Illegitimate!

Not my president!

I don’t consent!

As America prepared for the inauguration of Donald Trump, I saw a lot that kind of sentiment being expressed.

Welcome to my world.

You see, I came to this conclusion some time ago. But not because Barack Obama was occupying the White House.

That’s were most of these people suddenly caterwauling about legitimacy go off the rails. They’re freaking out because they don’t like the guy who will soon grasp the reins of power. Donald Trump scares them because of what he might do. This whole J20 Protest focuses on a personality and what they perceive he represents. If Obama was preparing to hand off the crown and scepter to Hillary Clinton, legitimacy would not be in question.

I have to be honest; cries of illegitimacy and “I don’t consent” ring a little hollow in my ears. Because they do consent. They spent the last eight years consenting –  cheering and lobbying and enabling the system. They gleefully wielded its power and attempted to mold the world into their image. They nodded in approval at every expansion of federal authority to advance their preferred polices. They justified every executive overreach. They lauded the decisions of politically connected lawyers when they correctly imposed the “correct” views on 300-plus million people.  And now these same people are upset because they don’t like the guy next in line to wield the power they helped unleash?

Too bad!

Actually, it makes me sad. Millions of people are expressing outrage and screaming “illegitimate” at Donald Trump. Thousands are taking to the streets in protest. But they don’t bat an eye at the illegitimacy of the system itself – a process of ordering society based on coercion, force and violence.

In reality, it’s what they want. And now they have it – – embodied in Donald Trump.