I have kept myself pretty insulated since the election. I
couldn’t watch Hillary’s concession speech, I could barely read the transcript
from Obama’s post-election speech, and of course I avoided anything about that
man. I was able to get on Twitter for an hour or so the other day and retweet
the Onion or Ricky Gervais or anything that approximated what I was maybe
feeling except that I refused to actually feel. Yesterday night, I finally
broke down and cried. I watched Sam Bee’s pre and post-election specials and I
cried. I feel sad, and anxious, and shocked. However, after also watching Keith
Olbermann’s latest bit on GQ and after seeing the media, who I hold almost
entirely responsible for providing this man with anything approaching
legitimacy, trying to now normalize this event, wrap it with a bow, and still
make a case for the decency of the American people, the feeling I most felt was
anger. Good. Anger. I can work with that and make it productive.
There are so many facets to the results of this election,
that I feel like the best way now to organize my head, vent, and to figure out
what to do next was to mind-dump everything here. I haven’t decided if I am
going to publish this on my blog. My first inclination was to keep this
personal to keep it more honest, but now I am leaning towards publishing it
because I no longer feel the need to censor myself, and I no longer care what
anyone thinks about what I have to say. If I am feeling this way, it is valid.
Electoral College – I’m talking about this first
because it is the easiest. The people did not elect that man, the system
elected that man. Yes, it’s a technicality. Yes, it’s a minor point out of the
others I am going to make, but now that Paul punch-face Ryan is calling this
election a Republican MANDATE, it is still a point to make. We need to get rid
of the electoral college because in this case as in the case of Al Gore in
2000, it does not reflect the will of the people, which means that technically
this was not a democratic election. The electoral college is antiquated and it
doesn’t work, and Paul Ryan can take that mandate and stick it up his ass.
There is work being done here. For those of you that care, check this out –
this is a BI-PARTISAN effort. http://www.democracynow.org/2016/11/8/beyond_the_electoral_college_a_state
The Other – I am embarrassed to be a white person in
America right now. The fact that I am also a woman doesn’t matter because white
women also turned out a majority vote for that man. I completely reject the
fact that this is a problem of the liberal-elite urban class failing to
recognize the struggles of the white working-class rural and ex-urban
Americans. In fact, I think rural America fails to see the struggles of our
diverse cities and fails to understand what being of color in this country
truly means. Being white has bestowed upon them the greatest privilege that can
be bestowed upon a person in this country. They did NOTHING to earn this
privilege. Rural and ex-urban America has insulated itself from reality, whipped
themselves into a frenzy of Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, and Breitbart hate, and
now wants to point to black and brown people as being somehow responsible for
their plight. This fear of the Other is not based in reality. There is no
Other. There is only humanity. Regardless of color, we are all people with
mothers and fathers, with capacity for love and kindness. We are all trying to
achieve the same dream. The system rural, white America constantly votes for,
and the billionaire they just elected isn’t going to do anything to help them
or anyone else achieve this. He doesn’t give a shit about them. He’s a sociopath
and a con, and he used their deepest and unfounded anxieties to elevate himself
to the highest office in our nation. He is now the face of America, and the
world is looking on us in pity. I hope someday white America realizes that all
humans want the same things – we all want safety, security, and happiness – but
we all need to come together to achieve those things, not point fingers at each
other. I truly hope that we are better than this, but today I am not only embarrassed
to be white, I am embarrassed to be an American.
Hate and the Media – This is the central theme of
this election cycle. With the exception of NPR, I no longer have faith in the
media in this country. When you put a profit motive on anything, you create
impure incentives. When a 24-hour news cycle needs viewers and advertising
dollars to justify itself, it will report on whatever sensationalist BS will
get people to watch. It will subvert truth if truth doesn’t directly contribute
to the bottom line. Sensationalism sells, and what is more sensationalist than
hate? This hate environment has been created by the media sources I mention
above; Fox News, Breitbart, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck (I don’t care how
reformed he claims to be). They’ve spun lies and deceit to make Mexicans,
Muslims, Barack Obama, whatever, ENEMIES. That man we elected, he just took
advantage of this. As much as I blame those who created this environment, I
also blame those who allowed it to exist in order to remain impartial. I blame
CNN; I even blame MSNBC. The point of journalism is not to be impartial. The
point of journalism is to deliver TRUTH to the PEOPLE. The media, all of them,
allowed that train-wreck a stage, a voice, and didn’t do nearly enough to
dispel his continuous stream of lies. Why? Because no one can take their eyes off
a train-wreck, and if people are watching, then the media and all of their
pundits make money. For the time being, I am only listening to NPR and comedy
shows, which have somehow been BETTER at the news and truthiness (Guess what?
Laughter also sells, and it’s a way better emotion).
I just read this article in Rolling Stone about hate in the
media, and there was one thing I could take away from it. 1 – This hate breeds
extreme anxiety and it is way more prevalent among conservatives, and 2 – It
doesn’t matter who is in office because hate will continue to sell, it’s just
going to find a new target. So, conservatives, your news outlet is just going
to try and convince you to keep hating, they will try to keep you anxious, and
therefore they will keep profiting off your misery. All you have to do is turn
it off. The truth is out there in much easier to swallow formats. Please reject
hate and reject hate-filled media. Make a friend who is Pakistani or Native
American or Mexican. I am happy, and I feel like I am a better person in life because
I am surrounded by such a strong, smart, and DIVERSE group of people. I think
you can be too.
Religion and Hypocrites – That man also, by virtue of
getting the white vote, also got the evangelical, Christian, and Catholic vote.
I don’t understand the hypocrisy. I was raised Catholic. My grandfather was one
of the kindest and most generous people I have ever known. One year, he told me
he was voting Democrat in that year’s election. Now, for those of you who don’t
know, this is mostly frowned upon because of, you know, ABORTION (true, but
insert huge eye-roll here). He said he was doing so because he thought that
Republicans weren’t doing enough to help the poor. Huh what a concept; that
maybe one of his religion’s most central concepts – compassion – should be more
important than abortion. I’m not saying abortion is not an issue or that people
shouldn’t care about it. I’m just saying that when a person votes on a single
issue, then they are simultaneously saying that all of the other issues don’t
matter. In this case, sanctity of marriage, peace, love, tolerance, and
brotherhood are all less important on that punch-ticket to heaven. Who is this
Jesus character these Christians are talking about? Because, I’m pretty sure in
my 12 years of Catholic schooling and in the model set by my grandfather that
compassion was his number one thing. That man and his two Corinthians is an
abomination against everything their (remind you, middle-eastern, Jewish)
savior taught about love.
Voter Suppression – If the only way Republicans can
win is via an electoral college, redistricting, and voter suppression, then
they don’t deserve to win, and they don’t deserve to represent America. This is
the first election without the full protection of the Voting Rights Act, the
first election after 14 states passed restrictive measures to prevent people of
color, young people, poor people (i.e. people that tend to vote Democrat) from
voting. Guess how many of those states swung blood red in 2016? Yeah. All of
them. I don’t care about the exact effect these measures had on the outcome of
the election. It doesn’t matter. What matters is the intent, and the intent is
to suppress the freedoms inherent in a supposed democratic society. These white
lawmakers, again as if being born white isn’t enough of a privilege, are trying
to make sure that black people still only count as if they were worth 3/5 a
white person. STILL. In 2016. Also, if I hear one more thing about voter fraud,
I will implode. It doesn’t exist. Again, it’s another fear whipped up by the
rabid, right-wing conspiracy engine to justify white people being racist.
The real discussion needs to be around redistricting and how
legislators with their crayons can create these insane maps that may look like
some drunken clown’s version of Jackson Pollock. Really, these maps, with
surgical precision, piece together individual voters into districts in order to
dilute their voice among a larger majority. Historically, this has been done to
dilute the voice of racial minorities, but really, with the large amounts of
census data available, segregation can be accomplished on any metric – color,
age, economic status. Both sides of the political aisle are guilty of this, but
as technologies have advanced and more granular data have become available, the
effects of redistricting have become most egregious recently with Republicans
in charge. This needs to stop at all levels of government. I feel it is a very
dangerous practice that will put into place a false and permanent majority in
this country. Then no one’s voice will be heard.
Economics and Other Policy Choices – This election
was never based on policy. 1 – Because that man is an idiot, and obviously has
no idea how the government (the military, foreign policy, the economy, the
Federal Reserve, taxes, immigration, a woman’s reproductive organs, and on and
on) works, so he 2 – Took policy or any intelligent discussion out of the
election in a sort of used-car-salesman, winking, smarmy manner, telling us to
trust him before going back to hurling insults and spewing incoherent babble
about how big league everything will be once he takes office. What does that
even MEAN? Anyone who says they voted for that man based on economic discontent
or policy, needs to understand that policy requires a little more thought than
building a wall. At least it should go into how that wall will be built and paid
for, really. Like, other than by Mexico. And there needs to be complete
sentences. And he can’t use the word huge. He doesn’t HAVE ANY POLICIES.
Therefore, I question anyone who says to have voted for him based on policy. A
little inner reflection is necessary, because you could be as bigoted as he is,
and you really voted for him because “Jews control the media!” or “Mexicans
took my job!” or “Women belong in the kitchen!” or some other simplistic
complaint that at the base of it just shows how ignorant your decision was and
how dangerous for this country.
Women and Hillary Clinton – This is where I get the
most upset. Let’s talk about Hillary first. Was she an ideal candidate?
UGGGHHH. Don’t act like this matters. It doesn’t matter because she is a SHE. She
was never going to be ideal (forget ideal, she wasn’t even going to be
qualified enough) for white men (and apparently self-hating white women)
because women are constantly being held to impossible standards. Hillary
Clinton is THE MOST experienced candidate in the history of American elections.
She is smart, she is hard-working, and she has the political chops to get stuff
done. Does she have baggage? Yes. But it’s baggage that America has heaped upon
her at every turn of her life in the public eye. She is the most scrutinized
political figure ever to have run for president. First, because she’s been on
the national stage for so long, but second, because she is a powerful, female
figure and that scares the shit out of less-enlightened men. The establishment
has heaped scandal on top of controversy on top of criticism on top of dog shit
on this woman for her entire career. Whitewater, keeping her maiden name,
hyphenating Rodham-Clinton, having brown hair, having long hair, being too
involved in policy in her role as first lady (not being wifey enough), sticking
by her husband after Lewinsky (being too wifey), the Clinton Foundation, Benghazi,
not smiling enough, raising her voice, the FUCKING EMAILS. Basically, my take
on it is if someone has been under the microscope for this fucking long, and
the Republicans can STILL find nothing, it’s probably because, surprise,
NOTHING IS THERE. They sure gave us a narrative, though, didn’t they? I’m not
fooled. This was never about Hillary. This was about her being a smart,
powerful woman, which apparently even in the 21st century is still a
threat to American masculinity.
Who better to paint the black to the white than our current
president elect? That slimy, disgusting, abuser of women – with his beauty
pageants, and his mail-order brides, and three wives, and incestuous obsession
with his daughter. This isn’t something I learned on election day, but this is
something that will be one continuous slap in the face the next four years
(even after that man is impeached, because let’s face it, his vice president is
no better). That is this – men don’t think women matter, and more a slap in the
face, Republican women don’t think women matter… And, even if I knew this
before on some level, this election has told us that it is OK to feel that way.
I’m so sick of this narrative. First, we shouldn’t try to achieve because we
can’t, then we shouldn’t try to achieve because we shouldn’t (it’s not our
place), then we shouldn’t try to achieve because our performance will be less,
then when our performance is as good or better, we don’t get promoted or paid
at the same rates. We are the weaker sex, we have delicate sensibilities, we
are too emotional, we are defined by our bodies, all of it bullshit. The
strongest people I know in life have been women, and that’s probably because we
have to be stronger. We have to go to school, work, have babies, take care of
our families, take care of our homes, and do it all with zero complaints and a
pretty smile because God forbid we don’t know our place, like Hillary didn’t
know hers. Half of this white country voted for him. That means that because
I’m white, half of my family and then half of my white friends also voted for
him. What does that mean about what they truly think of me? The white people I
love – Do they think I’m less of a person? Do they not acknowledge my
accomplishments? Are they dismissive of my brain? Do they think I’m less
deserving of respect? Is my sister less deserving? Is my mom less deserving?
From Hillary’s concession speech – “To all the little girls who are watching
this: never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every
chance in the world to pursue your dreams.” I cry because this needs to be said
at all, but I also cry because it doesn’t matter if I or the little girls
believe it, it only matters if men believe it.
The Non-Voters – To those of you who declined to vote
for President and especially to those of you who declined to vote at all, I am
most angry at you. You have a duty as a citizen to educate yourself and to vote.
America needed you, and you failed. Turnout this cycle was the lowest it’s been
since the 1980s. If you’re going to come out and vote any time, it should be
when there’s a sociopathic, fascist ape running. Don’t think you’re better for
not having voted for that man when you also didn’t vote for Hillary. The fact
that you think this was an exercise in intellectual futility because both sides
were so equally weighted with experience, and brains, and fucking sanity that
you just couldn’t choose means, to me, that you might as well have chosen him.
Also, Gary Johnson is a fucking moron.
I’m going to spend the next few weeks figuring out what to
do next. We know Hillary won the popular vote. We know that people are pissed.
Now is the time to organize. I’m going to start by writing letters to every
Democratic female in the Senate and in the House. Then, I am going to donate to
Planned Parenthood. THEN, I am going to figure out how I can help bring us
together because the oppressed in this country outnumber Republican white men.
We are women, we are LGBT, we are Black Lives Matter, we are people of all
colors, we are every spectrum of native and immigrant, and while we still have
a voice, we can win. I will never forget how angry and sad I am. I will never
get over this, and I will fight for what I think is the best thing about
America – diversity, inclusion, and EQUAL OPTIONS in the pursuit of happiness.
In the meantime, I hope our elected Democrat representatives
truly do represent us by doing everything in their power to shut this shit
down. Obama was elected (with the popular vote) TWICE. Republicans worked in
the darkest, most subversive corners of our broken system to thwart progress
for EIGHT YEARS. They created the do-nothing Congress. Now, let’s make them try
and do something. Let’s try to make them fight and scratch and claw for every
concession, even it’s minor, and even if it is something we agree with. The
system is broken, and isn’t going to be fixed until the pain is felt by both
sides. Good luck with your wall, you fucking asshole.
Keep the anger, but always remember there are things to be
happy about. Hell yeah, Tammy Duckworth!
