No One Deserves an America Like This
The following text was originally posted on my Facebook page. It sets the backdrop for an upcoming series of posts I have planned on activism, and so I republish it here to give you some context on who I am as a political being living in the United States post-Election 2016.
DISCLAIMER: This post is for those interested in my thoughts. If you don’t care about my opinion, please just keep scrolling.
ALSO: This is not an invitation for internet-style debate. If you agree with me, by all means comment! If you disagree with me and can do so while simultaneously owning that your analysis is your analysis and not the only analysis, please comment!
As you may have recently been made aware, my blocking finger works on a hair trigger. My house, my rules. My uterus, my rules. My Facebook page, my rules.
One of the things that makes me furious about the aftermath of Election 2016 is the argument lobbed at me (always unsolicited, of course) that American voters—specifically those of us who voted for Hillary—got what we deserved, because Bernie.
Arguments in this category are not one-dimensional. You’ve got your “evil Hillary!”, your “corrupt DNC ergo evil Hillary”, your “fuck the two-party system”, and so on. (Plus all the possible permutations. You know, on that rare occasion someone using the internet realizes that the system that led to Hillary’s nomination is hella complex and a root cause can’t actually be boiled down to one thing.)
Me? I don’t outright dismiss any of these arguments. I find some of them ring much truer than others. But going down that path is to venture a little too far from my thesis, which is:
None of us—particularly those of us who voted for Hillary, but even those who voted Trump—deserve Trump as president.
He is a horrible human being, and he spent his campaign pitting white males against literally everyone else. Not everyone fell for it, of course. But some did. Others didn’t even have to fall—they were right there waiting for the man to free them from the “shackles of political correctness” or, put another way, provide them salvation from any obligation to follow the Golden Rule.
Trump inexplicably picked up votes from some he didn’t even try to woo, too–namely white women.
(What the ever-lovin’-fuck, you guys? I’d ask y’all to help me understand what that demographic was thinking, but I don’t think my heart’s ready yet.)
You probably already know I wasn’t alive for Nixon’s campaign. But I’d read about his Southern Strategy, seen the oft-referenced First Civil Right campaign ad of 1968, noticed a pattern in Trump’s rhetoric, and thought to myself, “Shiiiiiit. We won’t do that again, right?”
Plus, people were making legit comparisons between Trump’s surge in popularity and the rise of Hitler for chrissakes.
If you’re interested in getting a snapshot of where I stand politically, I was 98% in agreement with Bernie on policy and 97% with Hillary according to ISideWith.com. I voted Bernie in the Illinois primary, and was disappointed he didn’t get the nod. But I was not devastated that Hillary did. So, fuck yes I was excited a woman had a shot at the presidency. But, fuck no, I wasn’t merely voting against Y-chromosomes.
Anyway, on Tuesday morning, November 8, I was excited about a Hillary win. Not because I thought she was perfect but because I thought she was way more than qualified for the job, she had pulled off some pretty impressive wins for the underdogs in her 30 years of public service, and she would be the most likely to help and protect underrepresented groups in America. I fall into two of Donald’s “other” categories: woman and disabled. People I love fiercely fall into virtually all of the “other” categories I don’t.
Being sick and low on energy, I was hoping to have four years of holding Hillary accountable and making some sort of progress. However, instead I have to go full-on activist to make sure America doesn’t collectively lose more ground in human rights. You can’t reasonably deny the subway harassment, the swastikas spray painted on dugouts, children telling other children they have to “go home” now. And you have to take seriously every political promise to curtail women’s reproductive rights, revoke marriage equality, deport our neighbors, and on and on.
BECAUSE THEY ARE COUNTING ON YOU NOT TO. THEY DON’T NEED YOUR BLESSING. THEY NEED YOUR APATHY.
Bottom line: No one deserves an America like that. Especially not anyone who voted at every opportunity to prevent it.
