There is no phrase more detrimental to creating a sense of unity between two opposing sides than "get over it." While the GOP whined and wailed for eight years, Democratic supporters insisted that the Republicans get over it and get on with the business of helping the country. The result? The country is more divided than ever, and it is not completely the fault of the Democratic president.
Now that the GOP has a chance to crow about a unanimous win on Election Day, the term "get over it" is being brushed off and brought out again. Now it is the GOP telling Dems to get over it, accept the results, and get on with the business of running the country. All of this was going on while the Republican candidate insisted that he would not concede and cried that the results were fixed days before the election. Even after he won the election, he is still complaining about the results.
Leadership starts at the top, and minions will do whatever their leader tells them. I have never in my life seen the country so equally divided, and I have never seen one side so blindly loyal to its candidate. As Hillary Clinton slugged it out with Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries, Donald Trump cursed and rudely bowled his way over a field of GOP hopefuls so large they could have made up an entire hockey team. While Trump never gained a majority in the voting for the Republican nomination until just before the convention, he was obviously the candidate of choice.
This country will never be unified, and this election gives us all of the reasons why.
Political foes don't want to win so they can take office and help the country. They want to win so they can throw it in the opponent's face. If the candidates are not flipping off the opposition, then their legions of minions are out there holding the party line and making sure that a unified America is never a possibility.
Republicans don't want a unified America. They want an America based on their ideas and their ideologies. They want to make the Democrats suffer for the heinous crime of being the public's party of choice for the last eight years. The Republicans will make the Democrats pay, and it will be the public that is caught in the crossfire.
Democrats don't want a unified America. Democrats want to continue the status quo and allow everything to stay just the way it is. Even if you support the Democrats, you have to admit that there has to be change. Democrats want to spend the next two years telling everyone how horrible the GOP is at running the country so that the Dems can sweep mid-term elections and get the Congress back. At that point, the whole country will have to get over it because nothing will get done.
Instead of "get over it," Republicans should be saying "We really want to make changes and we want your help." But that is not the battle cry of a political party. Politics has everything to do with retaining power and wealth and nothing to do with helping people. The only politician who had any chance of really helping got run out of town by the DNC. That is something a lot of Democrats won't ever get over.
So we get more years of "get over it" until Trump exits the White House and the Dems can take back over and tell the GOP to "get over it." It is a never-ending cycle that does nothing to help a country that is crumbling from inside, going broke, rapidly losing status in the world, falling behind in education, and has the most corrupt healthcare system in the world.
The truth hurts, right?
Get over it.
(George N Root III is back! You can follow him on Twitter @georgenroot3 or you can send him a message at georgenroot3@gmail.com. If he doesn't respond to your email, just get over it.)