Jay Z, Beyoncé, Katy Perry, Robert DeNiro, Barbara Streisand, Rosie, Tom Hanks and Colin Kaepernick think about anything. Just shut up and play, sing or act.
8) He has no idea how protesters and agitators have the time and the money to disrupt civil society. He presumes that they are very young, have only heard one point of view their entire lives and pay little or nothing in taxes. By the way, he does not hate them either unless they block his route to work to earn his paycheck.
9) Clarence dismisses those who push us to Socialism and despises those who support the KKK. This year, he found the time and energy to watch the major networks, MSNBC, CNN and Fox News. He wondered why there was a disparity in presentations of the candidates. And, for the life of him, he cannot figure out why so many are so diametrically opposed to listen to an opposing point of view. He remembers that Nancy Pelosi actually had proposed to shut down conservative talk radio. Clarence would oppose equally any desire by the elites (who try to tell him how to think and behave) to shut down Rachel Maddow or Sean Hannity.
10) He took the time to ponder the cumulative impact of the academic class running the country, many of whom had never signed a paycheck for another worker nor created a single job. Law professors, community organizers and career politicians simply do not understand the responsibility nor reward in doing that. They all talked about “helping” Clarence but the policies did the exact opposite.
11) He does not hold a grudge against billionaires unless they are hypocrites, supporting the Paris Agreement and crisscrossing the country in their G-5’s. He likes the billionaires who build things, start businesses and hire guys like Clarence to complete those projects, make those businesses successful and to whom all the credit is given.
12) And, FINALLY, he is hoping that some degree of fiscal sanity and deregulation will ignite the economic engine that will propel Clarence to have a better life for him and his family.
So, those of you and your friends who may be “terrified or scared” (I have heard both since the election) with a Trump presidency, I can only remind you of how the left branded Ronald Reagan as Ronnie “Ray Gun” back in 1976 when Gerald Ford was the Republican nominee. I think that he was the greatest American President in my lifetime and, like no other post WW II, one who turned around a country going nowhere at the time. Given his affinity for President Reagan, I suspect that a President Trump will be a lot more like him and less like Donald the campaigner. We all owe my friend and Trump voter Clarence and President-elect Trump an open mind and certainly patience as he navigates his way through the Washington swamp.
Many in this country judge the quality of our people by where they went to college, how many degrees they might have, how much money they have made, etc. That is all fine and many on this email have passed that “test”. Donald Trump, however, made it very clear and said many times that guys like Clarence, members of our military and our veterans among others who work hard, may have little or no higher education, have not accumulated great wealth and, most importantly have taken care of their families are “great” people. The billionaire with a degree from Penn understood that and Clarence believed him. That is why he won the election. Thanks for the indulgence and, God willing, I will chime in again in 2020. In the meantime, fingers crossed.
Love to all and God Bless America,
Chris
Originally posted 2016-11-19 11:31:03.