This is who we are. While I recently wrote that we were an optimistic country that wants to and usually does do the right thing, it seems that we as a country took a decided detour away from that ideal.
This is what the majority of the people of the United States are.
As someone wrote, we love a rapist more than women, a felon more than the person who spent her life enforcing the law.
Millions of people actively and apparently enthusiastically voted against their self-interests. Just as William Allen White wrote about farmers voting for politicians who passed legislation that hurt farmers, people voted for the party and policies that will hurt their lives, from cutting social security to cutting taxes for the wealthy to easing regulations that make us safer.
People seemingly are OK with a regime (and I use that term intentionally) that wants to ignore the words on the Statue of Liberty about the country being a refuge and place of opportunities, opportunities that most of the people who live in this country have enjoyed
People have believed and accepted all the fearmongering about crime, about the “threat” of LGBTQ+ and especially transgendered people, LEGAL immigrants, DEI, a failing economy, and how it is better to make sure the rich get richer and so much more.
And then about the status and treatment of women. While 7 states passed bills trying to protect the right to reproductive health care, more Americans than not voted to support a candidate and ticket that limits women’s rights to bodily autonomy and honestly, encourages a world where women are second-class citizens without the same rights as men.
I could go on. But this is who we are as a nation, if you are to believe to election results. And unlike many, I do believe and accept election results. Even when I don’t like them.
But as individuals, we are not all like this. What do we do? Vice President Harris had a great line in her concession speech. “I concede the election, but I do not concede the fight.”
So, I fight. Even though I view more than half of the electorate with some distrust because what they have done to so many people, it is still my world. There have been many other people who are trying to figure out what to do, and here is a brief list of things that I have found or things which I hope will help:
· Lean on trusted social networks (not just the online ones!) and expand them when you can. A neighborhood is still a neighborhood.
· Live your life as an example of what you want for the country. Be kind. Share. Love when you can and at least be tolerant when you can’t. Show people by example what we can be.
· Don’t doom scroll or only watch MSNBC or Fox or whatever. Use your Netflix subscription. Read a book. Go for a walk. Still travel to learn.
· Learn something new. Take a class. Start a project. Ideally, do this together with that social network mentioned above.
· Write a poem. Paint a picture. Plant flowers. Paint your house. Find beauty and make some of your own.
· Do something for others. It isn’t all about you. It doesn’t have to be a grand gesture—the smallest kindness can make a difference and they do add up.
I don’t fully know. We are entering uncertain and different times that are far from the American ideals of a country of hope and kindness. That may be the only certainty that we have. But while there is this seismic shift with the majority, the minority still can make a difference. I am going to try and help.
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