I’ve been avoiding writing recently because all I could think to write is something vaguely akin to this:
AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHNOOOOEEROOROOEOOOOOAHHHHH!!!
Which is not helpful.
But recently, I’ve begun to think thoughts that are, if not helpful, at least potentially constructive.
Maybe it’s the very beginnings of spring creeping into my psyche after what feels like a very long winter. Maybe I’ve had time to process the evil clownshow that is currently masquerading as the U.S. government. Whatever it is, it’s a welcome change for me, so I thought I’d share.
The vast majority of discussion in my tiny, weird circle of the internet (my RSS reader of lefty writing + lefty/arty/music Mastodon) has been focused on cataloging the wrongs done by the Trump administration. And rightfully so. It’s crucial that people understand what’s going on.
Left/progressive activism has focused people’s energy on Trump + Elon. Again, that makes sense. After all, they are the evilest of evil clowns, and they’re currently running our government into the ground.
But the truth is, Trump is a legally elected president. And that is the real tragedy of this situation.
Should Trump be our rightfully-elected president? Of course he shouldn’t. He won that position (twice!!) because of a lifetime of psychological manipulation, both domestic and foreign. He won because of a lifetime of gerrymandering so that Republicans have an advantage in the stupid, stupid Electoral College. He won because of how incredibly, disturbingly good advertising has gotten at manipulating people.
But there was a deep, hurtful truth that welled up in me when I heard the election results: THIS is the result of the tireless, powerful engine of all political motion in the United States of America since I was born in 1981. What we are seeing today is what’s been desperately trying to get to the surface for my entire 43 years of life. And my generational cohort (X/millennial) has been gliding along, complicit. We have ridden the comfortable wave of post-World War II US success and power with minimal bitching and near-zero action. Even those of us who knew evil, terrible, anti-human things were afoot.
The Rwanda genocide, the 2000 election, the Iraq war, the Patriot Act, the housing crisis, Citizens United
The list goes on and on, but these are top-of-mind atrocities perpetrated or allowed by the U.S. government throughout my adult life. In each case, I remember being deeply disturbed, and doing next-to-nothing. I didn’t even really talk too much about these things with people I know, because those conversations are unpleasant. I just internalized them as part of our “fucked up system” and moved on with my life. (Okay, to be fair to myself, I did paint “An eye for an eye makes the world go blind” on my car in my Texas college town after 9/11. The paint on my car was never the same after all those eggs, but that’s probably the only meaningful change that particular bit of abstract activism brought on.)
All the while, I was equally disturbed by what was happening to our economic structure, and by the technology companies as they built bigger monopolies, more power, and more invasive tools that were adopted by ever more people who weren’t thinking beyond our own convenience.
I did eventually start changing my habits with regard to big tech. I quit corporate social media really early (about 2011), I almost entirely quit Google years ago, and I have adopted generally privacy-centric habits. Yay me.
But, like so many others, the government has seemed beyond my grasp. But the reality is, I just don’t want to think about the government. I want to think about wonderful things, like music, art, starting seedlings for the first time, and enjoying my friends and their kiddos!
But that is a privilege I can no longer exert. I’m here to tell you that we ALL need to be thinking about the government. But not just the ridiculous day-to-day drama that’s being created.
We need to imagine the government we want to see, and we need to each do something to bring that vision to the attention of others, and to make it a reality. And not just once. Over, and over, and over again.
I’m not going to lay out that vision here. I’m not a policy wonk, or any sort of expert in anything useful. If you wonder what I think, just listen to any Bernie Sanders speech from any point during my lifetime.
In fact, there are a lot of people out there who agree with Bernie. Trump voters, Clinton voters, Harris voters, not-voters. After all, what sane, not-rich person doesn’t want universal health care, great public education, and a world that’s not burning ever-faster?
Problem is, we’ve all been convinced it’s not possible, or at least that it’s not in our power to help make it happen. We’ve been distracted by stupid convenience gadgets and apps. We’ve been manipulated by algorithms. We have voted, and felt like we’ve done our duty.
Too many of us been basting in our own comfortable lives. And now we may be cooked.
So before we’re burned to a crisp, let’s start talking about what to do next. That’s the conversation we need to be having.
For instance, here’s a topic: what would happen if Bernie Sanders, AOC, Liz Warren, and the other progressive political superstars out there said, “we’ve had enough of the Democratic party. We’re starting something new.”
What organizations would go with them? Would people feel energized? Is this the time to finally jump from the back of the ass and start walking on our own two feet?
I’ve never seen more energy from the people. Do we really want to focus it on trying to fix a political party that has proven itself time and again to be corrupt, weak, and broken? Or do we want to focus it on building something new and great from the ashes of what the current administration is burning down?
Because it IS burning down. We can protest all we want, we can mourn, but they’re sitting in the drivers seat at the moment, and there is absolutely nothing we, as individual citizens, can do about it. Yes, protest! Yes, file lawsuits! But this sucker is burning down, and the Democratic party is not going to stop it. We don’t know what will be left, but it’s likely to be pretty unrecognizable as the United States of America when these sociopaths are done.
But some faction is going to be in control of rebuilding this country. Who do we want that to be? Right now, the absolute top contender is the MAGA Republican party, which means Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and the other billionaire freaks who have made money the end point of all things.
We can do better.