The election is three days past and I am still angry.  I am angry that we the people have elected such a person to the highest office in the land.  My anger exists on several levels.

Level one:  I am angry at myself.  I am angry at my naiveté for thinking that the racism, misogyny, homophobia, and xenophobia presently existing was not as pervasive as it is truly is in this country.  I am angry because I in my optimism thought that reason would rule the day.  I am angry at myself because I didn’t do more to prevent such a tragedy, I didn’t speak out, I didn’t attend rallies, I didn’t speak truth to power, I did not lend my strength or my voice, I am angry at myself for being complacent.  I rested in the security and safety of an insulated community as well as my own privilege; my guilt weighs heavily on my heart. I ask for forgiveness, from God, and the millions of people who will suffer under his administration.

Level two:  I am angry with our country, or at least the 59 million plus people who voted for this man, among those who were Christians.  I am angry that they chose such a morally bankrupt man and sacrificed their belief in God and in the Jesus who spoke so eloquently to us the words of Life in Matthew 25.  They have their golden calf now, their false god, and our world is made meaner and less safe because of it.  Surely we are in an unholy land now and they cannot say that God upholds this individual.  If this is their God, I want no part of it.  We are in a land of unbridled self-interest, one where a man who said that he could grab women by the private parts just because he is powerful and rich is now the President-elect.  This is a man who said he could shoot someone on the street and not lose a vote.  How awfully true this turned out to be.  This is the man they chose. If the American Dream ever existed, it is now truly dead.  I am angry that these people were so afraid of the other that they chose the candidate that expresses the worst of human behavior just because he gave them a feeling of legitimacy for their bigotry, their homophobia, their xenophobia, and their hate.  We will all suffer and have been made less as a nation because of their vote.

Level three:  I am angry with a political system that did not correct itself.  Those within his party did not like or trust him.  They allowed his nomination to get through.  They did not openly and fervently denounce him when the racist elements in this country gave their full throated support of him.  When his character issues kept coming to the forefront, they glossed over them.  In their hatred of Secretary Clinton, they allowed this flawed candidate move forward, they gave him a pass that they would never extend to Secretary Clinton. This is a woman who has dedicated her entire life to public service and they did not care, all they wanted to do was to smear her name and tear her down.  They, the Republicans in Congress, think that they can control this man; I think they are in for a rude awakening, the country and indeed the world is a less safe place with him at the helm.  I am angry with the Democratic Party because they failed in their arrogance to address the concerns of a demographic that has been mocked by liberals over the years with a smug self-satisfaction of their supposed moral and intellectual superiority.  This is a Democratic Party that is Republican-Lite, giving lip service to the progressive ideals which made it great, while being aligned with the same moneyed elite that own the Republican Party.  The Democratic Party establishment did as much to elect this man as the 59 million people who voted against Secretary Clinton.

Level four: I am angry with the media/pundits for pursuing profit over news.  They gave Trump all the free media he needed to enrage and empower the racists/homophobes/xenophobes and galvanize them to action.  They ignored the legitimacy of Bernie Sanders, the qualifications of Secretary Clinton, and spent their time covering Trump’s reality show campaign.  They gorged themselves over the Republican Party which created the false equivalency of emails over sexual assault, fraud, misogyny, homophobia, and xenophobia.  They did not focus on issues, they focused on the salacious.  They did not hold him accountable to be factual.  They reveled in each misanthropic thing he said, reporting it gleefully to a public jaded by reality TV shows and partisan political theater.  They sold us down the river by not being responsible in their reporting and at least half the country bought it willingly in their ignorance, fear, and bigotry.

You know, when Trump first got the nomination, I told my friends that if he won, I was moving, I was leaving the country.  I have since changed my mind.  I will tell those who chose misogyny, homophobia, and xenophobia: you don’t get to keep our country.  You don’t get to lead us down the ungodly path of fear, hate, and avarice; this path is antichrist.  Enjoy your moment in the sun, because it won’t last long.  We the people will not stand for it.  I will pray for you and hope against hope that God will listen to such as sinner as I and hear my plea.  I will pray that the God of Mercy in the divine wisdom will prick your hearts and help you feel the sadness that God feels when God’s creation commits evil against each other.  I will pray that God puts the divine Word within your hearts.  The words of: Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.  Words like love your neighbor as yourself, and judge not lest you be judged.  Words like treating the stranger in your land with love and respect because you were once strangers.  I hope you can hear the words of God that says we are one family in all of our diversity.  I hope you hear the words of God that says your faith tradition is wrong if it causes harm to anyone for any reason.  I will pray for you, but I also will call you out when you practice your hate and your bigotry.  Your time is short, repent while there is still yet time; seek the path of love and community.  Join with us to make a better world, not a bigger empire. The time for anger is over, it’s time to get to work.  Jesus said that the kingdom of God is at hand.  Christ gave us what we need to create this right here, right now.  All we have to do is let go of our fear and our hate.