Democracy

Well I must admit that I was very surprised when I woke up this morning and James told me that Donald Trump looked virtually guaranteed to win the US Election. I pride myself on having an excellent instinct for how an electorate is going to vote, and I was spot on when predicting the outcomes of the Scottish Independence Referendum and the Brexit Referendum. However this time I was wrong; I had thought that Hillary Clinton would scrape through with a very small majority. My excuse is that I clearly don't have my finger on the pulse of America the way I do at home! 

Donald Trump was magnanimous in his victory speech, and Hillary was gracious in her speech of defeat. They both talked of America pulling together, and with that I do agree. Even though I suspect that Donald would have made a tremendous fuss and would have cried foul if he had lost, the fact of the matter is that democracy has taken place and the people have spoken. And that is the way it works. In the recent referendums both the Scottish Nationalists and the pro-Europe campaigners have been breathless with indignation when they lost. They have accused the people who voted the other way from them of being wrong, deluded, immoral, ignorant. What they can't seem to accept is that referendums and elections are democracy in action. I can totally understand how bitterly disappointed many people in the USA must be feeling today. I am no fan of Donald (in fact I have a soft spot for Hillary after reading her autobiography and feel gutted for her) but a democratic election has taken place and there is little point in whining about it - Donald Trump is going to be the 45th President of the USA.