I’m not living lightly right now, at least not when it comes to politics and the state of our union. I’m scared.
And for the first time that I can remember, I will not watch the inauguration of the new president.
Others who have suggested the same thing or who have declined to attend the event are subject to ridicule and to charges of being undemocratic. I disagree. By not participating in Friday’s events, I’m displaying the highest action afforded by living in a democracy. I am being highly democratic by using the freedom granted to all citizens of the United States and given to us by the rebels of the eighteenth century who protested highly the actions of the British monarch.
I’m not going to flee, but I am going to use my First Amendment rights to show that I do not support a president who tweets insults for every little thing that is said about him in the media. His impulses scare me, and I will in no way condone what he tweets in the early morning hours from his golden palace in the air. Nor will I condone or support a man who lies and says whatever he needs to say to win.
The day he starts to show me he can be a diplomat and that he really does care about each of us rather than his name, his business, and his blown-up–yet fragile–ego, then I will be the first to support him. However, I will not apologize for my feelings and thoughts right at this moment. He hasn’t earned my trust, and he certainly didn’t receive my vote. And I have my doubts about the legitimacy of the election. I believe in my heart that our democracy was highly compromised by the FBI and by Russia. Whether the president-elect’s team had anything to do with either, I’ll leave to the professionals to decide.
I watched the “press conference” last week. A press conference with a cheering team paid by the president-elect doesn’t qualify as a press conference by me. And deciding which of the press is legitimate and which is not by the president-elect reminds me more and more of a dictatorship than a republic. Now the transition team is seriously considering removing the press corps from the White House. Control of the press is the first step. Or perhaps it’s silencing your enemies. The tweets are the first step to that end. Did I mention that I’m scared? I haven’t even mentioned foreign relations because I can’t. It makes me quiver to think about where we’re headed.
I do care about his tax returns. And I’m tired of him and his team, saying, “I speak for all Americans . . .” You do not speak for me. Not now. Not yet. Maybe never.
Saying you speak for me is denying the beauty of our country’s cultural, religious, racial, and sexual diversity. No one speaks solely for everyone in our amazing country. I love the United States, and today, my heart aches for it.
USA map multicultural group of young people integration diversity isolated
