5 reasons why America will be OK, even if your candidate didn’t win
Chin up, America: You’ve still got a lot going on.
Many of us aren't jazzed about the next president of the United States, and we knew that was going to be the case before the election. Just 37% of Americans held a favorable view of Donald Trump, as Real Clear Politics’ average showed on Election Day. Only 41% like Hillary Clinton.
If you’re feeling hopeless about America’s future, turn off the TV, log out of social media and meditate on these five American treasures.
A melting pot of deliciousness
The cheeseburger. Chocolate chip cookies. Deep dish pizzas. Jambalaya. Hot wings. This 20-ounce cheeseburger served with two pepperoni pizza as buns.
A nation of immigrants resulted in a food culture that’s big, weird, loud and diverse. No one eats like Americans, in any sense. No, we don’t have the most Michelin-starred restaurants. But in America, food is set free.
There’s classic roadside diners, cutting-edge food trucks and that bakery in New York that made the cronut. There’s barbecue joints from Kansas City to Carolina, plus Guy Fieri and whatever American “cheese” is.
If you have to eat away your sadness after an election, you can be proud to be an American.
Thank God for sportsball
Look, yeah, we have a new president and all but the biggest story of November is the Chicago Cubs. The World Series champions swept away a curse and swept up our hearts.
Basically everyone outside of Cleveland rooted for the Cubs, and Joe Maddon is roughly 1000 times more likable than either major party’s nominee this year.
Sports unite us like nothing else, and America’s biggest games – football, baseball and basketball – top any sport birthed elsewhere in the world. (Soccer too often ends in draws, which are un-American.)
As the seasons change, baseball gives way to college football and the NFL, then basketball carries us through to spring again. With Election Day over, let’s get back to obsessing and arguing over what really matters: Our latest fantasy football takeaways are here.
The great American outdoors
This year marked the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service and its mission to preserve and protect our national wonders from sea to shining sea. And our system of 59 national parks – set aside, preserved and protected for public enjoyment – is uniquely American.
Grand Canyon National Park is one of the world’s greatest national wonders. The cypress cathedral of the Everglades National Park offers an almost spiritual experience. Death Valley National Park’s arid beauty lures visitors to the hottest place on earth.
“In many countries in the world the most spectacular places were set aside for leaders, kings, queens, and so on,” Sally Jewell, Secretary of the Interior, told Paste BN in July.
In the USA, “they’re set aside for everybody,” Jewell said. “They are our crown jewels. They are our culture. They are history. They tell the story of America in a very poignant and full way.”
Paul Rudd. That's it. Just Paul Rudd.
That Bud Lite commercial where Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer unite America got it right.
“Paul Rudd,” Schumer says. “Everybody loves Paul Rudd.”
It’s true. Paul Rudd is intensely likable. And he’s ours, America.
And no matter where America’s at halfway through the first term of Trump's presidency, we’ll have 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp starring Rudd to look forward to.
It’s (still) a free country
The fact that Trump is the next leader of the free world might terrify you, but the fact that your fellow American voters could vote such a candidate into office in the first place is a marvel you shouldn’t take for granted.
Only 40% of the world is currently free as classified by Freedom House, an American organization that advocates for democracy. The group rates the freedom of each of the world’s 195 countries using a system of 25 indicators, determining each as free, partly free or not free.
Out of the world’s 125 electoral democracies, America’s is the oldest of the bunch. So whether you voted for an out-of-touch 60-something millionaire or an out-of-touch 70-something billionaire, in four years we the people get to pick the president all over again. Sort of. The Electoral College is confusing.
God bless America.
Follow Josh Hafner on Twitter: @joshhafner