Let me first say that no matter who won there was going to be violence. As we're seeing now and we will see more of the same..
Having said that --unless certain things happen-- I think this country has taken a MASSIVE step away from the major shitstorm I was seeing as likely (if Hillary had won). Make no mistake, people are most likely going to die, but I don't think it will be as bad if Clinton had got into the White House.
(It's just going to be different people).
This election had some serious lines crossed. One of which is while it's been a long tradition of supporters of a candidate to hate upon each other, candidates themselves tended to keep their sniping at each other. A new trend is the candidates started talking shit about the other candidate's supporters. To the best of my knowledge, Hillary really had the lead on this. Or at the very least, she REALLY crossed the line. How much would you want someone in the office of President who deemed you "Deplorable?"
Something that most Americans don't even know is that the agencies, departments, etc, they think of as the 'US Government' are under the 'Executive Branch" (There are three branches, President [Executive], Congress and Courts.) So the bureaucracies that run our lives ARE presidential. Every time there are elections not just he heads, but the top echelons of these agencies are swept clean and new political appointees are put in place. You're talking something like 4,000 to 5,000 jobs. This SERIOUSLY affects and effects the direction the agency takes, what they focus on and how they interact with the public (e.g., what laws they enforce and/or how ferociously).
The US media and his supporters have been crowing over the goodness of Obama's presidency. Two points on that. One is generalized. When you talk about the person that is one thing, when you're talking about the Administration, you're talking those 4-5,000 people steering these agencies in the direction the president wants. Two is a little more specific. There were a beau coup bunch of people who were getting sick and tired of what they consider overreach, special interests, waste and downright encroachment and forcing things on them BY THE GOVERNMENT.
On a more personal level, they were both pissed and afraid because -- and arguably with good reason -- of the number of people who would use these conditions (and government) as their 'muscle.' This made average people vulnerable and helpless IF they stayed in the system. Stay in and be helpless or step outside and take all the hassles of that. A whole lot of people were feeling trapped.
An example of this, look at the University of Virginia Rolling Stone Rape case. Not too long ago I ran an article that asked "How involved was the Department of Education in setting up the -- and I don't like this word -- hoax?" (Hoax implies a practical joke, this caused all kinds of damage -- including Rolling Stone is likely going to be sued out of business) In my research I found fragments that indicate there was -- at minimum -- a near conspiracy. It could go up to direct manipulation to create a situation for political and furtherance of an agenda and power consolidation. It -- no lie-- went all the way up to the White House and special task force meetings held there. Once the story broke the Department of Education swooped down on UVA. Once the story fell apart, the DoE disappeared from the situation.
My summation was "Fuck due process, we want a witch hunt." How do you handle a multi-state and government backed 'conspiracy' to invoke lynch mob mentality? But you can't talk about it because you know, rape on campus is such a crisis And even if it was 'a hoax' it started a conversation.
That's just one of the things that happened under this administration's watch. It also shows the influence the political appointees have on bureaucracies and 'The Government." But most of all it is ONE example why a huge section of the population was losing faith in the government under the Obama presidency. The government was forcing it's agenda on the people rather than....
The legitimate concern was that a Hillary presidency would perpetuate the current 'agenda' And as said agenda appears to be hostile to the majority while favoring minority groups (oddly enough not necessarily ethnic BTW) -- this was a matter of concern to many.
To the point that some folks were gearing up for either armed rebellion or civil war. This is what I think we've avoided with Trump's election. I've long been telling people to consider that the people who were supporting Trump were the ones who were STILL willing to play within the system. A dangerously significant number of them had dropped out. Most of them heavily armed, pissed and not afraid to shoot people.
I'm hoping with Trump's election those people are going to start to stand down. Stand down because the witch hunts they feared would happen under Hillary Administrations won't be happening.
Which incidentally before you buy into the hysteria and tell me about government approved witch hunts that will happen under Trump realize we're talking the difference between
a) the continuation and escalation of the polices and interpretations of the last eight years
vs.
b ) times from 50 to 100 years ago coming back
Times that ended 1920, 1964, 1965, 1968, 1973 -- and most recently 2015. (Anybody here want to tell women they don't have the right to vote anymore?) Times that most people don't want to bring back. We've become accustomed to these rights.
I tell you all of this because there are some other people who are seriously pissed that Trump won. Okay that's fine. There are other people who are hysterical because they think the new Gestapo is going to round them up and send them to the gas chamber. (We'll come back to this in a second) The majority of people however, have just breathed a sigh of relief that this election is over. In smaller numbers, but still a majority -- or if not a small majority then a plurality--are the number of people who are hoping the government will change directions from it's 'business as usual.'
Which is kinda what they were voting for.
In closing l mentioned the gas chamber crowd. First off, I submit for your consideration that people who believe the worst of everyone else, usually has a double dose of those same traits themselves. Second, and this is really worth considering is how much of their fear is based in they've been using the government to not just enforce their agenda, but as their goon?
"I want this. Go out and intimidate people -- and bust a few heads -- to get it for me."
For example. I have been for gay marriage since the AIDs epidemic. Why? Because as my friends were dying I saw too many people I knew, respected and loved get completely fucked by insurance companies, families of SIGs and the law standby helpless because a couple -- that had been together for decades -- weren't allowed the legal protections of marriage. (Yes, I just said "I was for gay marriage before it was fashionable.")
Am I for forcing religious institutions into performing services? Am I for hundreds of thousands of dollars penalties for not baking a cake? Am I for specialized government agencies to specifically hunt down those who don't want to participate? Not only no, but HELL NO!
Take any cause and you'll find much of the same. Abortion? Yep. For it Birth control? Yep. For it. Demanding others HAVE to pay for it? Nope. Equality? Yep. Special treatment? Nope. Against rape? Yep. Title IX tribunals? Hell NO! Equal opportunity and employee protection? Yep. To the point of where you can't fire an incompetent employee lest you get a charge of ________(fill in the blank)? Nope. The list goes on and on and on. And they all happen under the government being used as a goon. What can be originally a protection can be twisted and weaponized.
The long and short of it is though that I'm betting that a lot of people who are in hysterics right now ... well, it's not just that they've been walking past a fierce dog behind an electric fence and snapping their fingers at it. Many have actively been throwing rocks at the dog.
Well they've just seen the fence they've been basing their behaviors has been blown down. To further the analogy, they're screaming for it to be put back up before the dog realizes it too.
Will the dog come out and bite them? Probably not. It's got other things on it's mind. Having said that, they'd better realize their rock throwing days are done. The Administration is about to change and along with it, the protection they not only relied on, but hid behind while abusing others. (Speaking as a bodyguard I can tell you about people you're hired to protect talking shit from the safety of being behind you.)
So now that the bodyguard is gone, sure you don't want to change your behavior? Like oh, I don't know, sit down and talk with people of different perspectives instead of insulting, attacking and forcing your agenda down their throat?
