I was asked by a friend, “were you surprised about the election?”

On June 2015 a buffoon, a wannabe dictator, took the national stage. He had already toyed with the idea of entering a presidential race many years before despite his successive business failures. 

Some people laughed across party lines when Mr. Trump announced his candidacy, seriously? Others for some reason seem to welcome his rough and discriminatory remarks. He was apparently rich and he had a history as a con artist who didn’t pay his bills and he discriminated against the poor and the vulnerable. And, he broke laws with impunity.

Donald Wollett, a professor of constitutional law and a labor arbitrator, had no illusions about what was happening in the country or why a wannabe held so much power.

We had worked on labor arbitrations, many hundreds of them. Fair decisions had to be made. Toward that end, the maxim of enlightened self interest consistently guided his decisions, which reached into the thousands.

Don educated the parties in understandable terms about the meaning of law in relation to a particular decision. His approach garnered trust on both sides. He never had a case remanded to the courts.

However, given what was happening in the world the ideal of fairness and justice had limits and in a number of cases remedies were beyond his purview. . An increasing number of the labor cases brought before him revealed outside influences that by law could not be factored into his decisions. These included global unrest, technological changes, 9/11, inadequate legal remedies, and America’s internal divisions. In addition, as a retired constitutional lawyer and teacher he experienced dismay at the behavior of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Then a figurehead emerged as a manifestation of unrest. He spewed vitriol on one hand and offered a bible titled “God Bless America” available for $59.99 on the other hand. Never mind that he held it upside down. 

He was clown-like but we didn’t laugh. The country was changing and not for the better.

Meantime, in my rural community Peter, my neighbor, worked on my shed. We conversed. We shook our heads over the cost of food and commiserated about the advent of cluster flies in our rural homes and the possibility of mice coming inside as winter approaches. I asked him to help me with my window which wasn’t working. He asked me if I would mind dog sitting while he and his wife went on vacation. 

Then Peter turned to me and asked “are you voting for Trump?” I was shocked at the violation of the unspoken which helped our co-existence and our friendship. Didn’t he know me? “No”, I answered. “No, I’m voting for Kamala.” He was shocked. “Oh no, no!” 

It was a reciprocal relationship.  We helped each other, which at the least made life easier and at the most enabled our survival. But there we were… friends and neighbors each in our own bubble. I thought about my feelings on the deaths and displacements in Gaza. I asked him, “Would it help if I said that I am not happy with either choice.” He didn’t answer. There was unease and the conversation was over. 

My neighbor is a good person. And there are many good people, who believed in God and home and the protection thereof and who are always ready to help a neighbor without regard for political affiliations.

They have values that I treasure.

And yet, while I understand some of the why of it, the bottom line is that these same people had abdicated any connection or notions of the relationship between bullhorn words and actions that will determine their children’s future and define their broader relationships. 

Fueled by money from powerful interests and by corrupted political and legal systems that demand reform, including the US Supreme Court, these genuinely good people were willing to tolerate and even welcome belittling insults, denigrations, and hatred of the other.

Ralph Nader, expert on corporate influence, said during an interview on Democracy Now that the Democratic Party, which is now a corporate party, was lost. He was half right. The other party in America, the Republican Party, also a corporate party, is also lost. But, more importantly, so are good people severed from their fundamental values. 

Informed by the lives of people in the workplace my jurist and friend, gone now, might have discussed the reality that the newly elected figurehead is not at all an aberration. He is an outcome. However, this figurehead, who is my age, won’t last. The problem is that without radical change from the ground up, sans corporate party interests, another, possibly already entrenched scheming figurehead, will take his place.

Meantime, the tragedy is not the death of the parties. The tragedy is that people and their relationships built by daily interactions have been deliberately divided by powerful interests. They are less likely to discover their commonalities as they sit around the kitchen table.

Following “the win” themes have emerged in both the mainstream and progressive media. What just happened? What’s next? And, the declaration, we’re going to fight back. With this there is talk surrounding which battles will be fought. These battles, whether laws to address climate change and its effects on the displacement of people and loss of nature or the high likelihood of the spread of diseases, demand America’s active participation with the rest of the world.

However, one recognized trait identified with a domestic abuser is to cut off all ties to control the abused. That applies to nations as well. In that regard, the intentions behind the slogan “Make America Great Again” are clear. Mr. Trump’s meaning of the slogan has manifested in his disparagement of people who are different and with his promise to withdraw from critical international organizations addressing global concerns.

The problem is that the advent of COVID, the reality of climate change, the state of supply chains, endless wars, and the growing threat of right wing governments erode the lives of people and demonstrate the reality that this country’s democracy cannot survive the isolationist policies promised by Mr. Trump who is well on his way to becoming a dictator..

Still, following the election, it was clear that, despite votes for Mr. Trump, bills were passed in different states representing a bilateral interest in supporting human rights issues such as abortion rights as one example. Furthermore, individuals, states, and grass roots organizations, have used the media to share a desire to realize not an empire, but an America representing a democracy of peace and a leadership. They have stated a commitment to seek ways to join the rest of the world with those values without Trump in order to further critical causes and maintain existing successes toward social and environmental good. They promise to fight the necessary battles to achieve just that. 

There is another battle front to consider. Changing hearts and minds isn't easy. Toward that end, this young and hungry nation has a history that must be recalled in order to move forward. It is a history that had experienced a civil war where brother had fought against brother and son against father.

Today, this divisive nation has returned to that war because of unfinished business which demands a reckoning on issues such as race and class and ultimately a capitalistic system that breeds inhumane wealth disparities.

And so the battles begin.

Meanwhile, while my neighbor and I probably won’t be conversing at the kitchen table any time soon, I’ve asked him to help me fix my closet door. sg crowell