The people have spoken, let the healing begin
By Sherry Bunting, Market Moos, Farmshine, Nov. 9, 2016
In the words of Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) just moments before President-Elect Donald J. Trump gave his acceptance speech in the wee hours of Wednesday morning after Tuesday's stunning presidential election: "This is the most incredible political feat I have seen in my lifetime. Donald Trump heard a voice out in this country that no one else heard. He connected in ways with people no one else did. He turned politics on its head."
"This is unlike anything we have seen in our lifetime," said CNN news anchor Wolf Blitzer.
As election results came closer to finalizing Trump as the winner Tuesday night, along with evidence that the Republican majority would remain in the U.S. House and Senate — the global financial market futures tumbled lower in overnight trading.
But as the sun came up Wednesday morning, four hours after Trump's acceptance speech, the reality of a President-Elect Donald J. Trump began to set in, and traders began to realize the positive things such as job-stimulating corporate tax cuts, reversal of burdensome executive-branch regulations, and the repeal and replacement of Obamacare.
Just 13 hours after the election was called, Wednesday's Stock Market rose steadily, and the Dow Jones hit a brand new record high at +310 settling +256 on the day.
Business news analysts started the morning reminding the public that 2000 new regulations had been formulated and implemented during the Barrack Obama administration — most aggregious may be the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS).
In addition, analysts referred to Trump's pro-economic growth plan as "very solid," and with a Republican Congress, can be put into play. This, along with re-evaluation of trade agreements, has U.S.-based businesses thinking positively about a different future from the status-quo future they had braced for and which was built into the pre-Election levels in the financial markets.
As one business analyst put it: "Small businesses have been hungry for Trump-economics, and small businesses have been feeling the full weight of the 2000-plus new regulations and Obamacare."
That includes farmers and ranchers, who — together with the 'rust belt' blue collar workers — helped swing states and formerly Democratic states add to the Republican candidate's lead.
On ABC News, commentators noted "Rural America is more important than we thought." On other news stations, the term "flyover land" was used to describe locations of folks who voted in-force and why the pre-Election polls were so wrong.
Yes, Rural and Middle America voted, and the demographics showed those votes for Trump came from a more diverse demographic than one might imagine in terms of race, gender and other factors with which the media and political pundits attempt to pigeon-hole We the People, as voters.
Most telling were the exit polls, that 89% of Americans interviewed after voting said the need for change was their most important election issue and that led to decisions of more people than expected voting for Donald Trump.
Political analysts note that the election was very decisive as even in the urban areas, core constituencies consolidated around Rural America and the blue collar workers of our country.
Still, as they examine "what happened" to their wrong pre-Election predictions, the mainstream media characterize Rural and Middle America repeatedly using the condescending term of "uneducated." They will have to think some more to grasp what the people have said, as they have spoken at the ballot box in this historic election.
In fact, much of the weight for healing rests with the mainstream media and their persistent focus on our differences and demographic 'slots,' that tend to incite unrest.
Looking at the election results, take for example my home state of Pennsylvania. The Keystone State's diverse people rejected the status quo and voted for a change. It was the first time Pennsylvania has voted for a Republican candidate since the senior George H. W. Bush in 1988. In fact, the map of results depicts it.
In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, a humbled President-Elect Trump said: " It is time for us to come together as one united people… I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be President for all Americans. This is so important to me.
"For those who have chosen not to support me … I'm reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so that we can work together and unify our great country," said Trump.
"As I've said from the beginning, ours was not a campaign but rather an incredible and great movement, made up of millions of hard-working men and women who love their country and want a better, brighter future for themselves and for their family.
"It is a movement comprised of Americans from all races, religions, backgrounds, and beliefs, who want and expect our government to serve the people — and serve the people it will. Working together, we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding our nation and renewing the American dream…
"The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer," Trump said.
In her concession speech, Secretary Hillary Clinton encouraged her supporters to "keep and open mind" and "give him a chance to lead."
President Obama encouraged the nation to come together because "we are all on the same team as Americans." He said his administration would follow the professional example set by his predecessor George W. Bush in the "peaceful transition of power that is the hallmark of our democracy and which we will show the world in a few months."
Among the first orders of business for the Trump administration appear to be the repeal and replacement of Obamacare and to deal with executive orders such as WOTUS, along with work on current and future trade agreements and incentives to keep jobs in the U.S.
But even more important will be the necessary work to heal this land, that the exchange of ideas is healthy and as the pendulum swings between them, we realize what drove this election was the desire to look inward and resist to some degree the push for globalization and the global structure in which Americans lose autonomy, identity, independence.
A few personal thoughts:
My grandparents, Ace and Dot Jacobs were married nearly 70 years until in death they did part. My grandfather, a WWII veteran, was a devout Republican, my grandmother, a seamstress, was a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat.
Papap knew better than to discuss politics, and yet he did not make his votes or views a secret.
Gramma would have been upset by this election outcome because she longed to see the first woman president and she detested Donald Trump. She was here to vote for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary. And she knew where I stood on the Republican side, ultimately supporting Donald Trump. We talked of it a few times, rationally, before she died in July.
If two people — who would view yesterday's outcome so differently — can be happily and lovingly married nearly 70 years or be loving grandmother and granddaughter for over 50 years, there is hope that we as Americans can come together and solve our problems despite our differing political views.
It is crucial that we stop slapping labels on each other's points of view before hearing where it truly comes from and what is being said. And in articulating views and courses of actions, we can take greater care to get to the issue and avoid the hyperbole that fuels this divisive labeling.
In short, this election was not about all of the negative labels the press list for us… It represented how the little folk of all races, religions and creeds did exercise their vote to make substantive change in the course of this country and in repudiating the elitism that has persisted for so long.
It would help if the media and the pollsters stop criticizing folks without college educations. Granted, I never did achieve my college degree, but I got two-thirds of the way there, and I — like many who voted for Trump with or without a college degree — work hard every day with integrity and compassion and should not be characterized as uneducated and angry as main traits.
I am hopeful at Trump's words that he will reach out to those who supported Hillary Clinton for their guidance on the healing course of the future. I am hopeful that our nation's leaders will never again take the little folk who work quietly in the background for granted.
We all need each other.
Like the differences in our American landscape from sea to sea, and everything in between, each of us have differing backgrounds, perspectives, experiences, hopes, dreams, aspirations, and other context for our lives.
We may be surprised by the positives that can come after what has been such a negative election process this year. Can this catharsis be the point from which to move forward?
Together, we make America great. Together, we make America good. Together, we make America home.
Posted in agriculture, Uncategorized | Tagged Democrat, divided, Donald Trump, Election 2016, Mainstream Media, Middle America, presidential election, Republican, Rural America, Rust Belt, unified, WOTUS | Leave a reply