Thursday, November 10, 2016

Hope-N-Changing Trump



Yesterday was rather euphoric for conservatives. I have to admit I didn’t even know that the Democrats had organized protest across the country, marching and burning things. Like most old white guys, I was celebrating Trump’s victory by pouring myself into my work and getting things done. Not that I’m surprised much by the deplorable marchers and burners. After all, temper tantrums are kind of what they do.

The one thing I did do yesterday was read and listen to a lot of comment about what Trump is going to do once he is sworn in. It occurred to me while I was listening the laundry list of things people wanted to see him do that this was reminiscent of the ‘hope-n-change’ Obama supporters were doing right after he got elected. I recall they were counting on him to make their car payments, get slave reparations, and turn back to tide of climate change. Note that I said 2008, because by 2012, everybody knew that he was just going through the motions and none of that stuff was going to happen.

It was interesting to hear what my fellow conservatives hoped for in a new Trump administration. Obviously the big things where there, repealing Obamacare and undoing all of those dreadful administrative actions like immigration amnesty. But it was striking how humble their wish list was. Mostly it was more of less, and less of more.

The gist of what I heard was the hope that the government will go back to having little or no impact on our daily lives. Ultimately that really is the promise of a conservative government. It really should endeavor to have as little impact on the everyday citizen as possible. Perhaps that is the most important thing that I see in my personal mirror when I look on a new Trump administration.
But perhaps there is a great deal of circumspection here. Conservatives have learned to not dream too big in the last eight years. There have been too many disappointments from our leadership. Recall how we felt we had a chance when we took back the house and the Senate, and yet not one bill repealing Obamacare ever landed on Obama’s desk for him to not sign? So there are still a too many worms in our congressional woodwork for us to even hope that great things will be done or great walls will be built (or rebuilt). 

No, I think we will be good when all the tiny cuts are healed. There are many examples of tiny things that we see on a daily basis that are a result of Obama policies that we would be happy for Trump to ‘fix’: like the TSA no longer groping grandma but applying sensible screening techniques; or pulling down all those stupid signs that are marking ‘shovel ready jobs’; or letting our kids have hamburgers in their school lunches again. Yeah – those kind of things.

And there I go, holding up my mirror while looking at the new Trump administration. And yet Trump has not done a single thing since getting elected beyond making a victory speech. None of this optimism is earned. And yet, like most conservatives, I still feel a little giddy. Perhaps it’s not so much about what he will do, as to what the Hildabeast won’t do. I think it's OK to feel good about that!

There really is a new sun rising over America, so have a great day!

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