If a moment of candidness may be permitted, here as we slide into Election Day.
This election cycle has been the greatest political awakening of my life; it has fundamentally shaken me to the bone. No other single political development in my life thus far has contributed more to my intellectual development and to the changing of my worldview.
Just a year ago, I thought I knew America. I was wrong. Very wrong. I have found that nearly half of my fellow Americans are nearly alien to me, that we have practically nothing in common, other than a shared language, history, and culture. There aren't words to describe it, because you have to experience it for yourself to understand it, but it has been like becoming an atheist all over again. Like my entire worldview has shifted and that nothing that was familiar before will ever be familiar again. And this hurts.
But I realize that a shared language, history, and culture are worth preserving. I also realize that, no matter how alien he or she may now seem, that most of us share a strong patriotic vision for this nation. These are things that are salvageable and worth preserving. It is my hope then that, no matter what happens later today, we can heal as a nation and move on. It will be difficult no doubt, but we have moved on from much worse.
I imagine that our great ancestors felt a much harsher form of alienation after the Civil War, an event that must have reduced all of them to domestic "refugees" - foreigners in their own land. Yet they recovered and recovered well.
Finally, while I suspect Trump to win and have made no qualms about sharing how disastrous I think such a development to be, should a Trump win indeed come to fruition, you will not hear a sound from me. Not one word of criticism. I will accept that fate, and I will move on and judge the man's presidency according to its own merits.
We should all do the same, no matter the results. There are far worse alternatives.
Mortuus est vigilate nobis