The 2016 election in the U.S.A. was contentious, controversial, and downright ugly, to say the least. My choice had already been made by the time the Presidential candidates were narrowed down to the two finalists: Hillary Clinton (a career politician) from the Democratic party and Donald Trump (a businessman and political outsider) from the Republican party. The three televised debates only cemented my support for the candidate of my choice. Immediately after the third debate, my focus was back on running our small business.
As unbearable as it became, I knew bitter arguments among candidates were part and parcel of what was intended by our Founding Fathers. It is far from perfect but democracy is indeed the best form of government which gives every adult an equal vote.
November 9, 2016, the day after the election, no doubt half the country was in disbelief, disappointed, and/or angry. And the other half exhaled a sigh of relief, knowing that this country still had a chance to correct itself from some serious damages having been created during the last eight years of the Obama Administration. By the time the election campaigns started over a year ago, America no longer looked anything like the country of my childhood dreams. It is little wonder that the silent majority – including legal, law-abiding immigrants, minorities, and women – came out of the woodwork to make sure that the next President of the United States is someone who understands that he works for us, the people, and not the other way around. It is also not surprising that both the House and the Senate in Washington D.C. now have a Republican majority as well.
Here is a possible clue as to how this total “upset” in the election result – which few pollsters had predicted – might have happened. Like most other independent voters, I am not easily swayed by what others have to say. Instead, I look for substance in terms of what each candidate has to offer. I ask, “Which policy proposals by each of the candidates (1) help resolve my current, major concerns in significant ways and (2) will be good for the future of this country?”
In this country, by constitutional rights, we, the people, are given the freedom to think for ourselves. Or, at least, that’s the idea. The reason I voted against the Democratic party was because of some indisputable wrongs that were being committed against those who spoke their minds during the incumbent Administration. Those wrongs can be summed up as serious “abuses of power,” starting with President Barack Obama on down and including the now-defeated presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton; as well as U.S. Attorneys General, Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch, both of whom headed the Department of Justice; and James Comey, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Every abusive action the Obama Administration had taken against law-abiding U.S. citizens involved one or more of these powerful organizations, which are supposed to help protect the American citizens. The Democratic leaders’ behaviors, devoid of moral compass, have been nothing short of astonishing.
Cognitive Dissonance
President Obama was elected for the Oval Office in 2008 with his own clear set of agenda that he believed was best for the country. He knew exactly what he wanted to change during his presidency. He energized the electorate with his slogan, “Change we can believe in,” and “Yes, we can.” People voted him in because they thought that he was going to do what they wanted him to get done. Most people assumed, wrongly in hindsight, that President Obama was going to fix the problem that had just happened on Wall Street in September 2008, and quickly help improve the economy. He did address the issue but the laws that were eventually implemented killed business opportunities for small businesses instead of encourage growth. The cognitive dissonance between President Obama and us, the people, could not have been greater.
To be fair, in President Obama’s mind, the change he meant was consistent all along. For instance, he and his liberal colleagues immediately got busy strengthening the school curriculum, including at universities, to inculcate young Americans to think a certain way in the mold of liberal agenda. Clearly, President Obama thought it was his right to influence what gets taught in public schools. I found his lack of moral compass – to dare use public schools and universities as his political platform – utterly offensive. When I saw a video clip of school children singing praises for President Obama, I knew things had gone terribly wrong with this country. I would expect such blind praises among school children – who are being brainwashed by their teachers – for leaders in countries that are led by dictators, such as North Korea, Iran, Iraq, or Communist China during Mao Zedong; but NOT in the United States of America.
Violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution
Here is another, even more blatant agenda of President Obama’s. Early on, his administration openly began harassing those in the media that did not cooperate with his liberal agenda. His unspoken message: “I, alone, know what is best for America. If you dare question what I do, I will make your life a living hell.” He clearly does not understand that we, the people, are not his subjects. In fact, he works for us, the people; NOT the other way around. Through his actions, he violated the First Amendment to the United States Constitution for eight long years. If this is not an impeachable abuse of power – by someone who taught constitutional law, no less – I don’t know what is.
Unfortunately, the majority in the media chose to play it safe and go along with President Obama, rather than fight it. Frankly, I doubt that the media had much choice. After all, like everyone else, they have families to feed. Consequently, the media became nothing more than President Obama’s mouthpiece, rendering themselves irrelevant. What he did was an utter insult to our intelligence. In my humble opinion, President Obama has single-handedly destroyed the freedom of the press in this country. It is ironic that WikiLeaks, a non-U.S. entity, ended up filling the vacuum created by the complete lack of serious investigative journalism in the U.S.A.
Another case in point: Targeting of Tea Party members by the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS is supposed to be a politically-neutral entity – like the public schools, the FBI, and the Department of Justice. President Obama’s actions to use the IRS to punish political opponents is another example of serious abuse of power. It caused a moral outrage among many of us, the silent majority.
The 2016 election result, in my view, is a repudiation of President Obama’s actions and policies that are counter to what most Americans hold dear. That is, we have a tacit expectation of our President to respect and uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, including the Bill of Rights. When this unspoken code of conduct was broken by President Obama, we, the people, took notice. We, the people, put up with it for eight long years. And we, the people, took action in 2016. The rest, as they say, is history.
