Columnists

Postmortem On The Election:
A Sikh-American's Perspective -
Janam Da Firangee,
Sikhi Mai Mangee
Part II

FATEHPAL SINGH TARNEY

Commenting on my earlier column on this topic, Dr. K.N. Singh of Malaysia cut to the chase on this American election stating that the choice boiled down to that between a liar and a thief.

I would suggest that there are far more negative terms that could be applied to Trump than to Clinton.

On our most recent return trip from our Michigan home back to Florida, the Patni and I traveled through Trump states exclusively: Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. In my view, one of the most important lessons from this last presidential election is that many Americans do not want a democratic republic – what they want is kingship.

Buyer's remorse is the acute sense of regret after making a particular purchase. Of course, this can also apply to one's political choices. Many Americans hope and pray for change and see Trump as the answer.

There is an old saying in the West: “More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones!”

Heralding Trump, Mark Twain once wrote, “All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence and then success is sure.”

Trump received massive support from most so-called devout evangelical Christians. Much of Trump's behavior is far from Christ-like. Trump is arrogant, greedy, angry, and lustful. Trump claims to be a Christian, but wants to kill the families of terrorists regardless of a suspected terrorist's home being filled with innocent women and children who might be related to a possible terrorist.

Would Jesus have approved of this?

Trump mocked the physical disabilities of a reporter. Is this very Christian? Trump's claims that his two favorite books are his own ‘The Art of the Deal’ and the Christian Bible. When asked about revealing any of his favorite sayings from Christian scripture, he claims that his religion is so personal that he does not want to discuss it in public. This means that he has no knowledge whatsoever of what he claims is his sacred book.

As a Sikh, I never thought I would employ passages from Christian scripture in any of my columns, but I think it is relevant. The evangelical Christians who ignore Trump's immorality and misdeeds and support him enthusiastically, should remember: “Put not your trust in princes.” [Psalm 146:3].

Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount, warned that one cannot serve two masters: God and mammon [the love of money and power]. Since when did Christianity extol arrogance, pride, egotism, insults; the love of money, political power, the use of torture and aggressive militarism? One would have to go back to the Crusades and the Inquisition to find illustrations of these things in Christendom.

It is painful to watch media people and politicians who once harshly criticized Trump now pushing each other out of the way to be at the head of the line to kiss his ring. Trump giving government positions to loyalists rather than to competent people with knowledge and experience should be of concern to all Americans. His so-called intelligence experts who refuse to distinguish between Islam and the Taliban, Islam and Al-Qaeda, Islam and ISIS, will create the clash of civilizations that was the hope and dream of Osama bin-Laden.

Trump has said that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese government. Yet, authorities, for example, have said recently that hundreds of people in Tennessee, a state with much coal-mining, have been hospitalized with breathing difficulties. Air quality is getting worse there as well as in Kentucky. Trump has promised to end various environmental regulations related to air pollution. What happens next in terms of people's health?

I want to end this column with some ominous observations based on my over 40 years of teaching history. I have heard from many liberal and conservative pundits, as well as friends and relatives, that America will survive the Trump presidency.

Well, many anti-Nazi Germans said similar things in 1933. Moreover, many Jews in 1933 said, “What can Hitler do, try to kill ALL of us?”

Will things in America be that bad? No! Trump says that he will unite America. Hitler said that he would unite Germany and he did so. He eliminated socialist and communist opposition; he eliminated the gypsies and the Jews; he eliminated the mentaly challenged and the disabled. Lest we forget, Germany had a constitution and there were people who thought that it would provide checks and balances on Hitler's power – it didn't. The Weimar constitution technically remained in effect throughout Hitler's time in power from 1933 to 1945.

At the very least, Trump has the ability to make the U.S. Supreme Court an arch-conservative court that will curtail voting rights, women's reproductive rights; gay rights, the rights of other minorities, measures to protect the environment, and ensure that the Congress remains in Republican hands for decades.

Trump is, in my view, the equivalent of the Dutch Afrikaner lager. The lager was the defensive encampment of the whites in South Africa. They surrounded themselves with wagons designed to keep out the much larger groups of black Africans, but eventually, they were overwhelmed. White Christian America in perpetual domination is a pipe dream. Multiculturalism is on the right side of history.


November 21, 2016
 

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