It feels important to begin this letter with a confession at the risk of forfeiting my right to an opinion, at least in the eyes of many – you see, I did not vote.

When given the choice between two megalomaniacs, one an open bigot and the other two-faced, I refused to choose either and simultaneously saw no value in the charade of voting for myself, or Bernie or some other fringe candidate.

The notion of a mechanical action, of marking a ballot, being a prerequisite to public speech has always struck me as absurd. “If you don’t vote, don’t complain” is an irrational expression. There seems to be more logic in the idea that if you do vote you shouldn’t complain—after all, voting for any candidate is first and foremost a vote for the system itself.

My intent here, however, is neither to complain about the election of Donald Trump nor the defeat of advocates for the status quo; I see Trump’s victory as an historic opportunity to reflect on American values.

Early this morning a rather subdued version of Donald Trump gave a victory speech in front of his supporters, in which he thanked Hillary Clinton for her service to America: “Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country,” he said.

He then added, with a conciliatory tone: “I mean that very sincerely. Now it is time for America to bind the wounds of division.”

Morning talk show pundits began examining the possibility of Trump the Peacemaker, the Uniter. One report, which I heard, suggested that Trump’s antagonistic belligerence during his campaign was merely theatrics. That may be so but overlooked in this assessment is the fact that a large percentage of Americans voted for Trump in good faith that his venom and bigotry were not merely theatrics.

Trump’s core supporters have no intention of pursuing reconciliation—some of their biggest cheers during his speeches came when he stated that he would send Clinton to prison; they surely felt betrayed when Trump suggested that they owe her “gratitude” for her service.

Trump has attracted enormous support from people who, rather than desiring conciliation, seek to drive wedges and build walls. They want separation, not unification. They want a promise to renew and strengthen the “white” entitlement to the “American Dream.”

I must admit a degree of admiration for their forthrightness. A large segment of the electorate voted for Trump in the hope of insulating themselves from outsiders who threaten to diminish their “Dream” entitlement.

They recognize that limited natural resources necessarily limit access to success in living the dream. They unabashedly accept that their happiness relies on denying the same degree of happiness to others. They embrace the reality that, in our global village, I can only have more if someone has less. It takes chutzpah to publicly acknowledge and advocate for such a reality and they are certainly not looking for temperance now that victory is assured.

Likewise, many Trump voters seemed drawn to their candidate’s message of intolerance for American minorities—it was precisely Trump’s hateful bigotry which inspired much of his support. If he now turns into a moderator, these supporters will not only feel betrayed but will turn to an even more genuinely vitriolic separatist candidate in the next election.

I propose that the great value of Tuesday’s outcome lies not in the possibility of reconciliation, but in the undeniable realization of the racism, misogyny and other forms of despicable bigotry emerging from the shadows of American ideology. The humanitarian shortcomings of capitalism’s greedy, self-absorbed agenda and the façade of the “American Dream” have been exposed. Our skeletons are out of the closet.

Election 2016 indicted the politic status quo which keeps the true nature of “getting ahead” concealed from the American consciousness. Efforts at maintaining a mollifying two party political centrism will, no doubt, be revised and redoubled, but the next four years will provide an opportunity for Democrats to move left, to pursue a humanitarian agenda in response to their opponents on the right.

If Trump’s election can waken a liberal spirit, if it can help to shift the “American Dream” away from capitalism toward compassion, then Trump’s ascendancy will have been worth it.

–James Keane,

English graduate student