I remember the day I first became a racist. It was 2008 and I had just voted for John McCain and Sarah Palin. I was not to thrilled with McCain's voting history but Sarah had me captivated. A woman who had challenged the Republican party and advanced up the ranks in a challenging state, politically and physically. She was confidant, proud of her views, and unashamedly conservative. I was voting on the issues. I was voting for the first woman VP. Most of all, I was an informed voter. I always have been. I review the issues at hand and make a determination on what I believe is the best for my country. Then I vote according to my beliefs.
I had never voted on race. Once could argue I had never been given the chance to vote on race but let me be even more specific; I had never voted for or against anyone with race as an issue. I reviewed then Senator Obama's voting history and found it to be appallingly left of center. I could not in, good conscience, vote for the man because of his views and beliefs. His skin never factored into that decision.
The morning after the election I woke up a racist. It was a very depressing time. My opinions had been labeled, packaged, stamped, and given a one way ticket to bigot town. It didn't matter what I thought about the economy or what I thought about the decision to defend life, gun rights, or property rights. I had voted against the first black President of the United States. I was a bigot.
I lost my voice in 2008. My left friends changed the subject at every meeting, claiming to not want to talk politics all of a sudden. Their Facebook accounts were filled with posts about change that they could believe in, but they didn't have tolerance for any dissenting opinions. I always delighted in the give and take of intelligent debate. That joy was taken away from me in 2008. As a nation we didn't discuss any of the topics anymore. I, and many others, were somehow, instantly, not qualified to speak on those topics, having not voted "correctly."
In 2012 I voted for Mitt Romney. No one ever knew. I went to the polls, went home, made dinner and stayed silent. My voice by that time had shriveled and died.
This year the bubble of anger and bitterness burst. Those of us who suffered 8 years of constantly being interrupted at the dinner tables, of being constantly being told where the appropriate time and place for our divisive and ugly ideas was (hint: not anywhere in public or online), of being marginalized, of being told what we think and what we believe by large and ugly labels such as bigot, homophobe, uneducated white racists, and radical conservative right, of being grouped in categories that were clearly labeled by the media and the intellectual right as areas of the nation to "fix", "rehab", or "reeducate", we showed up at the polls united for the first time to regain our voice.
A small number of us voted for Johnston, McMullin, and Castle. Most of us voted for Trump. We didn't care anymore how we, as a group, were viewed. You, the left, had already labeled and beat us into obscurity. We were, in your minds, idiot racists who did not deserve a voice until we had seen the light and come into the right way of thinking.
We stopped caring what you thought of us because after 8 years of abuse it became clear that you were never going to listen to our ideas or respect us for our opinions ever again. The gloves came on and we started swinging. Backed into a corner, we decided that we would go out fighting.
Never underestimate those who fight because they have no options left. They often come out on top.
Trump used his words to bloody you up, and after trying to discuss, work together, rationalize, cross the aisle and reason with you we couldn't be more pleased. To be honest, he pulled his punches. You don't fight your family to the death. You are bloodied and bruised and in the corner sitting there stunned at what just happened. GOOD.
It was the only way you were going to listen to us again. Now that the ugly business is done, and when you have had a moment to recover, come back to those you dismissed for 8 years. Come to the table. Listen to them. Leave your prejudices behind. Lets learn to once again work together, as Americans.
And never silence us again.
