Election Anxiety

Ron Wood
Ron Wood

The night of the election, I watched Mr. Trump give his victory speech at 2 a.m. I thought he was very gracious in what he said about Mrs. Clinton. Late the next morning, I saw Hillary give her concession speech. I thought it was the best delivery of a speech she'd ever given. As a teacher in a school that Wednesday, I made sure students got to see both speeches. We saw democracy in action.

But not everybody is happy. I have neighbors who think their fellow Americans lost their minds because Donald Trump was elected President. To them, it was like aliens had landed from outer space. In some places, students too young to vote were marching in the streets. The TV news happily replayed those scenes of localized chaos for three days in a row.

But I haven't seen any right-wing conservatives or tea-party members out demonstrating. They didn't march on Washington when President Obama won two presidential elections in a row. Republicans gave the Democrats their chance to govern. Is it only left-leaning liberals who march in protest?

Having said that, I'd like to call a time-out. Let's have a national holiday. We could call it, "The Election is Over Day," and enjoy a period of rest, even a news blackout. How about two weeks of cooling down? We can announce, "Everyone go back to work, take care of your own business and pretend that the world will go on!" Let the children go to bed without being afraid. The world isn't coming to an end, at least not yet.

Permit our present leaders to finish their course. Allow our elected leaders time to get ready for their turn at the wheel. In America, we have a long history of a peaceful transition of power, and for that rarity among the nations, I'm exceedingly thankful.

President Obama and President-elect Trump met last week at the White House for a longer-than-expected visit, "a productive meeting," they both said. President Obama commented at a news conference the next day that that he thought Mr. Trump was a pragmatist, not an ideologue. That was an interesting thing for him to say.

I appreciated his observation. He was right and I do agree with him. I don't ever want any ideologue to be our President. I want someone who is a realist, who will govern for the benefit of all, who will be answerable. An ideologue sees life through the lens of their own particular worldview and ignores all contrary arguments or beliefs. An ideologue could be a member of the Flat Earth Society. You can never convince them the world is round. A pragmatist may hold personal ideals or convictions but they see things as they really are, not as they wish they were. They realize they can't instantly impose their worldview on others.

Mr. Trump campaigned from some very strong positions, like a negotiator taking the strongest possible position. But the evidence suggests (I hope) that he will govern more wisely than people expect. In the business world, Trump has a record of hiring the best and the brightest, including many women managers so that the work gets done well. A wise top executive has to be secure in their own identity so they can employ people who can do things better than themselves.

Every four years in America we peacefully overthrow our government. If you don't like it, start working now. Your chance at change comes up again in 2020!

-- Ron Wood is a writer and minister. Contact him at [email protected] or visit www.touchedbygrace.org. The opinions expressed are those of the author.

Editorial on 11/23/2016