Silence is not the cure for what ails us

So, Donald Trump won in New Hampshire, Nikki Haley lost. I'm disappointed, but I believe in the integrity of elections and accept the result. Wow, that wasn't that hard.

Sometimes I use this opportunity to tell personal stories. I do that either to inform or warn people of something going on that I've experienced — like that attempted fake-police scam last Valentine's Day — and sometimes it's to let other people know: it's happened to me to, you're not alone. Today, I'm sharing one that I hope does both.

I went to sleep late Tuesday, deflated, and woke up early Wednesday ready to get back to real life. I checked my phone and saw it had blown up overnight with nearly 70 notifications. I found that odd because I hadn't even posted anything the night before, let alone anything that would be interesting enough to garner 70 people weighing in. (I'm clearly not that popular, 70 would be big for me.)

So, curious enough that I didn't even wait for my first morning cup of tea, I logged in. In the overnight hours, someone with either way too much time, or too many post-Trump victory party drinks on his or her hands, had created a Facebook page titled, “Alicia Preston is a worthless RINO.” (Republican in Name Only). As a matter of fact, the profile picture was taken from the one in this column. Is that a copyright issue? Kidding.

Ok, so, this is just a silly and childish act and I'll get to the “RINO” part in a moment. But what disturbed me was this individual, titled "Alicia Preston is a worthless RINO,” subsequently trolled my actual page “laughing” at photos and comments going back nearly a year. I stopped counting at 60. I'm not even talking political posts, which would be fair game. I'm talking about pictures of Rina and our dog, Atticus. Pictures of the two of us out to lunch. Her graduation. Her prom. Her dance recital. It went on and on, more than 60 times. This person is now not only harassing me, but a teenager.

Why? That answer is easy, to shut me up. And if this Trump sycophant is doing it to me, he/she is doing it to others, and others are doing it to others. Attempting to scare us into silence in our support for Haley and/or more likely, our opposition to Donald Trump. Actually, his diehards consider those two points to be precisely the same. When did that become a thing? If I support candidate A, I am a disloyal enemy to candidate B. We all know where that came from, and it certainly isn't America.

Trump and his allies and fawners like to attack Democrats for being “fascists.” But you know what comes from the playbook of fascism? Silencing your critics and political opponents. I cannot overstate this fact. That is how fascists gain power. Invoke fear — by harassing or threatening someone or worse, their family. Well, sorry, this isn't the 1940s, and this is America. My mouth is wide open, and my fingertips will keep typing, and I hope others this is happening to — in whatever manner it is happening — join me in continuing whatever political voice we want to share.

As for the “RINO” thing? All I can say is this: I haven't flipped my party affiliation five times, promoted an internet sales tax and supported anything that increases the national debt by $8 trillion. And while Wolf Blitzer never asked me anything, if he did, I wouldn't note, “In many cases, I probably identify more as Democrat… It just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans.” So, who's the “RINO?”

While I got a little “Mama Bear” about this situation, Rina handled it a little differently. “Clapping back,” as the youngin' referred to it. She commented on this new page that seemed to target her more than me with comments such as, “HMU on Insta and Snap... I need more followers.” (Translation: Hit me up on Instagram and Snapchat.) And inviting him/her to a dance class, welcoming her new “bestie,” and questioning after some time, why he/she was ignoring her. She ain't afraid.

I know why some may wonder why, in the midst of what is obviously so much dangerous divisiveness in this country right now — when I'm calling out what I perceive as threatening intimidation — I would mention Rina's name. The answer is, she asked me to.

She too will not be silenced or be forced to fear her beliefs and will be vocal about them. She's 19. Y'all got, God willing, her voice to deal with a lot longer than mine, and no matter what, her voice is speaking. I support her right and more importantly, her willingness to speak it.

I don't know how we change the dangerous course we are on right now. I don't know if or when we will ever get back to agreeable disagreements and open conversations without fear or intimidation. What I do know is this: silence is not the cure for what ails us. Let's be loud.