On November 4th, 2008, Barrack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States. Over the next eight years of his two terms as president, chants were chanted, shirts were printed, signs were painted, and bumper stickers were created, all of them bearing the same message: Not My President. Liberals were disgusted at the blatant disrespect for President Obama, the office of the presidency, and our electoral system. Thus, until the election of Obama's successor, the two sides of the political spectrum shouted each other down over the legitimacy and breadth of representation of Obama's presidency. On November 8th, 2016, Donald Trump was elected the 45th president of the United States. Almost immediately, protesters filled streets across the nation. They chanted and held up signs, both forms of outcry possessing the same familiar message: Not My President. Similar to the response of liberals eight years prior, conservatives hurled accusations of disrespect and shouted insults at the protesters, labeling them cry babies. It is common for political commentators to point out just how different liberals and conservatives are--not only in policy preference, but also in how they conduct themselves. Well, it would seem that in this instance, liberals and conservatives are exactly the same; they are the same in the fact that they are both wrong in their denouncement of the president.
I understand the chant of "Not My President". Some people see it just as a simple rejection of the person that has been elected because of policy differences, which is understandable. However, the chant is not meant to convey rejection, but it is instead meant to convey concern that the current president does not represent those chanting or their interests. So, they feel that that specific president is not theirs, but instead belongs to the section of the American population that they see as their enemy. This is the way of both liberals and conservatives. However, that is not how a republic works. When a representative--which is what the president is, ultimately--is elected, they are elected to represent their entire constituency. It does not matter if you voted for them or not, if you agree with them or not, if you flat out hate them or absolutely adore them. When an election is over, the voice of the people is heard. However, the section of the voice that is heard the loudest, the majority, is what is listened to, and their will is enacted. Our system is not meant to cater to the entirety of the nation, as that would be impossible to accomplish; there will always be massive differences in public opinion. It is meant to harness the opinion of the majority, and use that as a guiding force to establish a government that will please the largest margin of citizens possible. So, if you find that your views are not parallel with the views of the current president, it is not due to a fault in the system or the president; it is due to the fact that your political beliefs are not concurrent with the beliefs and desires of the majority of the country. Thus, it is required of you that you allow for the will of the country to play out for the next four to eight years. It is entirely possible that after that stretch of time, your beliefs will once again line up with what are seen as important issues by the majority of your fellow Americans. This is how our American republic is supposed to function, and this is how the president of all the American people is chosen.
Some people claim that since Donald Trump did not win the popular vote then he is not a legitimate president, so, in turn, he is not their president. While it is my guess that most people are aware of this by now--seeing as this has been the topic of much discussion recently--it is important to reiterate the fact that the popular vote is not the deciding factor here, the Electoral College is. Over the years, many people on both sides of the aisle have accosted the electoral college, including Donald Trump himself. The Electoral College is seen as undemocratic by many of its detractors. In a sense, I suppose they are right, considering the fact that the United States is not a democracy. As I stated previously, the United States is a republic. The Founding Fathers never intended for the country or its methods of election to be democratic in nature. This is due to the Founding Fathers belief that the common people would not always know what was really in their best interest, thus, a representative body was necessary to correct the course of the nation if the course was indeed one of disaster. A secondary purpose for the establishment of the Electoral College--a reason that's not often brought up--is the protection of the small states against the will of the big states. The Founding Fathers' experience of early American governance revealed that voters were susceptible to looking out for the interests of their state, instead of the interests of the nation as a whole. So, if our government was run in the fashion of a direct democracy, the populations of larger states would always overpower the population of smaller states. So, when I was previously discussing the will of the majority being what's listened to, I was referring to the collective majorities of each state. While there was a legitimate argument that Donald Trump could still have been rendered the loser of the election after November 8th, considering the Electoral College didn't vote until December 19th, that vote has also already been cast, and Donald Trump was once again victorious. He has managed to gain enough legitimate support in every aspect of our system of election, leaving no solid argument for his illegitimacy as your, mine, and our president.
I know that liberals see Donald Trump as a decisive figure, and that is putting it as lightly as possible. However, there is no argument to be made as to why he is not your president, other than a general feeling that he does not represent your personal values. Considering that, at the time of this article's publication, there is less than a week until the inauguration, there is no more roadblocks in the way of Donald Trump being sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. While Donald Trump may seem particularly loathsome at this moment, it would serve you well to remember that every president that has ever been elected was greatly disliked by millions of Americans. Nevertheless, those presidents were reinforced by the will of the electoral majority, which gave them the power and position to represent every American, not just those who voted for him or liked him. Although liberals may not like the president-elect, I assure you that it is not your duty to like the president. We have the liberty as Americans to openly critique and abhor our president. Although your verbal and active opposition to America's highest elected official may draw you the ire of their supporters, as it most definitely will in today's political climate, it is your right to stick to your beliefs that what the president is doing is not right for the country. While I encourage you to do that, I discourage you from rejecting him as your president, as it only serves to hurt your argument and make you appear bitter. You may not like the realities that I've laid out, concerning how our system functions and how our leaders are elected, but this is a system that has rewarded the American people with world class presidents. Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Barrack Obama, and the list goes on. The same system that has given us a president you despise, has always given us our greatest national heroes. So, keep the faith in how America chooses its leaders, but be ready to gracefully take the loss when it is inevitably doled out.
As a final way of reinforcing my point, I will leave you with a personal story. While I usually prefer to keep my political leanings to myself, I believe my experience can provide some perspective to my argument. The night of the election, I could not pry myself away from the incoming results. As the night when on, I was stunned to see that every poll I had studied was increasingly looking to be absolutely wrong. Trump was leading, and the remaining states would almost certainly go to him. Knowing I had class the next morning, I informed my girlfriend that I had to break way from the news and go to bed. As her and I laid down to go to bed, I couldn't believe what I might wake up to in the morning. I tossed and turned for what seemed like forever as I grew more and more flustered. Every fiber of my being wanted to know what was going to happened, who was going to win. I woke up very early in the morning. My eyes shot open, and my body jerked in a cold sweat. I laid there, motionless, in the dark for a good long while. I wanted to know what happened, but I was afraid to look. I remember it so very clearly, almost as if I tried hard enough I might be transported back to that exact place and time. I pulled my phone from its charger, opened my internet browser, and typed in a single world--election. The page quickly loaded, and I was met with an unforgettable sight: TRUMP ELECTED. My heart sank, and I fell back into bed. At first, I thought I might have been having a terrible dream, but no, it was as real as real could be. That day, like many of my fellow college students, I traversed campus in a bit of a daze. A weight hung over everything. It's unlike anything I've ever felt before, or might ever feel again. I discussed it with a counselor of mine. He related it to a similar feeling he experienced the day after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. He said it was a feeling of mass despair, confusion, shock, and great uncertainty. I agreed. The whole day, I was forced to undergo a gauntlet of emotions. However, every time the realization of my reality set in, a single though went through my mind: I can't believe Trump is my president. I never once thought to lash out with any denials of his election. I remained firm in my belief that our system works, while still feeling a massive defeat.
