Joe: I am sad. Profoundly, heartacheingly, headache-inducingly sad. I am also shocked, embarrassed, scared, and frustrated.
Because of the 6-hour time difference, I stayed up all night in order to get a taste of this history-making election. As the hours passed, I welled with anticipation and pride imagining this historic advance. Freely and fairly, we were about to elect our first female president and repudiate fear-mongering, ethnocentrism, and bullshitting.
But now, at 6am, I am faced with having to wake my daughter and give her the news. Bad news. For reasons she could never fully understand, profoundly bad news. This is her loss, mostly. Hers, and that of her generation. They will grow up knowing what might have been, and wasn’t. And what was instead. Apparently, we have made a mistake.
Whatever our motivations, we have made a big mistake. We chose selfishness over compassion. We chose apparitions of short-term gains at others’ expense over the opportunity to grow together as a nation, both spiritually and economically.
Despite the pit in my stomach, this may be a win for me, personally. I will more likely than not come out even, if not ahead, for the policies and practices that are to come. I am a white man, employed, with a solid, albeit expensive, employer-provided health insurance plan. I’m an educated Jew, and a scientist, so I have to hedge a bit here, but things should work out. For me. But the consequences of our mistake will impact many Others for many years. Though I am living in Switzerland, know this:
I stand with American women.
I stand with African Americans, Native Americans, Mexican Americans, and Muslim Americans.
I stand with aspiring Americans of all types.
I stand with American gay men and lesbian women.
America has a deeply flawed but nevertheless great political system. Though pendulums will swing, I trust that the safeguards inherent in our system will prevent the worst of my fears. That said, I apologize to Europe and to the World for our mistake. I am embarrassed and ashamed. Though it will come with a cost, we will learn from our mistake. Hopefully.
The sun is up in Switzerland. It will soon dawn on you, America.