{"id":6260,"date":"2016-11-10T16:50:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-10T21:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/?p=6260"},"modified":"2016-11-11T11:50:47","modified_gmt":"2016-11-11T16:50:47","slug":"election-2016-time-to-look-in-the-mirror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/?p=6260","title":{"rendered":"Election 2016: Time To Look In The Mirror"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image
Image of the United States from space — (nasa.gov)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Robert Gillis
\nPublished in the Foxboro Reporter and Boston City Paper 11\/2016<\/i><\/p>\n

No matter who you voted for, no matter whether you\u2019re happy or not with the result, consider this \u2013 The United States is a country horrifically divided. This is not a new situation, but made abundantly clear in the 2016 election season.<\/p>\n

On Election Night, about 100 million people voted, about 50 million or so for each candidate.<\/p>\n

Meaning that one third of this nation\u2019s population \u2013 the people who voted \u2013 are split on EVERYTHING from economics to foreign policy to trade to treaties to {pick ANY issue}<\/p>\n

And by the way, if you didn\u2019t vote, be quiet. Until the system changes, work within the system we have. Don\u2019t like the system? Work to change it peacefully.<\/p>\n

Moving on\u2026 This isn\u2019t about Donald Trump or Hilary Clinton or a third party candidate. This is about decades of elections, each one showing more and more how divided this country is. This is not new. Election 2016 just seemed to show it very clearly in glorious HDTV: Elections have become hateful. Draining. Hurtful. Destructive. For 18 LONG months we endure vitriol and bile and mudslinging. And worse.<\/p>\n

The candidates HATE each other and go out of their way to DESTROY each other and whatever gets in their way.<\/p>\n

Their supporters HATE the supporters of the other candidates.<\/p>\n

The news media fans the flames 24\/7\/365.<\/p>\n

The level of CONSTANT negativity is beyond draining \u2013 it is DESTRUCTIVE. And we\u2019re all to blame for it. We feed into it. We can\u2019t get enough of it.<\/p>\n

United we stand?<\/p>\n

Not even close.<\/p>\n

Friends, it\u2019s healthy and necessary to have a two party (or more) system: Disagreement, discussion, debate, new ideas, it\u2019s all good \u2013 it\u2019s democracy, its advanced civics, we ALL should have a voice. But remember \u2014 we are a constitutional republic that elects leaders to speak and work for us. We need to pick candidates we at least LIKE.<\/p>\n

So how do we do better?<\/p>\n

President John F. Kennedy said, \u201cLet us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

We, the citizens, need to look in the mirror.<\/p>\n

Whether you\u2019re happy or sad about what happened last week, look at yourself. What can YOU do to make America better? How can YOU summon the future?<\/p>\n

Let’s combine the two candidate slogans and say this: America is greater and stronger when we work together.<\/p>\n

We resolve to behave better each election season (not just presidential elections but midterms, gubernatorial, local, etc.). We will work to find candidates we like, who we respect. We will stay informed as possible, try to sift fiction from fact, listen to other sides, vote in primaries, and stay involved. We will try to stay open-minded.<\/p>\n

We, this country, need to start working together better. Constructively, for the common good. Finding common ground. COMPROMISING. And disagreeing peacefully, without hate, working together some way \u2014 any way \u2013 to fix what\u2019s broken.<\/p>\n

And in the end, after each election, when the PEOPLE have spoken, when the citizens have sent their message \u2014 when the VOTERS have spoken, we peacefully transition to a new president.<\/p>\n

We support the new leaders but we must remember our sacred responsibility to stay vigilant. We speak up. We write. We call. We blog. Respectfully, non-violently, we keep an eye on the people in charge, because they speak for US. It\u2019s all about US.<\/p>\n

The solution lies within US.<\/p>\n

Stop with the anger. There has been quite enough of that. Like him or not, voted for him or not, let us give the new president a chance. It\u2019s up to him now to prove he is worthy of the power the voters have bestowed upon him. It\u2019s now HIS job to represent and work for us, and we will all be watching. I\u2019m willing to give him a chance, the benefit of the doubt. Will you?<\/p>\n

Remember: We are ALL Americans.<\/p>\n

Divided we FALL.<\/p>\n

Divided we END.<\/p>\n

I love this country. I think you do too.<\/p>\n

Our enemies wants us to fail. They want this 240 year experiment in democracy to fail.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let that happen.<\/p>\n

Look in the mirror. And decide, TODAY, the first day of the rest of our lives, what you can and will do to support, and watch over, this country and its leaders. Constructively. Peacefully.<\/p>\n

End of Speech. One of these days I\u2019ll go back to being funny.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Robert Gillis Published in the Foxboro Reporter and Boston City Paper 11\/2016 No matter who you voted for, no matter whether you\u2019re happy or not with the result, consider this \u2013 The United States is a country horrifically divided. This is not a new situation, but made abundantly clear in the 2016 election season. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6260\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertxgillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}