Election Harmony? Well, that seems impossible. Just the title is enough to cause scorn. I have friends who just want the election season to be over because of the angst it is causing them.
Me too sometimes. But I keep asking for a higher perspective. And here’s what is coming:
Mr. Trump has unleashed the shadow side of our people. At his rallies and in his arena it’s okay to hate, to put women, minorities, handicapped and many other groups down. If you are not white and male you are in trouble. Physically sometimes.
I’m appalled. I grew up in the after-shadow of WWII and heard and read stories of the Nazis’ gradual rise to power. I get cold sweats when I tap into the similarities with Trump’s hate-campaign.
I realize many of you don’t like Hillary, and I’m not a huge fan either – too much corporate influence. But I would far rather have a corporate-influenced capable and kind woman, than a hateful, ignorant, trigger-happy man. His platforms have no policy content… just racism, misogyny and lies.
Her, we can work with. Her, we can hold to the fire.
Mr. Trump? Don’t bet on it.
The hatefulness is appalling, but in many ways, that shadow side has been underground in our country for as long as we have been a nation. Now – it’s out in the open.
The shadow coming out into the light asks you – and me – a big question:
Who are you?
Are you the hater?
Are you the scorner?
Are you the “Make America white again” voter?
Are you the head-in-the-sand ostrich?
Are you the worrier?
Seeing the Shadow appear in this prominent a way triggers the Shadow in all of us. Fear. Finger pointing. Judgement.
What I find when I answer the question, Who am I? is my voice. I cannot stay silent. Whatever I care about in this land and this world is at stake.
When I watched the Arab spring via newscasts a few years back I was moved to tears by the courage of the people who knowingly risked – and sometimes lost – their lives for this movement towards freedom and justice. As if, their own personal life was less important than the greater cause of justice and freedom.
We are raised on such stories, as Americans. But are we living it? Don’t make your politics party-line. Pray about it. This is not a year for stubbornness… this is a year to ask Who Am I? What is really at stake here and what am I to do about it? 
Personally –
I choose to invite, via prayer, Jesus and the angels to guide each of the candidates and each of the voters.
I choose to stand up to bullies, whether it’s in my personal world, or in the larger world.
I choose to repeatedly turn my fear about this election season over to Jesus, and ask for faith in a joyful outcome instead.
I choose to say – out loud and in writing – you, Mr. Trump and your supporters, cannot take our people back to hate and injustice. I refuse to go and any power I have I will use. I will use my power with respect, but not with timidity.
My hero, Bernie Sanders, fully understands the gravity of the situation. To any of my Bernie-supporting friends I would ask you… if you respect him enough to have wanted him to be President, then respect him enough to take his advice on this choice. He is fully supporting Hillary and asks us to do so, then go on to create and demand progressive policies with integrity.
To vote 3rd party will give Trump an edge that may cost us our democracy and who knows what else. The stakes are high.
The hatefulness that Trump inflames is deeply reminiscent of Hitler. But we, the American people, are not 1930’s Germany.
We are diverse. We are loving. We love justice. We can be kind.
Are we easily led, easily fooled by the media? Are we ignorant and uncaring?
Are you willing to let Mr. Trump run over handicapped people, just because you are not handicapped? To let him ridicule women, because you are not a woman? To let him scorn people of color, because you are white? And more? He already has enough power to create waves of hatred and fear, to command the media. If you vote for him, or let your vote mean nothing because you refuse to acknowledge the system we are in – right now – you are in agreement with his intentions by default. You are giving him more power.
Ask yourself the hard questions this election season: Who Am I?
And please, invoke the angels and your highest spiritual teacher in the name of Love and Light. Choose your words and your vote in the name of Love.
I’m called to speak. Writing this brings me greater harmony. This is part of Who I Am.
—- Linda Chubbuck, September 2016, on RadicalHarmony.com
