This is my first attempt at a diary, so I’ll do my best, and please be kind! I am exactly what my username says I am, a farmer and rancher in Montana. I’ve lurked around here for many years, and this election finally prompted me to sign up, if nothing else to give me an outlet for all these many thoughts swirling about in my head. I would call myself a progressive, and or a liberal, who along with my wife constitute a small blue island in a deep, broad ocean of red. Montana is funny in its politics, as we supported Trump by over 20%, but re-elected Steve Bullock and passed a major loosening of our restrictive medical marijuana laws, in the same election. Go figure. I come from a long line of rural democrats, with our roots in the Farmer’s Union organization here in Montana, and a long family tradition of belief in the collective having the power to lift many individuals together (I believe that’s how rural America was ultimately settled, but another topic for another time). So that’s who I am. Now, for the second part.
Donald Trump means, practically to me, a lot less than he ultimately means to so many of you, unfortunately. I am a married, straight, white guy in rural Montana, who lives an upper-middle-class type of lifestyle, and has less to fear from this incoming administration than so, so many other groups. Will I try to hang a little nearer my wife in certain situations, as those who may be inclined toward a not-so-subtle brush or grab may be feeling a little emboldened? I certainly will. Will I feel the effects of a healthcare system that has at least the potential to be left in tatters? Yes.I Will I be deeply affected, as a farmer, by the long-term hell that could be unleashed on our only planet? Absolutely. But as far as day-to-day living, my status in this country has less potential to be affected than those of you out there who don’t look like me, love like me, speak the same language as I do, etc. I understand the pain you must be feeling, the fear, the uncertainty, even though I know I can never truly appreciate what it must feel like to truly fear oppression, in your own country. All I can say to those many of you on this wonderful site, is I’m sorry, and I hope together we can all get through this next 4 years.
What Trump truly means, to me, is that those around me whom I disagree with, vehemently, and have (yes, I’ll admit it) smugly looked down my nose at the last 8 years as uneducated, racist hicks who would be left out of the action due to our ever-forward-marching demographic advantage, have won. They’ve been validated. All those horrible things that have been said about our President around here, the last 8 years, have been proven to be not a small minority faction, but enough to get a crazy person elected president. I don’t mean the white, working-class, sometimes-Democratic voters in the Rust Belt. I mean those, in rural Montana and elsewhere, who truly belong in that now-famous basket. Those who talk about that “n*****” in the White House.” Those who go to machinery dealerships and “jew them down” on the price. Those who make the most awful of tasteless jokes about our gay and lesbian friends, things that I can not even bring myself to type, but that I’m sure many can imagine. Those people, who existed at least somewhat in the shadows, have won. They’ve been validated. It is literally sickening to me, and my wife and I have wept, as I’m sure so many of you have, over both the past and the future of this country, and how far we appear to not have come in many ways. Again, not everyone who voted for this man is ok with things like I mentioned above, but they gave them their tacit approval by that arrow next to the names “Trump-Pence.” I’m glad I do not have to live with that.
I have many thoughts on what both I as an individual, and we as a group, people, and party can do going forward, and I hope to be able to add my thoughts to the many, many excellent diaries on the future of our ideas and our people going forward. Sorry this ran so long, but I felt like I had a lot I wanted to get out of my head on this topic, and I look forward to continued participation in this wonderful community in the weeks, months, and years ahead.