I know most of us don’t want to revisit this nightmare, but on the evening of Nov. 8, with the 55 California electoral votes accounted for and Donald Trump still leading Hillary Clinton, I finished my Calculus homework and watched as Trump won the presidential election. The internet with mixed anger, resignation and celebration.
Amid all the distress, the most important issue surrounding this election has been the First Amendment and how each side manipulates this fundamental right in a way that benefits them most.
Trump has gone as far as to say that flag-burning, which is protected as a form of protest under the First Amendment, should be illegal. Many of his supporters have denounced post-election protests as acts of treason
Similarly, third party voters exercising freedom of speech through voting have been attacked by Clinton supporters for handing the election to Trump, especially in states such as Michigan and Florida where Trump’s victory margin was slim. Additionally, throughout the election cycle, Trump supporters have been branded as racists and misogynists without any real engaged discussion or acknowledgement of other reasons as to why they supported him.
This election has, more than anything else, revealed an enormous problem with modern American politics: People are only supportive of others’ Constitutional rights if they align with their agenda.
Trump has shown his true, ultra-nationalist colors by pushing to prohibit freedom of expression if it criticizes legitimate problems with the United States government. The thing is, he cannot expect everyone to accept his election without a ruckus when he has alienated and attacked women, minorities, immigrants and those with disabilities.
Clinton supporters, on the other hand, must realize that Trump’s election cannot be blamed on any third party candidate. While Clinton certainly had more of the experience fit for the presidency than did Trump, who will be the first president to neither hold previous public office nor serve in the military, she was hardly an ideal candidate. With a track record like hers, a landslide victory could by no means be guaranteed, even if her opponent was a former reality TV star.
It is not acceptable to villainize citizens for voting for a candidate with whom they felt their best interests would be represented, especially when neither major party candidate had a higher approval than disapproval rating.
Additionally, the suppression of Trump supporters’ views definitely influenced the wildly inaccurate polls that gave Clinton a 90 percent chance at victory as late as the morning of Election Day. Conservatives who were told for months that they were idiotic and bigoted without being given the opportunity to engage in legitimate discussion instead voiced their opinions for the first time in the voting booth. Our surprise can’t be blamed on them.
These next four years will surely be unprecedented, with a climate change skeptic heading the Environmental Protection Agency transition and a man with ties to white nationalists serving as the president’s chief strategist.
Still, the American people are a strong lot. If we band together and defend the constitutionally guaranteed rights of people of all colors, faiths, sexual orientations, national origins and, most importantly, political views, there is no presidential term we cannot endure.
The First Amendment guarantees the basic human right of freedom of expression to all who walk the soil of the United States. If we citizens do not advocate that everyone’s speech is protected under this right, then who will?