“So was there, like, a huge breakdown at your college after the election?” Of all the potential questions I was prepared to answer about the election, this was never one I considered. Who I voted for, yes. Why I voted for them, yes. If my college was a sobbing, quivering mess on November 9? Not so much. Yet it’s a question I find myself having to answer. To grandparents. To aunt and uncles. To family friends. To the sweet gentlemen who administered my road test on Wednesday, as I was trying to parallel park. (I passed, in case you were wondering.)
My gripe with the question, besides my own inability to answer it, is that I think it’s the wrong question. Please don’t misunderstand; I’m not trying to minimize the legitimate reactions of celebration and grief felt by Americans after the election. Those reactions were important, but as we move farther and farther away from the election, our immediate responses to Donald Trump’s victory can’t continue to take precedence. Of greater concern to me right now are the policies he’s announced since his victory, the splinter in our country, and the splinter in the church.
The last is particularly upsetting. No matter our political origins, I would like to think people of a loving and kind God could manage to show that same love and kindness, if not to the world around them, at least to each other. As a first time voter I can only hope the hatred and venom that parts of the church displayed during this election are not typical. Ultimately it is this behavior that I find concerning, far more than either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. The sorts of questions I want to be asked are “did you listen to people who disagreed with you?” “Did you treat them with kindness?” It no longer matters who cried when and where. I want to know how our splintered churches are going to be made whole again.
My conclusion thus far: we need to look to what holds us together. Democrats or Republicans, we can agree in a common love for humanity. We can agree that God has given us stewardship of this earth and we need to take that responsibility seriously. We can agree that it is our responsibility to stand with and for the vulnerable. Proverbs 31: 8-9 states “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” On these tenants, we can find common ground.
What, then, do we do with politics? This presidential election vividly displayed that common principles do not always result in a unified decision. So do we abandon the political arena altogether? I don’t think that’s the answer. The problem with presidential elections is that they fool us into thinking that they’re the pinnacle of political engagement. They’re not. They’re a piece of a much bigger system that affords its citizens all sorts of opportunities to stand up for their beliefs and put them into practice. The more we take our principles and use them to engage with post-election politics, the more we switch our focus from the things that divide us to the things that unite us.
These opportunities are not trite or irrelevant, especially on the lower levels of government. From a purely statistical standpoint, an individual has a much greater chance of changing decisions on a state or local level than on the federal level. It takes fifty percent of America to elect a president, but according to congressional staffers, it takes as few as fifteen Americans to sway a congressman’s vote. Fifteen! It’s as easy as a phone call or an email. Five minutes out of a day to talk to a staffer or type a message. Five minutes! Houghton College, surely we can handle five minutes.
Even more, we can do it together. Every Thursday, a group of students run the “Do Something Table” by the steps of the cafeteria during lunch. Their end goal: convince Tom Reed, the Congressional Representative of Houghton’s district to visit and in the meantime, sway his voting. Each week they prepare scripts for phone conversations and information about legislation that they feel needs to be opposed or supported. They alternate between advocating for the vulnerable with better immigration reform, and for the earth by supporting wise environmental policy. And they do it with one another, standing in unity instead of division.
As of November 8, I was deeply concerned about the presidential election. I voted. I discussed. I ranted and I researched. I watched a debate. But after November 9, my priorities changed. I’ve stopped worrying over who holds office.My interest now lies in how I can be an agent for change in this world. My interest now lies in how I can be part of the healing of the nation and involved in protecting the things I’m called to protect. What I offer you here is one solution. There are others. But if you, like me, are done with questions about crying and are ready to do something, it is one you might want to consider.