Demonizing MAGA/Hillary Hats

Let’s kill democracy! In every US presidential election I remember, about half the folks liked one candidate and about half liked the other. Even when one guy wins in a landslide, a very big chunk of the population voted for the other.

In a democratic republic like ours, we need to be able to accept that. Not everyone agrees with our choice of candidate. The other guys may be dead wrong, but they have the right to believe what they believe and vote accordingly.

But today some people play politics like it’s a death sport. Shoot to kill! Trump is a racist and anti-Semite in spite of being the most pro-Israel politician ever, having a Jewish people in his family, and having supporters from all races and religions. 

Some people want to outlaw Trump’s campaign hats which have the slogan ‘Make America Great Again.’ They say it is the equivalent of the old Democrat-party KKK hood. 

But demonizing wearers of MAGA hats, or of Hillary campaign hats (she DOES support killing unborn babies) isn’t any kinder than hating people for having Black or White skin. (I capitalized words referring to ethnic, national or racial groups, so I don’t say ‘korean’ but ‘Korean.’ It’s not that weird a practice.)

And in a democracy, demonizing half or nearly half of the citizens isn’t very democratic. We have to stay America whether the Democrats, Republicans, Whigs or Libertarians win an election. And people need to work together. Not just in Congress, but in real life. If your co-worker dares to say to you that he supported Trump/Hillary even though you voted the other way, will you treat him like the KKK treats an African-American? Or will you acknowledge his value as a human being and his rights to his (wrong) opinion, at least enough to sell McDonald’s hamburgers together?

Democracy means we all are allowed to have opinions and express them. If we don’t like that, instead of turning our own country into a monolithic dictatorship, why not just move someplace that already has a dictatorship or a one-party system? Good democratic republics are hard to come by.

My own personal MAGA hat is a knit cap with the slogan on it. I don't wear ballcaps, but in Upper Michigan I wear knit caps all winter. Even at night. Because my head gets cold and I can't afford lots of home heating--- I'm on disability. I haven't had problems with haters when I wear my MAGA cap, though a guy at the feed mill called me 'Mrs Trump' because of my bumper sticker. But not in a mean way, and he was putting 100 pound bags of grain in my truck, so I wasn't offended.