In the twelve-step world there is a joke: the 12 steps keep us from killing ourselves and the traditions keep us from killing each other. America is a society of rules, and America is a society of traditions. The rules protect us from each other and the traditions supposedly protect us from ourselves. Donald Trump, from the second he started running, broke the traditions. He was a blasphemous heretic the second he got off that escalator and opened his mouth. How dare anyone question the system? How dare anyone question not the rules but the unwritten rules and traditions? How dare anyone question the status quo and how dare anyone challenge, how dare anyone shock the system?

Life has many unwritten rules. In baseball you don’t throw behind a batter’s head; if a man is in the bathroom and there are open stalls, don’t pick the stall right next to him. You stand up when you shake a person’s hand, you wash your hands before you leave the restroom, even if no one is inside to witness this — oh, and yeah, there is the tradition that our media should be impartial. Irony is not a strong enough word to describe the hypocrisy that has gone on in this election, not just from the media, not just from people on the left. Sadly, it has also shown us the true colors of so many on the so-called right. Oh, and yeah, one more unwritten rule I forgot about: as a society we don’t believe in partial birth abortion.

I’m a “progressive” in many ways, as is the new Republican base. But if Donald Trump not adhering to the unwritten rule of conceding an election is what irked you, but not Hillary Clinton insisting that abortion is OK until the baby hits dry land, you and I live in some very different unwritten rule universe. Yes, I agree that if a women’s life is in danger her life always must come first, but any other example or case is downright murder. This isn’t a religious thing; it’s is a human thing. But this really does sum up who we have become as a society.

Honestly, whatever the differences are, whatever egregious felonies Hillary has committed, her answer on partial birth abortion should not just disqualify her as a candidate, it should disqualify her from the human race. And again I’m a so-called progressive on many social issues, and I’ve had a huge problem with many on the right for years on their stances on abortion and gay rights, but just as I will never capitulate on Israel I will never capitulate on partial birth murder. Honestly, I’m dumbfounded and flabbergasted that people are okay with breaking this both written and unwritten rule. One more time, Donald Trump broke some unwritten rule that most of us didn’t even know about — and how would we, since for the past 16 years we have heard from Al Gore and John Kerry and so many Democrats that Bush stole two elections, and here we have Hillary breaking a fundamental ethical rule of society: thou shall not commit murder.

Yes, I know this will not get me invited to many Hollywood parties, but it will definitely allow me to sleep with a clear conscience. All you never-Trumpers, all of you on the right who have decided to take a stand, all you Mormons in Utah who are voting for this Other guy, you have blood on your hands, and I don’t just mean that figuratively. Any vote not for Mr. Trump isn’t voting with your conscience, it’s voting without a conscience. Any person of any faith or any sense of humanity cannot vote for a person who is OK with partial birth murder. I don’t even get how this is an issue.

So if you are bothered with Mr. Trump not answering the question on whether or not he will accept the election results, and you are not bothered by Hillary being OK with murder, then God bless Mr. Trump. God bless him for showing us the bogus rigged system that we have, and God bless him for showing us the hypocrisy of our one party media and our one party government. Whether he wins, loses or draws, Mr. Trump has shown us who he is and who they are and who we are.

Mr. Trump says we are either a nation of rules or we are not, and some rule breaking we can survive. However, I am not sure if Hillary gets elected and gets the nominations on the Supreme Court of her choice that we can survive. Yes, we will survive as a people; I’m just not sure we will survive as humans. Some laws and some traditions when pressed and broken might not just lead to us killing each other; they just might lead to us killing ourselves.