b. traven
We’ve been had! We have let fear of the ‘other’ (terrorists, etc.) after 9/11 allow the 1%ers and their political lackeys, in one generation, to take away our free press, our right to privacy, our freedom of expression (by putting whistle-blowers behind bars), and our obligation to vote for a legitimate candidate to represent us. In this election we had two very flawed candidates as a choice and we chose the most flawed to represent us and our country. There will be a very heavy blowback from this.
Europe will reconsider any leadership offered by the selected president elect. This will impact both the EU and NATO. The ‘president elect’ has offered no thought-out foreign policy and has shown evidence in his campaign that his policies are vaporous and subject to change if it suits his whim. The “deal” is what drives his policies but internationally that will not fly with established nation states. He will not be dealing with local bankers who can be bullied.
Both of our political parties showed their true colors by embracing such miscreant candidates. The effect has been that the legitimacy of both parties can be questioned. In addition we have now gone through two elections (this one and Gore v. Bush) in which the party who won the popular vote has lost the election because of the dysfunctional ‘electoral college’ voting system.
I just received an email from a friend in Europe who said in response to our election,
I am astounded!. I was in France when the Supreme Court appointed George (dubya) Bush president and people would come up to us and ask, ‘How could anyone vote for such a person.’
We are in deep trouble at a time when the world needs more than a “dealmaker” to represent the United States. Are you satisfied with this outcome?
The Contrary Perspective 
“Both of our political parties showed their true colors by embracing such miscreant candidates.” Very true, traven. That’s why I voted third party. We need more and better people to stand for higher office. And a fundamental step in that direction is public funding of elections. As long as we continue with the present system of bought and sold candidates, or celebrity billionaires running on a whim, we’ll never get reforms that truly help the people.
I am quite unsatisfied, but nowhere near as I will be when the GOP party platform begins to be legislated into law. There are many reforms wanted to our political process, particularly at the national level. I agree with wja that finance reform is one that is fundamental to constructive change — in fact, it is a necessary prerequisite to any sort of substantial course change from the typical USA plutocratic governmental model to something more along the lines of our brief window (~ 1912-1976) of progressive egalitarianism.
Well, egalitarian if you were Caucasian. And male. And not born into an impoverished (or near to it) economic class. And I am aware there are exceptions, that some individuals achieve higher status than that which they are born into. But not nearly enough to qualify the USA as a classless society.
So, yes to campaign reform. And there are options for drawing up voting districts following each ten years census which ameliorate, if not outright eliminate, the majority party in the state that year from rigging the map in their favor via the gerrymander. Some sort of legislation post-Fairness in Broadcasting Doctrine & 96 Telecom Act, which might reestablish at least a minimum of standards of varacity and integrity to publicly owned airwave/ether media content, is desirable if attainable.
I’m not to keen on the multi-party idea, though. It doesn’t have such a great track record in parliamentary governments worldwide, and I am even more skeptical of its application in our system. It isn’t unusual for conservatives to unite in a single large coalition for an election, because of the authoritarian nature of conservatives/conservatism. Progressives/liberals (I think the term “liberal” is itself now hopelessly corrupted — thanks New Democrats — and needs to go the way of its now-past 19th & 20th century roots) are not so easy to bring together. For example, if Green progressives and Democrats unable to come to terms with the label socialist (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, progressive taxation policy, etc., not being recognized by perhaps a majority as socialism) split their vote with their own candidates, a conservative with fewer votes than Trump received yesterday still wins.
Mr. Traven is quite right with his assessment of the significance of fear the past 15 years. Nothing like it to stir up the base negative instinct each of us has, and a great many unharness with even less incentive than The Orange One provided in such abundance. He will earn no respect on the world stage, and will want retribution because of it. I’ve known Trump in school, the military, and other places. I’ve been fortunate in that all the Trump’s I’ve had to interact with were in relatively powerless positions. Still, I steered as clear of them as possible, because I feared they would lash out and inflict damage given the slightest opportunity. I don’t know whether there is a handler who will be able to restrain this guy if he tries to go off while he is head of the most powerful country on the planet.
I admit up front that I expected Clinton to win. However, I certainly didn’t support her candidacy. And I commented here on TCP multiple times that a Trump victory was PLAUSIBLE. As usual, when speaking of “the United States,” I must insist no one lump me in as part of “we.” I did not elect Donald J. Trump (which of course doesn’t leave me immune from the consequences of his triumph), but enough “bassackwards” voters went to the polls to bring us a POTUS who got to the “top” using what I deemed (months ago) classic Fascist rhetoric. Trump promises “law and order.” The American people have already accepted the full-Monty National Security State ushered in under the “Patriot” Act. How much farther will Trump push domestic repression of dissent? Time will tell. Will enough Americans push back to derail a virtual totalitarian state? Sad to say, history suggests the answer will be no. Hell, a goodly chunk of the population will cheer it on, chanting “USA! USA!”
Greg.. Events look a little hopeful for push back on Trump. All over the country people are out in the streets protesting from Oregon to New York. This is still incoherent but shows citizens are aware of the consequences of this election and are showing they are ready for a more coherent and organized push back. I don’t think the Democrats can get away this time with not showing more cohones in crashing any republican-Trump anti democratic legislation. We are in for a very eventful year.
“Europe will reconsider any leadership offered by the selected president elect” Sounds like a point in Trump’s favor to me. Has the last decade and a half of U.S. international “leadership” made the world a better place? Clinton would have just made things even more crazy and bloody. Were I an American I would probably have voted Hillary (to my everlasting shame) and thrown up right there in the voting booth. “Election 2016: America makes Sophie’s Choice” Just think: if the DNC hadn’t manipulated their own primary I would almost certainly have had a good nights sleep and woken up to Bernie Sanders being the president elect. But no, that would have interfered with the coronation and besides, he might have managed to make some positive changes before waking up with a horse’s head in his bed. Can’t have that, can we? Now it remains to be seen if the Democratic party is going to learn from this disaster and try to genuinely take up policies and actions that will benefit the nation and world as a whole. That might make four years of Trump worth it. Washington doesn’t seem to be the sort of place where mind-boggling incompetence gets punished though. Great strategy: push through a deeply flawed, compromised and untrusted person as the candidate, smear, vilify and spit in the face of a large part of your base. Try to attract the seemingly mythical “moderate Republican” instead. Finally, take a vast quantity of the money that was donated for house and senate races and funnel it into the doomed S.S. Clinton. It takes a special kind of genius to fail so comprehensively.