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Our Fellow Americans

What is your duty as an American?

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Our Fellow Americans

By the time you read this, Donald Trump will be President of the United States. Regardless of how you feel about it, you know there will be a lot of changes in this country. Most people are terrified about this; some are happy. Some genuinely do not care. If you are someone who is okay with the outcome of the election; good for you. Congratulations. Please do us a favor by being understanding of those who are not okay.

Our fears are valid. We all watched (mostly in horror) and listened carefully throughout Trump's campaign. Most things he said and did made many people angry, confused, or just made them laugh due to absurdity. I felt all of this, along with great sadness. Trump's election will cause great change, and I don't think it will ever be for the better. I do not personally believe he is fit to be president.

If you voted for Mr. Trump, I do not hate you. I have many family members who happily voted for him, excited to "Make America great again". Trump promised a lot of things during his campaign, and I don't blame anyone who fell into the vision of a perfect country, lead by Donald. While I never quite believed him, I don't think most people who did are worthy of hate.

I've seen a lot of Trump supporters saying they proudly voted for him because he cares about us. Yes, Trump does care! Trump cares about multi-million dollar companies, about big-shot lawyers, and about anyone willing to give him large amounts of money. But here's the thing: Trump does not care about you.

If you are lower or middle-class, Trump does not care about you. If you are gay, pan, bi, trans, asexual, lesbian, etc, Trump does not care about you. If you are a woman,Trump does not care about you. If you are black, Hispanic, Asian, Indian, or anything other than white, Trump does not care about you. If you are Muslim, Trump does not care about you. If you immigrated here from another country, Trump does not care about you.

A lot of people recognize the issue with this. That is a lot of groups of people Trump does not care about, isn't it? People say, what does it matter if he doesn't care for the minorities? There aren't a lot of them, that's why they're minorities! But when you add up all of those groups, that is in fact most of America. Besides, shouldn't our commander in chief care about all of us?

You might be thinking, "But Trump promised so many good things!" Well, he certainly promised a lot. I can't exactly say they are good things, however. In my opinion, Trump has done nothing but base his platform around hate. I don't want someone like that in charge of a country.

You say, "But he's getting rid of Planned Parenthood! People who can't afford to get pregnant shouldn't." Well hey, guess what? Not everyone who gets an abortion just decided they didn't want to pay for the child's care. Actually, a lot of these cases are results of rape. Should a girl who was raped be forced to have a baby? Also, abortions are just a teeny tiny portion of what planned parenthood does! They also offer physicals (for men, too!), STI/STD treatment (oh look, also for men), cancer screenings and prevention, adoption referrals, UTI treatments, etc. Abortions only cover about 3% of what PP is doing. The more you know.

Now you say, "But wait! He really knows what he's doing!" Does he, though? Trump doesn't actually seem to have much experience, especially not with politics. He doesn't know what it's like to be middle or lower class. He can't relate to most of the people living in our country. He's started businesses, sure, but do we need a business man in charge? To me, he seems like an employee who just got a job and realized after just how many responsibilities he has.

You say, "He's going to help education!" He just chose Betsy Devos as chief of education. She has a recent history of saying she doesn't believe in public schooling, that teachers are overpaid, and wants to increase segregation in schools. (Seriously, did we just go back in time a few decades?)

You say, "He's going to build a wall!" I hear this a lot with Trump Supporters. That this "Wall" will help our country a lot. Out of all of Trump's promises, I think this wall was the most unbelievable. He wants Mexico to pay for it. He thinks it will keep criminals out of the country. He wants to send foreigners back to their own countries. None of this sounds very American to me.

You say, "Obamacare sucks!" I'll admit, Obamacare had some weak points. But it did have potential. Now Trump is repealing Obamacare, with no replacement in sight just yet. Personally, I believe it should be reworked and made better. Also, some of you are saying "The ACA is great, keep that and get rid of Obamacare." Guess what the difference between the two is? Absolutely nothing. No, really. They're the same thing. So if you're using ACA, and you're excited about repealing Obamacare, you might want to think again.

You say, "He's going to protect us!" So far he isn't protecting any minorities. His VP, Mike Pence, thinks being Gay is a psychological disorder. He wants to kick out any refugees, or immigrants. And I don't know about you, but Trump's little crush on Putin is a bit concerning to me. Nuclear weapons aren't something to be taken lightly, which I'm sure Trump will do. I guess we don't really need our planet, though. (With Global Warming, there might not be much of it left soon, anyway).

Finally, you say, "He's better than crooked Hillary!" Actually, Hillary was much more qualified for the job, and I firmly believe that if she was a man, I wouldn't have to write this article right now. You're probably thinking, "The emails!" Okay, yes, the emails. Do those emails compare to Trump's wrong-doings? Not in the slightest. I'd rather have someone qualified who made a mistake, than a man accused of rape in office.

Now you should (hopefully) be saying "What can I do?" There's a lot, actually! Your duty as an American citizen is not to respect the president and agree with everything he does. Your duty is to help your fellow Americans. Maybe you think you won't be affected by these changes. But the fact is that your neighbors will. Your friends will. Your sister, your mother, you niece and nephew all will. So help them.

Trump is now the President. This means he works for the people. We are his boss, he is our rookie employee. Tell him what to do. Don't let him make changes that will devastate our country. Speak up, act out; let your voice be heard. Don't stay silent for the next four years.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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