(UPDATE: So as I’m editing old posts while creating the new blog, some posts beg to be deleted but I can’t just bring myself to do it. The situation with our now President has changed, I have, from the pulpit, called him out for actions I found despicable, and yeah, it’s been a weird few months. As I’m looking for a position (and eventually will be an installed pastor), I wonder what I should leave up, and what should disappear.
This one stays because I had a friend who was calmed because of this post. It was a pastoral post, even if it’s a bit harsh and WAY political. It stays because it did good. – RB)
Okay, I wasn’t going to post about this because no matter what I say on the topic, I’m going to be accused of voting for someone. I’m not sure who, I’m not sure who is going to accuse me, I’m not sure the ramifications, but I’m tired of people saying 48% of the nation is bigots.
It’s not and you know it.
Let’s get something out of the way. Bigots were always going to vote for Trump, minority groups for Clinton. Right or wrong, stupid or not, that’s how it was always going to go. But that doesn’t include the majority of people.
So how could someone vote for Trump? Let’s take a walk down the “Lesser of Two Evils” track.
So, you have Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton. You see Trump as a millionaire bigot and Clinton as a millionaire criminal who is above the law. Neither has your interests on their radar. Both are going to get us into war. Nuance – and some fact – is missing from this, but nuance and facts are often missed when selecting a candidate.
So how do they address you? Clinton acts like you are unimportant, a benign growth on the body of the nation, while Trump at least treats you like the heart and backbone of the country.
So, you have to vote for one of them, one treats you like you are below them and the other like you mean something, who do you vote for?
It’s not bigotry, it’s not racism, it’s not because rural people hate women or Muslims or (insert whatever group they were supposed to have not cared about to vote for Trump); it’s because Trump spoke to rural America while Clinton spoke at rural America.
You want fly-over states to vote for you? You want Iowa to go back to voting for Democrats? Treat them like they aren’t a nuisance, and that their feelings and opinions actually matter to you, and then they’ll be way more open to having a conversation about progressiveness.
And about Iowa specifically. We are a joke until it comes to an election; then we’re 6 electoral votes that are up for grabs. Maybe we stop treating Iowa like a joke, remember that Iowa was 2nd for marriage equality, and try to actually reach out to farmers and factory workers and rural people instead of treating them like Risk pieces.
Most people will vote for their own needs over someone else’s needs, and unless you voted for the rural person’s needs over your own, you can’t judge them for it. It’s not bigotry, it’s not evil, it’s self-preservation as far as they can tell.
And it’s not stupidity, either.
That’s it. I’m posting it, consequences be damned. Maybe, just maybe, we can try to understand each other – and why we make the decisions we make – a bit more instead of saying 48% of the country voted to restrict your rights and make your life more difficult. Maybe they did what was best for them, much the same way you did what was best for you.
I’m not telling anyone what to feel. I’m not addressing the fear that many people have. I’m not pretending to know what is going on in the hearts and minds of the marginalized in our country. And I’m not saying this is how people should have voted – I’m very much in favor of voting to protect the marginalized and believe they are the groups we should consider first. What I am trying to do is explain why a rational, loving, unbigoted person might vote contrary to you.
And hopefully, we can act like a united people eventually.
Please, can we stop hurting each other and yelling at each other? It is doing no good.
– Robby
Red Shoe Pastor 