(Image taken from: Daily News Bin)
Registered Democrats are usually supposed to be the “adults.” While Republicans can go about calling us “libtards” on social media and saying that we “just want everything for free,” Democrats are supposed to be the ones who take the higher ground. In many ways, we’re often called out as being elitists since we tend to believe we’re somehow better and smarter than our myth chasing, science disbelieving counterparts. But on November 8th, we lost everything. Republicans will retain the House and Senate and we’ll also have a Republican president. So, in every way, we’re screwed.
But we don’t have to take it lying down. Donald Trump didn’t just dismantle and refigure the Republican Party overnight. The Tea Party was doing it for years before he started his campaign, and we as Liberals need to do the same. I’m not saying that we should mount Bernie Sanders as our patriot and form a leftist version of the Tea Party. The “We are the 99%” movement ran its course and doesn’t need to be revived. But I am saying that we need to be just as divisive and rigid in our beliefs as Republicans have been for years. This might sound counter to our beliefs, but we need to be petty like Republicans. One thing the GOP loved doing was snatching away any of Obama’s achievements. If the economy was doing well, it had nothing to do with Obama. If Obama was taking out members of ISIS in drone strikes, the moment something terrible happened like the Boston bombing or San Bernardino, he wasn’t doing enough to keep us safe from terrorists. Well, you know what? We need to do the same for Trump and his administration, and we need to start right now.
One narrative I am afraid to see unfold is the destruction of the Obama legacy for the birth of the Trump Presidency. There are those who honestly believe that a black man ruined this country and that a white man will make America great again, and we need to make sure that Republicans account for their own failures. There will be many who still blame Obama even though Republicans control all the major seats, but we can’t let them get away with that. We need to hammer them on social media and out in the streets that this country was heading in the right direction during Obama’s two terms, and that all future failures will be on their shoulders and their shoulders alone. Republicans are already saying that we should just accept the course of action now that our democracy has picked Donald Trump as President, but there are those who never accepted Barack Obama as President, and we should do the same with their candidate.
One might say I’m preaching hate and not love, and it’s a fair argument. But we can’t just submit like Republicans think we already do. We have to be strong, we have to be tough, and we can’t give in. In other words, we have to be Republicans at heart. Just not in mind.
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
