So, who will it be?
The 2016 campaign for president is over.
And for millions of Americans this past election day, our country chose to let go of the past, and start anew.
Today, it seems easier to recognize the abusive-like relationships that our country have gravitated toward, and clung to, over the past 50 years. Even though we knew better, we kept electing candidates for public office that were more interested in their welfare than in ours. We supported one political party (or another) because they told us how much they cared, but never really helped us at all.
We kept accepting a watereddown, blurred line between what’s right and what’s not, just so that we might keep the peace for one more day, and be liked, rather than laughed at. It’s been more convenient to stuff our true feelings and be silent, or tolerate things that deep inside just didn’t feel right, so we might not be called names, or called into the court of public opinion.
You see, many in abusive relationships simply don’t know what healthy relationships look like. And if you have grown up in an environment where you feel like you need permission from government to make even simple decisions, such as what doctor to use, or even how to spend your money, such as being forced to buy increasingly more expensive health insurance, then you may not recognize how unhealthy your relationship here is in the first place.
If you have only known relationships where you are blamed for others’ problems and unhappiness, by having your income taxed more and more, and still being accused of not doing enough, or putting enough skin in the game, then your relationship may seem normal to you. If you are belittled and trivialized for your feelings, such as your concern about our border with Mexico, even though our government refuses to prosecute those here illegally for the murderous crimes they commit, then, yes, it may all seem normal to you.
But it’s not. Not by a long shot. And if those blaming or belittling you happen to be popular and likeable, it makes letting go of the relationship even harder, because who would take your side anyway – especially if you might be viewed as a bigot, a racist or uncaring by speaking out?
Maybe they call you names like “deplorables,” or humiliate you, put you down and make fun of you in front of other people, by saying you “cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people” who aren’t like you? Maybe they demean your faith, calling Catholicism “severely backward” and “a middle ages dictatorship?” Maybe it’s their dishonesty or disloyalty to you that makes the relationship abusive, such as Hillary Clinton using a private e-mail server, exposing classified, national security information, and putting our families at risk: All while pretending she didn’t know what she was doing. Or how about so-called journalists who secretly championed one candidate, while smearing all the others, cheating during the debates, and still pretending to be impartial stewards of the truth?
For others, an abusive relationship is being with someone who is consistently irresponsible and unwilling, or unable, to handle their responsibilities. Maybe that is like Secretary Clinton protecting our embassy that was burned down and those American killed in Benghazi? Or keeping American forces in Iraq to contain the spread of ISIS throughout the world, regardless of the popularity of doing such. Maybe it’s running up our national debt to nearly $20 trillion since 2009, even though economic growth has been the slowest in our nation’s history, and the number of people unemployed has never been higher.
Yes, it was inevitable that this day would come. A point where we, the people, became aware that we must let go of the abusive relationships of the past and realize that the pain of remaining in them simply outweigh the desire to just keep “working it out.”
That time for change is now.
Today, the continued corruption from the Clintons seems less inevitable, and more intolerable. The media charade of objectivity is even less convincing now, but more contemptible than ever before.
Career politicians seem more temporary, and the right to bear arms seems more certain. Our faith is less like something we must hide in the shadows, and more like something we can discuss in the town square.
Our allies, like Israel, will trust again that we have their back, and Iran will never extort our nation again for $150 billion.
It seems more likely today that genuinely affordable health care will be made available for more Americans than ever before, that our border will be secure, the jobs shipped overseas will return, and our laws, like our nation, will be restored to their rightful and respectful position in the world.
And while I wrote this column several days before the Nov. 8 election, I could be wrong about who is president-elect right now, but I don’t think I am, though.
For whoever is being inaugurated in January, and for the reasons explained above, they will be president of a country whose voters have been changed forever by this election, for “a mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.”
So, let freedom ring, and may God bless America.
Louis R. Avallone is a Shreveport businessman and attorney. He is also a former aide to U.S. Representative Jim McCrery and editor of The Caddo Republican. His columns have appeared regularly in The Forum since 2007. Follow him on Facebook, on Twitter @louisravallone or by e-mail at louisavallone@mac.com.
