Wow! No matter how you feel about the 2016 Presidential campaign, there’s no doubt that it was historically one of the most interesting. Donald Trump broke all of the “rules” that the pundits and consultants established. He exposed the coastal elites as condescending frauds. He delegitimized professional pollsters and the media that hyped their lies. He created a campaign like no other. Love him or hate him, he’s nothing if not interesting.
Where to next though? Conservatives are all about small, incremental or evolutionary changes. We’re about established etiquette, precedent, manners, honoring our forefathers, limiting change to very small steps. Donald Trump doesn’t fit this conservative model. No one knows where he’ll take us next. We’re in unchartered territory. Regardless, we know that the path that we were on was leading us to more trouble.
The liberal elites are completely blind to what just happened to them. They blame their defeat on racism, sexism, homophobia, misogyny, and islamophobia. This blindness dooms them to continued irrelevance. There are a few voices from the left who seem to get it, but the ad hominem attacks on Trump supporters from most is evidence that they have not learned their lesson.
I didn’t support Donald Trump. I still have a lot of doubts about his ability and about his plans. As a manufacturer, I am particularly concerned about his anti-trade rhetoric. I’m nervous about his ability to bring all parts of America together. He has much to prove about his commitment to minorities and to religious freedom. Yet, I understand why people voted for him. They are good people who did what they needed to do for their families. They are not the people that the left claims they are.
Walt Disney said, “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths”. Hillary Clinton’s path would have been a well-worn path to nowhere (or much worse), the path that we’ve been on for decades. Donald Trump’s path? Perhaps he’ll take us off the path altogether and through the poison ivy or the thorny blackberry or perhaps it will be an easy and pleasant path. We just don’t know. What we do know is that it will be through something new, something to be curious about.
We’ll keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things.
That’s what Americans do
There is a Chinese curse that says, “May you live in an interesting age”. Well, we certainly do live in an interesting age, but it is no curse! We live a wondrous time. We’ve been detoured off the path that we seemed to be stuck on for decades. Not only will we survive, but we’ll have an adventure and our hearts will be “all of a patter and a pitter”.
Whether Donald Trump was your candidate or not, now is not the time to sit and wait though. There is important work to do. Join us, as we help forge the path forward.
In Liberty,
Ken Mandile
Senior Fellow
Worcester Tea Party
