by Jim Duncan
Full disclosure, I didn’t vote for Donald Trump. Regardless of how any of us voted though, the only intelligent and moral thing for all Americans to now do is come together in encouraging President Trump’s success.
As Hillary Clinton said in her concession speech, “we must have an open mind, and give him the chance to lead.”
For those still scratching their heads over what happened though, here are the three real reasons that Trump won…
1. Because “Political Correctness” Started About Equality, But Became About Control
Contrary to what many liberals are telling themselves these days, half the country is not racist. What most Donald Trump supporters are though are humans, and sick of Social Justice Warriors lumping them under a “racist” label unless they speak in perfect accordance with their progressive ideals.
Trying to end racism and bigotry is a noble thing, but once the internet empowered Social Justice Warriors to bully everyone into speaking and thinking according to their image of an secular social utopia, the far-left became exactly what they were fighting against—persecutors. Making conservatives fearful they might lose respect, relationships, or their job through a tweet-storm directed against them for simply using a word, or telling a joke that a liberal did not like created an inevitable equal and opposite reaction. Those people feeling bullied by Social Justice Warriors simply elected a bigger bully to go beat them up.
Although it may be counter-intuitive for some, the freedom to speak freely, even if it sometimes seems rude or emotionally inconsiderate, is the only way from keeping division from escalating into violence, as it serves as a safety valve. This is something our Founding Fathers understood when they ensured its protection with the First Amendment.
Which leads to a second reason why Donald Trump won…
2. Because Americans are Intellectually Lazy and Don’t Really Understand the Constitution (because we’re watching reality TV and catching Pokemon instead of reading)
Sorry, but please note I said “lazy” not “dumb.” And I don’t mean that only ignorant people voted for Trump, and that if someone were intelligent they would have voted for Hillary. I mean that if people actually bothered to understand the way American government was ideally supposed to function, we would have never had these two knuckleheads as our only two choices to begin with.
I’m sure you’re confident you understand who the best person to be President is, but… can you state what the actual powers of the President are? Or maybe just name the three branches of government and their functions? Or maybe list the Bill of Rights? When was the last time you actually read the Constitution? (although if you’re reading a political site like The Libertarian Republic, odds are that you’re on the right track, unlike most Americans)
So why do you think you know who should be President? If you were allowed to vote for chief engineer on a nuclear submarine would you get that correct without knowing anything about how a nuclear submarine was supposed to function? Maybe, but probably not. And I realize many people are knowledgeable and passionate about one specific issue (like weed legalization, or abortion, or TPP), but what I’m talking about is knowledge of the way a successful American government is actually suppose to function as a whole, including what are citizen’s rights, and the President’s stated authorities.
I’m not claiming to be an expert on the Constitution, but I can say that the more effort I have put into understanding it, the more my voting decisions have changed. Unless we all know how the system is ideally supposed to function, we’re not going to pick the right people to fill the jobs that make up that system. Instead, the only people getting elected are the ones spewing easy to understand B.S. at us, regardless of its ability or desirability to be achieved within the system we have.
Which leads us to a third reason Trump got elected…
3. Because Binary, Two-Party Thinking Is Eating the Country Like Cancer 
If you’re not for us, you’re against us. Love it or leave it. Republican or Democrat. Black or white. Black lives matter or blue lives matter, but it sure as hell can’t be all lives matter. Never vote third party or you are “wasting” your vote.
Ehh… maybe you shove your binary thinking back up your hard drive.
Trump used your division and anger to win. And it wasn’t that Hillary Clinton was too noble to do this, she tried, she just wasn’t as good at it as Trump. The only reason why this keeps on working for politicians is because you keep buying that there are only two choices in all these arguments. The world is much more complex than only ever having two answers to things, but when people want to sell you B.S., the fewer alternatives they give you the better.
Stop participating in two-party propaganda. There’s nothing in the Constitution (if you’d bother to read it) that you’ve got to blindly support political parties like you are the member of a cult. There is nothing in life that states you cannot both be pro-choice and pro-gun, or anti-gun and pro-life. You’re an individual, not a color, and the only thing that is perpetuating our continual disappointment in our government and fellow Americans is our own belief that a two-sided battle is already going on and we must participate in the war.
As an American, you are statistically one of the wealthiest, healthiest people in the history of the world. Most of what is lacking from your life will never be solved by any government, Republican or Democrat (by design, if you read the Constitution). So whether you prefer sucking down the blue lies or the red lies, just stop sucking. Then start only voting for truly honest, smart people. People with integrity, not for a party.
The real reason why Donald Trump got elected is because he is exactly what we deserve at this time. Hillary Clinton wouldn’t have been much better. Let’s hope a President Trump surprises us yet again though, and does a great job. Who knows, it could happen? The Cubs did win after all.
And going forward, let’s all take it upon ourselves to stop supporting the red team or the blue team, but instead find people with integrity and intelligence to protect our Constitution (which you’ll need to actually read to know if they’re doing a good job).
James R Duncan’s novel, Blood Republic, is a fictional thriller about two-party corruption breaking the country into a second civil war of Republicans vs Democrats. It can be found at Amazon, and other major retailers. You can follow Jim on Twitter or Medium.