A month ago I was getting a constant barrage of “Why Can’t We All Just Get Along” memes and cartoons from the few friends who I have left who voted for and still support Donald Trump. Now, a week before the Inauguration, not so much.
As a matter of fact I haven’t seen one since 2016. This was the last one I remember:
Wow! The Eagle even looks pissed off at me because I’m not ready to board the Trump Wagon, heal and work together to Make America Great Again. And he’s got that wavy American flag going on behind to add to his majesty and outrage.
Well, the election is over. Donald J. Trump did win that election in the electoral college. The electoral college met and agreed on his election and the President of the Senate read the results to both houses of Congress on January 6. The impossible became the possible on November 6, 2016.
I remember when Richard Nixon won in 1968. Wow! That really stung. I mean with the Vietnam War still being waged and I had a low draft number. Nixon said he had a ‘secret plan’ to win the war. There was no secret plan. He just wanted to be President and lied. I never thought Nixon would win. I had been for Robert Kennedy until he was killed in the summer of 1968. Then it was HHH: Hubert H. Humphrey. But Nixon beat Humphrey and he became my President on Monday, January 20, 1969.
I was confident that America would still be America under Nixon. And I hoped that he would use that ‘secret plan’ and win the war before I got drafted. He didn’t and I got called up. But I didn’t blame Nixon. He just wanted to be President and had lied. I still thought he was basically a good person, a good husband, a good parent and he wanted the best for all Americans. And he even went to church. So, I didn’t have to like him, but I supported him as my President. I was even proud of him, when he opened up Red China.
Well, we all know how Nixon turned out. So, if I could accept “Tricky Dicky” as my President, then why in the world can’t I just accept Donald J. Trump as my President. Hell, I was much more an idealist in 1968! I still believed in Camelot and the lure of The Kennedy Family. Now, almost fifty years later and a lot of government corruption and way more knowledge than I had in 1968 why can’t I just accept Donald J. Trump?
I’ll be totally honest with you, I wasn’t 100% for Hillary Clinton. Not like I was for Robert Kennedy. I liked the “IDEA” of the first woman president, breaking the glass ceiling, and continuing the legacy of Barack Obama. But I would have been happy with Bernie or Joe Biden or several others. So, it wasn’t losing the election. I’m not a sore loser. I’m really not. I’ve lost a lot in my life: jobs, friends, books, money, lots of money, more jobs and more, even better, friends and I’m not sore at losing any of it. Most of it was my fault.
But I am 100% sure of one thing in 2017. Donald J. Trump may be the President of the United States, but he will never be MY president.
It is not a political stand that I take it is a moral stand.
“Donald J. Trump will never be MY President.” ~Rick Hill
I was brought up in the Methodist church. My mother was the church organist and I had to go to church and Sunday school every single Sunday. My parents were great parents and they taught me along with my time in church that there are things much more important in life than life itself. One of those things is standing up for what is morally correct. I NEVER lost that lesson in my life. It has cost me two different jobs. It has cost me some friends. It has cost me some money. But I have always believed it is better as a human being to stand up for what is right rather than just go along with the crowd or the majority.
I remember watching my mother stand up to a woman in the grocery store who was slapping her child. I was shocked that my mother would yell at someone and call for help. I was scared but I was proud of her actions. I remember my dad standing up to a customer at our Oldsmobile dealership who had called our oldest worker a ‘nigger.’ He lost a sale to defend a friend who just happened to be black. I was proud of my dad. I learned from their actions much more than just what they said. They lived a Christian life; they didn’t just go to church. They lived their morals…despite the consequences.
And so, I come to an area of my own life that I dearly love, my country, America, the beautiful; America, the land of the free; America, the home of the brave; America, the land of opportunity for anyone of any race or religion; America, the great experiment in Democracy for all people; America, God shed his grace on thee and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea; America: MY HOME. MY…HOME…MINE!
I tear up just thinking of my love for this country. And it is because of that love that I must RESIST.
- I must RESIST intolerance
- I must RESIST misogyny and the denigration of any woman
- I must RESIST the destruction of public education
- I must RESIST replacing public education with Private for profit Christian Schools.
- I must RESIST discrimination against Muslim-Americans
- I must RESIST discrimination against my LGBT friends and family
- I must RESIST the mocking of people with disabilities or who are different than I
- I must RESIST the destruction of our environment and my grandson’s future by our own government
- I must RESIST the attempt of one political party to keep anyone from voting
- I must RESIST the attempt to alienate one part of our country from another by any political party or politician regardless of his or her rank or position
- I must RESIST the temptation to be complacent and accept evil when I can change it through my action and through advocating others to take action
- I must RESIST the inclination to become angry, to become cynical, to become negative about the hope that together we can change this country and its destructive direction
So, you see, it has NOTHING to do with politics. It is my moral duty, to my country, to resist that which is just wrong.
What I do not understand are the millions of moral Americans who faithfully go to the church of their choice and worship the God of their choice, but who have acquiesced to accepting Donald Trump and intolerence, misogyny, discrimination, mocking of people who are different and the hate of those who are just not the same race, religion or ethnicity. You call yourself religious; yet you have accepted this kind of an America? It makes no sense to me.
And that is my moral View from The Hill.
View From The Hill 