By Sheri-Lee Norris/ campus editor
The U.S. election reminded former English prime minister David Cameron of the hysteria over the Brexit vote.
He told reporters people on the street in Great Britain felt the tidal wave of the exit happening. The media and the elites continued to deny it. Then the elites were shocked after votes confirmed the exit from the European Union. The people had spoken.
Brexit shocked the rest of the world. Donald Trump’s election shocks the world today. Trump supporters are not surprised.
Stock markets initially plunged, then recovered, in both countries. Panic was unjustified, but predictable. Both the U.S. and England have long histories of stable democracies that will go on despite the directional changes voted by the people.
We are two democracies. The rest of the world cannot understand us, but we understand each other. Although we had a war to separate from England, we are more like them than any other democracy in the world.
The First Amendment to our Constitution gives freedom of speech because the first people who came to these shores were imprisoned, fined or put to death because of words they said, primarily in Europe. So, yes, this election was rough on talk here, but nobody died.
However, President-elect Trump turned American politics on its head and has done something nobody has ever done. He broke all political and campaign models. This election will be one political scientists discuss for generations.
Democracy works, however. We have had a successful transition of power — without guns or tanks on the streets.
What does it mean to us? Elections do have consequences. With Obama, we got Obamacare. With Trump’s election, Obamacare will probably be reversed as it is in complete meltdown.
What Trump said he will do must be done in concert with the U.S. Congress. He doesn’t get to run around writing his own laws. Relax.
He promised to bring back jobs, unburden business regulations and allow for hiring new employees, slow the exit of U.S. jobs overseas and many other things related to our economy. Regulations on small business are at an all-time high.
If he only accomplishes half of the things he promised, we will have more people in the workplace and a boom in jobs. That’s good news for you and me.
We can all heave a collective sigh of relief and move forward. It’s not the end of the world. It’s America. We go through this every four years. The next one probably won’t be as dramatic as this — I’m not making any promises, though! After this, anything is possible.
