Last Night's American Election Results

I am living the American dream. I went to college on an academic scholarship. I have a good paying job that I love. I married my high school sweetheart. We have two beautiful children. One is employed and getting married next year to the man of her dreams. The other served in the military and is now in college. We live in a house near water.

However, for many Americans, they are not living their dream. They have huge outstanding student debt from college. They can't find work. The cost of living makes buying a home seem impossible. Even the cost of renting is a challenge. From last night's election results, it appears that there are more people like this than me.

As a fiscally conservative, but socially liberal Republican, I am pro-choice and support gay marriage; however, I acknowledge that there are people who hold deeply religious beliefs who are not OK with this. Rather than belittle these people with names like fundamentalists or homophobes, Democrats need to acknowledge their beliefs and reach some compassionate compromise.

I am happy to welcome immigrants to this country who want to work for a better life for themselves and their families; however, this has to be done legally. From last night's results, it seems that Democrats need to acknowledge this fact and work towards comprehensive immigration reform. There are people who fear immigrants. I support helping people escape the ravages of war, but Democrats need to stop telling the citizenry that they are stupid for being afraid. Instead, they need to acknowledge their fear and explain how they will do everything they can to assuage those fears.

Last night did not turn out as I expected. I voted for Gary Johnson. Though I did not agree with everything on his platform, I looked at what I had to gain instead of what I was giving up. It's time for America to come together and see how we can make the best of a Trump presidency. America should be the union of what is possible for anyone instead of the intersection of what is tolerated by everyone.

The ongoing experiment that we call democracy is alive in the lab.