Can't We Stop Hating Each Other Over Politics?

Today’s the day. Americans will be determining the direction this country will be going for the next four years. We may not know the results today. But we will know them soon. Even if there are challenges made in court by the loser, they will at some point be resolved.

Based on most polls it looks pretty much like we are about to make a left turn. How far left remains to be seen. But it will surely be to the left of where we are now.

 Leaning politically conservative as I do, I am not happy about that. But I will be happy restoring the dignity lost from the Presidency over the last 4 years.

As I have noted many times, the country is as divided as ever. To the point that there may be massive protests by those of us on the losing side. No matter which candidate wins. I hope that doesn’t happen. But I have no control over whether it will or not. 

I do, however, have another concern. Which is the way some of even my good friends on the left see those among us that support or voted for the President. It isn’t just about the venom that I constantly hear about the President. It is how they view half of the country. Or about 150 million Americans. 

To refer to them as country bumpkins - ignorant about who they are really voting for is insulting. But more insulting is comparing Trump voters to voters in 1933 Germany who voted for Hitler. They ignored his open antisemitism because they liked his policies. That one half of this country looks at the other half this way is shocking. 

Those voting for Biden are college educated. Thus seeing themslves as smarter, better educated and  better informed then Trump voters who are not college educated. That condescension smacks of an elitism that ignores other legitimate reasons that Trump voters might have for voting for him. Like religious values. Which I suppose many on the left see as ignorant because those values are archaic and irrelevant. 

I’m sorry. I am not buying that half the country is ignorant and stupid. A college education is not the only way to be educated or well informed.  There are a lot of brilliant minds in the Charedi world that never spent a single day of college. 80% of them have voted - or will be voting for Trump. To say they are ignorant for doing so - or worse to compare them to the citizens of 1933 Germany who voted for Hitler is insulting in the extreme. Trump is not Hitler. And 2020 Americans are not 1933 Germans. Any comparisons like that are odious in the extreme!

I also do not concede the moral high ground to Biden voters. There are moral people on both sides of the political divide. It is my hope that once this election is over, we can restore not only the dignity that has been missing from Presidency over these four past years, but also restore respect for each other despite our polar opposite political views. That is one of the things that makes America so great. At least it used to be.