Trump is not the worst thing that could happen

Early voting is done with, and now it’s up to the people who got to the polls Nov. 8 to seal the deal, and put the seal of approval on the final choice for President of the United States.

There is no reason that I can see to harbor any illusion that Louisiana and its electoral votes will go squarely to the Republican candidate, Donald Trump. This is a given and if it doesn’t happen that way I will seriously be scanning the skies for flying pigs. I will be frank here, and make clear that I am not looking forward to the prospect of a Trump presidency. The rallies I have seen are too frightening, the suggestion that rudeness is acceptable not just on the part of a candidate but his supporters, and the children of those supporters, and that even hateful speech can somehow be excused is just too much for my conscience to bear.

Hillary Clinton, for several reasons, would not have been my candidate of choice, either. But I don’t find her frightening, just uninspired.

I shall make no secret that I am resentful of the fear tactics being used not just by the Trump camp, but a number of candidates for U.S. Senate here in Louisiana, A Clinton presidency, in my opinion, is not the worst that can happen. The presidency of George W. Bush, supported by many of those who now trash Clinton and blame her – in such a simplistic and non-fact based way, for the deaths that occurred in Benghazi – was responsible for the deaths of thousands of U.S. service members, and the wounding of many, many more. So how much blood is on whose hands? I certainly won’t take part in such a macabre exercise, not for either side. But the opportunism being displayed this election year cannot possibly be denied.

Now that I have gotten all this off my chest I suppose there are many who might not read further, who might see me as an anti-Trump media conspirator. One of the ilk that the Donald has vowed to silence if and when he does become the POTUS.

But that would be inaccurate and wrong as an assessment.

The fact is, as fearful as I may be on many levels that a Trump presidency might occur, I do not see it as an insurmountable obstacle to the continued health of the nation. Indeed, I think I could see it, depending on how it all shakes out, as a barometer of the republic’s health, instead.

Louisiana survived its own would-be dictator, Huey Long, and I think in the long run became stronger for the experience. Plus we got some cool roads and buildings.

The Founders created this nation with a combination of elasticity and rigidity unique in the world. The system of checks and balances, which of late has been a source of annoyance to be sure, does and can guarantee that things work just the way they are supposed to.

Even the election of a president who is a misogynist, a borderline racist, a xenophobe and – certainly in matters of foreign policy – way over his head, will never be enough to topple this great nation. And we could get a surprise. It might end up that those who support the boorish Trump may see something that some of us don’t, that somehow what the nation gets with a President Trump, no matter how much some of us will gasp, is a challenge for the other branches of government to do their jobs ever that much better. And it could be that Trump will not, once sworn in, be nearly as bad as many of us currently suggest. Likewise I would say that a Clinton presidency, too is not the worst that can happen

The worst that could happen is if, wither way, we as Americans fail to recognize the moral and ethical importance of accepting majority rule, with all of its potential failings. If we understand that, then government of, by and for the people shall never perish from the earth.