The bullies have won . . .

After last week, I am convinced that the bullies have won.

Last week, the Presidential race was all but decided, and the GOP nominee is a man who relies on bluster and bluff to get his way.

The Democratic nominee is a woman whom the media have anointed to be the next President.

There are accepted positions to take on the hot-button issues of the day, and woe be unto you if you do not take those accepted positions.  Last week, I posted that I felt like I had to "stand there and take it" as far as a particular issue is concerned, and the response I got was, "Yes, you do."

A state and the federal government are suing each other over transgender bathrooms, and the feds are likely going to win because they are on the "acceptable" side of the issue.

This morning, a Facebook friend posted the picture of her child's bruise.  He was slugged at school after daring to speak against Clinton.

The event I keep flashing back to is when I was a senior in high school and dealing with bullies on the bus.  They were two boys who just would not leave me alone.  I finally got fed up one day and started screaming at them, and I punched one of them in the back.  That was one of the only two times I ever hit a bully.  I had been given the distinct impression that if I fought back, I would get into trouble and the bullies would not.

My parents took me off the bus and drove me to school for the rest of the year.  One day, one of the bullies saw me getting out of my parents' car and yelled, "Hey, Tina, why don't you ride the bus anymore?"

The day of the bus incident, I told my parents that the bullies had won.  I would do anything they said.  My mother screamed back at me, "Don't you DARE say they've won!"

But the fact was, they had.  They drove me off the bus, they beat me down emotionally, and I am still dealing with the issues.  This was not the only occasion when I was bullied.  It started in first grade and continued all through school.

The bullies are winning now.  They have the power and the resources to get what they want and to silence those who disagree with them.  You can be shamed and sued for disagreeing, and if you don't have deep pockets and a thick skin, you are sunk.

I didn't have the power and the resources to fight back against school bullies, and I don't have the power and the resources now to fight against current trends in society.  My opinion does not matter.

Author and conservative pundit Erick Erickson's new book is, You Will Be Made To Care, and it tackles some of the hot-button issues that society is dealing with.  What I would like to know is, what do you do when you are just too tired and too sad to care anymore?

I know we Christians win in the end, but right now, I may have to wait anywhere between 40 minutes and 40 years to see that happen.  Right now, I feel as if I'm lying on the mat of a boxing ring, the referee has counted "Ten!" and I can't get up.  I don't need to hear about my "ultimate victory".  I need to be helped to the locker room and given treatment for my injuries.  Maybe I need to go to the hospital and get my cuts stitched.  Then I need to meet with my trainer, who will either a) tell me what I need to do to win the next fight, or b) tell me that it's time to hang up my gloves.

I also know there are people who believe differently than I do on these hot-button issues.  Okay, that's your right under the First Amendment to believe as you do and express those beliefs.  But I feel as if everyone else has those rights and are allowed to express them without fear of retaliation, but when I or people who believe as I do express our beliefs, we are automatically shut down and crushed--and the people doing the shutting down and crushing are the ones with the resources to do so.

Mentally and emotionally, I cannot fight anymore.

The bullies have won.

Just my .04, adjusted for inflation.