Posted on 02/14/2017 5:46:10 AM PST by Kaslin
Here's a news flash for Democrats and other Americans on the left: Four years ago, when Barack Obama was re-elected president, conservatives were just as depressed as you are now that Hillary Clinton lost and Donald Trump won.
I describe this as news because this undoubtedly surprises many of you. You probably never gave a moment's thought to how depressed conservatives were in 2012. (Why would you? Unlike you, we shun hysteria.) But believe me -- we were.
Many of us believed that President Obama was doing great damage to America. Now we are convinced that he did more damage to America domestically, to America's position the world and to the world at large than any other two-term president. He left office with racial tensions -- many of which he exacerbated -- greater than at any time since the civil rights era half a century ago. He left the world's worst regimes -- Iran, China, Russia, North Korea and radical Islamist terror groups -- stronger and more aggressive than before he became president. Economic growth never rose above 3 percent, a first for a two-term president. He nearly doubled the national debt and had little to nothing to show for it. Obamacare hurt more people financially than it helped medically, including physicians. More people than ever are on government aid. The list is far longer than this.
Moreover, just like most Democrats in 2016, most Republicans in 2012 expected to win.
The depression among conservatives was palpable. To cite only my own experience, I turned the television off on election night. It was too painful to watch. Instead, I played hearts on the computer and listened to Strauss's "Death and Transfiguration" to lighten the mood.
But why does the level of conservative despair four years ago come as a surprise to Americans on the left?
First, unlike much of the left, most conservatives handle despair like mature adults. Most obviously, we didn't riot. In fact, in America, rioting -- not to mention shutting down highways and airports, taking over college offices and protesting at peoples' homes -- is a monopoly of the left.
Nor did we allow our conservative children to take a day off from school to demonstrate.
Nor did conservative teachers preach opposition to Obama in their classrooms.
Nor did we print posters with the words "Not My President."
Nor did conservative clergy declare fast days.
The second reason is that we know you, but you don't know us.
You read, listen to, watch, socialize with and study under leftists. Only if you are stuck with some immediate relatives who aren't on the left do you encounter a nonleftist (let alone a nonleftist idea). Therefore, there is no way you would know how painful it was for conservatives during that time. While liberals feel free to express their emotions and opinions to anyone, anywhere, any time, conservatives, especially those who voted for Trump, live like Marranos.
The Marranos were Jews living in Spain or Portugal during the Spanish Inquisition in the 1400s who lived like Christians but secretly practiced Judaism. That is how most Trump voters have been forced to live. They live like most people and hide their identity as Trump voters, lest they lose their job, their business, their relatives, their friends and/or their good name.
A gay professor writing in The Wall Street Journal recently echoed this analogy when he likened being in the closet as a Trump voter to being in the closet as a gay man when he was younger. He said:
"I began having gay relationships at 25 but remained closeted. I hated lying to people, but in the 1980s and '90s I feared that coming out would estrange me from family and damage my career. Similarly, I now find creative ways to avoid answering whether I voted for Donald Trump. This may be hard for some to believe, but watching protesters today call Trump supporters racists and bigots has been nearly as distressing as being told to 'die in hell, (vulgarity)' 30 years ago. ... I am as afraid about acknowledging that I voted for Mr. Trump today as I was about being gay yesterday. There seems to be as little understanding of my political views as there was about my sexual orientation."
Finally, leftists lack self-awareness. They think they are the apotheosis of tolerance when in fact they are far less tolerant than most conservatives. They think they embody kindheartedness when in fact the further left you go, the greater the meanness. And they think they suffer uniquely when they lose a national election.
Leftists' pain is not one whit greater than that of conservatives four years ago. But many of them can't handle pain nearly as well. If they could, they'd be grown-ups and no longer on the left.
It was 8 years ago, not 4 ...
and it wasn't depression ...
Let’s face it: FREEPER’s rule.
I’m betting none of us were “depressed.” We were angry and disgusted; we got up the next morning and went to work; we voted next time, and next time.
We have won.
Bed-wetting liberals, hopefully, won’t get the message.
Leftist Perception: Ah 2012... I remember rioting with my fellow Tea-Party members, it was a good time carrying ‘Not My President’ signs, tossing molotov cocktails, tearin’ up the city. To this day, whenever I look at that 68” HD TV in my living room, I think back to that night of looting Best Buy... good times. Sure we were tired at the end of each day, but the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy (VRWC, Inc.) paid us very well.
Actual: Ah 2012... Disgusted with the outcome, couldn’t understand how/why such a dismal failure could be re-elected. Do people not pay attention to what is going on in this world? Didn’t the 2010 mid-term mean anything. Dammit. Well, I’ll pray on it and go to bed. I need to go to work tomorrow to support my family.
I listened to Mahler's 9th symphony ....
I like Straus' "Death and Transfiguration." It was the famous conductor, Arturo Toscanini's favorite too, but I think Prager should try Straus' "Ein Heldenleben" "A Hero's Life," for a more uplifting mood changer.
The symbolism embodied in the tone poem, "Ein Heldenleben," is very "Trumpian," especially as Straus depicts the critics in the media of his time.
FReegards!
Bttt.
5.56mm
Disgusted not depressed. HOWEVER, if Clinton had won I probably would have been depressed.
Well, I was in bad shape then. I could not sleep at all on Election night 2012. I went to work the next day, but all I could think about was ‘my country is done’. I internalized my fears and that weekend I ended up in the ER with spiking blood pressure. So yeah, I was really upset. I knew that, without the check that Obama would want to win another election (as he had already voiced to Medvedev), he was going to do everything in his power to destroy this country. Just think about what he did over his last 4 years. I pray that Trump can right the Good Ship America. The Media is doing all in their power to thwart everything Trump has tried to do, so far.
But, according to leftists I work with, Trump is SO dangerous in his arrogance and incompetence (after obama???) - that some actually are convinced that he can’t WAIT for the first international conflict so he can start pushing the nuclear button.
And to them, THAT is the difference....
Not very bright folks...
We don’t protest. When we’ve had enough we form infantry regiments.
We gardeners just dug deeper and with vigor. It’s so nice, now, that a grown up Adult, is leading the nation.
Most of us felt that the country, like a kid who was heading down the wrong path, was still capable of getting back on track. We also knew the traditional candidates (Bush, McCain, Graham, et al) were not capable of doing the job.
Yes, they're so shallow that's all they can see. I've changed my Tagline but it used to say, "I don't oppose Obama because his skin is too brown, but because his ideas are too red".
I did that, but couldn't get to the garden right away, as it was November, not a good gardening month. I got busy in spring and took great care to beautify my yard and garden, to counter the ugliness of Washington DC.
I was depressed in a way, as I have big land with lots of water and ponds, connected by a seasonal creek. We were so afraid of the Obama administration's EPA, in their shoving Waters of the World through without congress. We felt like there was a target in our back and they would come and make us tear out all of our ponds, even though they have been here for over 20 years. Or fine us $75,000 a day until we do tear them out, it was frightening and not fun at all, during these past 4 years.
On top of that the state of Oregon is doing everything it can to take our guns away. One little law at a time to strip us of our rights. A photographer, Trump and gun rights supporter was just charged with 21 counts of aggravated assault for drawing his gun, not firing it, to defend him self from the anarchists hoards coming for him in a recent Portland march. He is charged for protecting himself from violent men (children)in the streets.
You know, your comment and the author’s made me think about the past several election evenings. I haven’t watched any of them. I knew what was happening in 2008, and the same in 2012. This year, I watched some other show on cable, likely something on HGTV or the Discovery Channel. I avoided watching the news. When I went to bed, I prayed for our country, just as I had been praying for the last couple of years. I woke up many times that night and resisted the urge to look at the returns. I assumed Hillary would win because I was told by the MSM that her election was a slam dunk. Yet, I remembered that David slew Goliath despite Goliath seemingly having the upper hand. What Goliath didn’t know was that God had anointed David. So I prayed every time I woke up that night until I fell back asleep. What a blessing to wake up the next morning to see that Donald Trump actually beat HRC!
I don’t think so. Conservatives and Republicans were disappointed to see Obama reelected. But they had huge wins in 2010 and didn’t do too badly in congressional races in 2012, lost a few seats but still held the US House.
I think most were tired of mediocre presidential candidates who would not go after the Dims and really fight for a win.
It is possible we played like defeated losers too, which we were. Trump was a protest vote against both parties and neither party seems to grasp that.
Yes, Indeed.
Breath of Spring to come.
“It was 8 years ago, not 4 ...”
It was both.
This should be the start of a rational discussion, but it seems most liberals really don’t want to hear it.
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