This Election is a Repudiation of the Values I have Tried to Live By

Sam with Debbie and their six grandchildren

[Update from Sam] It has been three weeks, and on the subject of politics and world affairs, I have not read an article or looked at the news since the election. I have not listened to a podcast. I have not read a Substack expert. I have assiduously avoided all references to the president-elect and his transition.

Of course, I am aware of some occurrences, as it is impossible to get to the word games in the NYT without seeing some headlines. It is hard not to see some banner crawl in a train station or airport. But I have taken this time to wrestle with my thoughts, nay, with my emotions, following the failure of the Democrats to deal with a country that has always needed to be governed from the center. I have done as little as possible to engage with post-election narratives (although I have sent money to Ukraine and to the ACLU), hoping that somehow, if I waited long enough, some inspiring understanding would spontaneously come to me. No such luck.

I am embarrassed to say that my response to the election was, and to a significant degree remains, visceral and emotional.

I take this election very personally, because it is a repudiation of the values that I have tried (with imperfect results) to live my life by, both personally and professionally. Those values are honesty, decency, compassion, science, and education; obviously, this shows that I have read political lawn signs. But these were my values long before they became a bumper sticker or sign.

As a citizen, I also value trust, order, the rule of law, fairness, equality, tolerance, and professional reliability.

I also deeply value education and efforts to gain wisdom by applying education to life experience.

I grew up revering patriotism, service to country (my father, uncles, and grandfathers served with honor and distinction), selflessness, and a desire to help those less fortunate.

None of the values that I have enumerated are values that our current president-elect shares.

I know where intolerance and inequality lead. I am old enough to have worked in a massive hospital built to twice the necessary size to accommodate the South’s Jim Crow ‘separate but equal’ laws. I remember news reports of Texas schoolteachers and their students applauding the assassination of JFK.

With that in mind, what will be the long-term consequences of the lack of consequences for political violence when January 6 patriots are pardoned?

I have followed the career of Donald Trump (and other shysters) for as long as I can remember. Long before his storied descent down the golden escalator, I have taken note of his business failures with all the pleasure schadenfreude can offer. I have followed his scandals with relish; I have appreciated the fines he has paid for his racist and fraudulent business practices; and when I have dragged myself to the hospital in the middle of the night to deal with someone’s medical emergency, feeling sorry for myself and wishing that I could be compensated much more for my efforts than some insurance company was willing to pay, I consoled myself by thinking, at least I am not cheating the system like a guy like Donald Trump.

In elections past, I  have voted for both Republican and Democratic candidates, usually holding my nose over particular policies and basing my vote on the candidate who best mirrors some combination of my values and ideas.

I am comfortable discussing policy issues. Should the government be smaller? Probably. Should the government be more efficient? Yes, but what do we sacrifice? Should we have blanket tariffs? I don’t think so, but I am willing to listen to reason. Should we have more border security? Yes. Should there be more education about the benefits to the economy of immigrants, documented and undocumented? Yes. Does deregulation really increase efficiency sufficiently to justify the loss of safety that routinely ensues? No, but deregulation that retains adequate safety measures is an admirable goal. Should American medicine be shaken up? Yes, largely because privatized insurance is a moral failure and delivery of health care to low-income groups is inadequate.

But do we turn these discussions over to a man who has studiously avoided responsibility for anything and everything for his entire life?  Why did a near majority of the country give such awesome power to a man who values only those things that promote his self-promotion? How can we return to a country governed by reason and not created by a right-wing propaganda machine? A country that values the heroes of my youth.

I am quite comfortable stating that The Donald will prove to be the most consequential president of my lifetime, and I don’t mean that in a good way. In fact, I mean that in a very bad way. As a non-historian, indeed, with all the historical acumen that a retired gastroenterologist can offer, I think he might be the most consequential president since FDR. And I am distressed that I won’t live long enough to see the longterm effects of what his recklessness will cause, although some in my position are likely to say that they are glad not to live long enough to see the short-term effects that his genius for chaos will bring.

Obviously, I have a lot of work to do to soothe myself. I must get past this sense of personal repudiation. Time and distance have helped, but three weeks is not enough. I have comforted myself with friends. I hope to rebuild my damaged soul by focusing on local philanthropy. I need time to put this election into a historical perspective that makes sense to me and allows me to value myself again, recognizing that I will not be here to see its shock waves turn to ripples. I long for a world where sowing chaos, bullying behavior, speaking word salad, and behaving shamelessly are not rewarded.

I close with the memory of my father’s favorite quote from one of his favorite historical figures, Lord Melbourne (William Lamb, 2^nd Viscount Melbourne):

“Neither man nor woman can be worth anything until they have discovered that they are fools. This is the first step to becoming either estimable or agreeable; and until it be taken, there is no hope. The sooner the discovery is made the better, for there is more time and power for taking advantage of it. Sometimes the great truth is found out too late to apply to it any effectual remedy. Sometimes it is never found at all; and these form the inveterate causes of folly, self-conceit, and impertinence.”

Recognizing that I am a fool to have written this and to take the election so personally, I do not look forward to living in the shadow of the epitome of “folly, self-conceit, and impertinence.”