VIRGINIA POLICY REVIEW
  • Home
  • About Us
  • The Third Rail
    • The Third Rail Editorial Board
  • Academical
    • Archived Podcast Episodes
  • National Journal Conference
  • Journal Submissions
  • Journal Issues

The Third Rail

An Online Publication of the Virginia Policy Review

Inside the Ivory Tower After the Election

11/9/2016

4 Comments

 
PicturePhoto courtesy of Getty Images
by Samantha Guthrie

The University of Virginia was a Clinton stronghold. The state itself went blue, although the 5th district, which includes Charlottesville, elected republican Tom Garrett to fill the district's open seat in the House. Students at the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, where the Third Rail and the Virginia Policy Review are based, were heavily, prominently, loudly against Trump, if not all-in for Clinton. Among my peers today, I surveyed the damage.

The cold, misty weather of November 9th seems fitting. It feels like a bomb went off. Students walk in a stunned silence, eyes wide with shock. When we greet each other, instead of answering "how are you?" with the reflexive "fine, thanks," we pause, and answer honestly. We are not fine. We are shaken and anxious and scared. We are bewildered and blind sided and trembling - either from the slow realization of what our nation has become, or from the extra cups of coffee we needed to drag ourselves to class after a sleepless night hugging the radio, pounding the "refresh" button on the keyboard.

The reaction from most of my classmates is shock - how could this have happened? How did we get it so wrong? How can there be 60 million Americans living in an alternate reality that has not touched us? What have we missed?

Then there is the fear. Fear from LGBT students, fear from Muslim and Jewish students, fear from ethnic and racial minorities, fear from immigrants, fear from all those belonging to groups insulted and belittled by Trump, anyone with a child who will grow up and think that being an American means being represented by a hateful, petty bully. Many people have reassured me that the US Presidency is not an all powerful office, that he will still have to push bills through Congress. While that is true, both the House and the Senate continue to be controlled by the GOP, smoothing the president-elect's path to policy making. The real, fear, though, is not of Trump himself, but of the normalization of discrimination, insults, callousness, and selfishness he has caused.

Some eyes are red-rimmed from crying. Tears of anger and frustration and loss. We were so close, those red eyes seemed to say...so close to Madam President, so close to a rejection of all Trump's hateful, decisive rhetoric, so close to sustaining something good and beautiful.

But we did sustain something good - though certainly not beautiful. Our democracy worked the way it was supposed to. Votes were counted, voices were heard. I do not question whether democracy will survive this election, or whether our system is broken. I question whether our people are broken. I question whether our values are lost. I question whether the American dream will survive. The American dream is about being able to create a different, better life for yourself and your family out of nothing, not maintaining the status quo for those who feel cheated out of some promise of a steady factory job and a pension on a high school education in suburban Pennsylvania or Ohio. The American Dream was built by and for immigrants.
















My heart breaks for the nation I once knew. I mourn the nation of my youthful naiveté. This election has aged me, matured me, taught me some basic human truth that even America cannot escape. The truth that people are ignorant and self-serving. The truth that fear wins. My Facebook news feed is fully of elite university students grieving the same loss. I have seen only four of my 985 friends posting openly in favor of the election results. I have created an ivory tower echo chamber...

As one of my main rallying points against Trump is that his campaign and his rhetoric stirred up hate, and reshaped a societal norm against racism and bigotry, I struggle with my current emotions. I don't want to hate them. I don't want to fear them. I don't want to say "them" at all. I want to unite. I want to share a vision of inclusion and cooperation. I want to focus on policy, not politics. Unfortunately, Trump's policies remain vague and unclear. I, like many, hold onto hope that he will continue to go back on his word and that all his threatening campaign promises were just healthy "sarcasm" and "locker room talk." So far, the one plan I can get behind is infrastructure reform. Interestingly, this is also the one campaign promise he re-iterated in his acceptance speech.

In four years we will have another choice. Where will I be? How will I feel? Will my classmates and I be serving in the Trump administration? Will we be entrenched in small, cramped NGO offices frantically trying to support children whose parents were deported without warning or providing resources for young LGBT people who don't feel safe in their own identities?

Regardless of what a Trump presidency brings, we are all still Americans. Trump's campaign rhetoric does not have to speak for you. We can respect the democratic process yet still fight for our values. We are on the other side now - the sidelines that many Trump voters have felt relegated to over the past eight years. If America is no longer the shining city upon a hill, if our political rhetoric has descended into chaotic personality politics, if we are in a post-truth era of politics, if America is no longer an exceptional example of democracy and inclusion and acceptance...we are not alone. There are much worse governments in the world, much more fear and hate and repression and violence, and we are still lucky to be Americans. The old system is dying, if not already dead. This is our chance to reshape it, to be the movement we have called for for so long. So don't try to immigrate to Canada, don't boycott politics, don't run away. Decisions are made by those who show up. Although one choice has been made, many others lie ahead. 

Continue to fight for what you believe.
Continue to arm yourself with information and campaign and vote.
Continue to criticize and scrutinize and watchdog our politicians.
Show up.

So today, I say goodbye to the American dream.
And I am preparing to say goodbye to inclusivity, to healthy trade patterns, to a strong labor supply, to reproductive rights for women, to birthright citizenship, to deferred action on child arrivals, to love is love, to the thriving beauty of diverse communities, to nuclear non-proliferation, to our NATO allies, to foreigners telling me they love America and that they dream of living here one day, and to America as the great superpower and world role model I have known it to be for my entire life.
I am putting these things in a box. Over the next four years, I will peak in when things feel particularly dark and be greeted by feeble rays of hope. I sincerely hope one day it will once again be safe to open it again and return these ideas to their rightful place at the heart of this nation. But today, I say goodbye.


**This opinion article solely represents the views of the author and not of the Third Rail, the Virginia Policy Review, the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, the University of Virginia, or any other organization.**

4 Comments
Roman
11/10/2016 03:34:07 pm


I have a feeling that the people of the U.S. were so much under the influence of Trump's image created by the pro-Clinton mass media which is not a surprise given who are her major sponsors, and this entire campaign of hating on Trump blinded people too much, covering from their minds what these elections really were about and who Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton really is.

The elections of 2016 seemed almost like a fairy tale written with the triumph of Clinton in the 'happy end' section of the play. In fact - ever since the DNC ditched a very popular candidate Bernie Sanders for the future 'Madam President' just for the sake of this sacred 'First Woman President' - it has finally formed itself into the political circus with clowns and horses. The circus that even infamous Frank Underwood from the 'House of Cards' TV show wouldn't be able to establish. The circus even bigger than what the United Russia party does for the past decade in Russia.
The Clinton's campaign and the atmosphere of these Elections stroke as amazingly scripted high-class enterntaiment show of some Letterman level in it, something the US are absolutely the best in the world (just look at the fancy stage prepared for Hillary in NYC, the one she never appeared on). The show of such level failure - is the reason why the aftershock made you and many people around you feel that 'the American dream is dying'. Simply because you thought you knew the ending - and you accepted it as it was okay for someone to decide for you.
But it was not okay, and this is where you got it right in the article - American democracy, the engine last time oiled by the founding fathers centuries ago, actually worked as it was designed to. While it was okay for you that someone above decides for the country on his own - it was unacceptable for the people whose lives also mattered, not less than any other lives. I'm talking about the working class, the white americans from not rich states, those who drove the country forward for generations, and those who started to feel forgotten. Call them proletarians, call them rednecks, but you can't escape the truth - a country that big and great can only survive on these people (something a socialist Bernie Sanders understood)
This insane pressure from the media only increased the feeling that those 'I'm with her'-hashtag people forget something important about their compatriots and Clinton herself. Suddenly only Wikileaks (boosted by the FBI investigation, and FBI played the part of the Democratic sword in the hands of justicehere) became the source for some common sense within the endless circus of yet another political experiment after the first black president, luckily the truth, concerns over Hillary's capabilities came out just in time. Going 'all-in' with the first-ever woman candidate, who has many hidden 'skeletons' in her closet and could become a visual definition to the word 'Hypocrisy' in a pictured thesaurus - was utterly bold. Luckily it didn't pay off, and the reason - the people whose lives matter, regular Americans.
No matter how much the media tried to manipulate their minds, these people who don't enjoy views from Manhattan offices or drinks at clubs in Soho, or fancy cars, clothes, those who work and create America with their hands - they were finally fed up by political experiments. Think about it - what they hear every day on TV is how the LGBT rights are important, how the refugees are poor, how 'black lives matter', and most of them are probably agree, but meanwhile - for these people their families matter more, their jobs, their dinners are more important, their kids. Are they to blame for caring of their loved ones? No. Does it make them racists or homophobes for prioritizing themselves over minorities? No. Is it bad to prioritize it that way? This is the question that separates the modern USA in its very core. What are you, America? A nation trying to control the world and set your rules everywhere to achieve world order and balance? But who gave you that right when you can't even achieve this balance within your own country?
This is why the Democrats lost. This is why Hillary lost. This is why new presidential elections turned out a revolution, coincidence or not - 99 years and a day after the Great October Revolution that changed Russia forever turning it into one of the greatest world powers of the 20th century. When the proletarians after decades of suffering took what belonged to them.
The future doesn't seem clear, it is true. But is it going to be bright? My opinion -it will be brighter than it could have been with Hillary. The world was close to dealing with Albright-level warhawk US President, who once obliterated Libya almost as ruthlesly as Madeleine Albright held her personal revenge on thousands of civilians in Yugoslavia, thousands of women and children who died under the NATO bombings of schools and hospitals in Belgrade. With the ongoing Syrian crisis, the clash of interests betw

Reply
Roman
11/10/2016 03:34:46 pm

<continue>.....
the clash of interests between the US, Turkey, Russia, the KSA 'Madam Clinton' could have single-handedly bring the Doomsday clock directly at midnight. Now we can exhale.
What about Trump? Put aside what you heard from the mass media, he flawlessly dealt with this incredible stress, and this makes him way more presidential than Hillary. Unlike her, who we can already judge by her several failures on the political stage, Donald Trump has yet to prove himself as the politician. Give him this chance, clear your mind from endless kindergarden-level political scandals and mottos, let the time decide. The American system of checks and balances won't let him ruin anything (but also will it let him change anything for good?).
This article fails in delivering the correct point other than 'Everything is bad because Trump is bad'. Emotions are understandable, but you just need to think deeper, because this is what studying foreign policy is about: less emotions, more analysis. Good luck!

Roman Leonov, MA, International Relations (American Studies), St. Petersburg State University, Russia

Reply
Paulette Guthrie
11/10/2016 05:25:53 pm

Spot on Roman!

Reply
Petrarch
1/10/2017 10:44:26 am

A lot of the things you write are part of the reason why Trump won. Your notion that the American "dream" was built by and for immigrants and not those in Ohio and Pennsylvania with a high school education is preposterous and such sentiments are part of the driving force behind Trump's stunning victory.

To answer your question as to how you and your ilk could have missed the "alternate reality" the rest of the country lives in, just look at your other statements;

" I created an ivory tower echo chamber.."

"I mourn the nation of my youthful naiveté."

" My Facebook news feed is fully of elite university students"

I created the same exclusive social bubble and proscribed to the same suppositions about America that Hillary Clinton's inner-circle did. I didn't vote for Trump, but I understand what compelled many Americans in what some call "fly-over country" and other parts to do so.

A vote for Trump stood against what many in America saw as a vote against political correctness run amok, the blatant corruption of the Clinton clique, the acceptance of illegal residency to our nation and above all, the smugness and arrogance of the "liberal elite".

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Domestic
    Economics
    Education
    Electoral Politics
    Environment
    Gun Rights
    Health
    International
    Justice
    Law
    Politics
    Social
    Urban

    Archives

    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014

ADDRESS

Virginia Policy Review
235 McCormick Rd.
Charlottesville, VA 22904

EMAIL

​virginiapolicyreview@gmail.com

SOCIAL MEDIA

  • Home
  • About Us
  • The Third Rail
    • The Third Rail Editorial Board
  • Academical
    • Archived Podcast Episodes
  • National Journal Conference
  • Journal Submissions
  • Journal Issues