The recent nationwide vote has changed everything. I’m not talking about change in the sense of building walls, deporting undocumented immigrants or eliminating healthcare for millions of Americans – these aren’t changes one man has the constitutional power or authority to accomplish by himself anyway. Our system of checks and balances, however imperfect, hasn’t lasted this long simply to crumble in the face of one man with big ideas. So I couldn’t be happier with the changes I’ve seen since the election.
The normal trajectory of political activity in this country typically follows a predicable path: there’s a campaign, a vote, and then we all go back to sleep for four years until it’s time to participate again. That pattern isn’t good for democracy and it isn’t good for our people.
Now, that pattern seems to have been broken by Trump’s Electoral College victory. For the first time in as long as I can remember, I’ve seen a population energized by an election and committed to staying engaged even after all the votes have been counted.
I see this new political energy across America. I see it in the eyes of the protesters marching in cities and towns from Maine to California, from Alaska to Texas. I hear it in the voices of civil society and organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union who have re-committed themselves to protecting the constitutional rights and civil liberties that form the backbone of our country. I feel it in the conversations I’ve had with my students, family and friends as we wrestle with ideas about how we can insure that basic human rights and fundamental freedoms are respected.
For the first time in a long time, we haven’t gone back to sleep after an election. We haven’t fallen back into our routines of political apathy. This new found energy has the power to shake a political system that’s atrophied and allowed the few to benefit at the expense of the many.
Donald Trump’s election has changed America. It’s awakened a sleeping beast, and because of the newly inspired political energy his election has created, we’ve been reminded that we do, in fact, have the power to truly make America great.
And I, for one, can’t wait to get to it.
