Where do we go from here?

Let's be honest. None of us are political geniuses (unless you are a political genius - in which case, DM me on Bluesky, I'd love to chat!), and the results of the 2024 election may have come as a bit of a shock. I know I was certainly shocked; but not exactly for the reasons you would think.

Regretfully, I realized far too late that I had put my faith in a people that were so determined to remain ignorant that they would sacrifice their own families to avoid changing the status quo. In their eyes, "change" and "progress" have been encoded as a framework of chaos; that too much progress would spell the end of society. In their stagnation and ineptitude, however, I fear we are faced with exactly the same outcome.

I, personally, decided to vote for Kamala Harris. I knew that this was a gamble; that putting my faith in the Democratic Party one last time may have been a futile effort. Nevertheless, I was of course still shocked by the means with which Trump returned to the world stage. Kurt Vonnegut put it perfectly - "True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country."

The morning after the election, I was deeply hurt to see people I had spent considerable time with growing up celebrating the victory of what could become America's first true tyrant. These were people whom I remembered fondly, and to see them celebrating the loss of rights and freedoms of their friends and family members was absolutely sobering. For the first time I genuinely feel like I can see the rot of America, all the way down to it's core. People like Trump target individuals who generally do not have the emotional or literal intelligence to run or control their lives; as such, they cling to these idols and symbols and presidents in the hopes that it would help them steer their lives. There is nothing scarier than feeling adrift, with no idea how to steer - I have been there before, and I know how paralyzing it can be.

I was raised to steer my life. From day one, my parents focused on individuality, self-agency, and most importantly the ability to trust myself. This became invaluable to me as I began to struggle with my mental health, and though I lost some battles, I have been actively trying to win the war. Just as I feel like I have a hand on the rudder, it's ripped out of my hands by those who are desperate to sail us in a different direction, guided by the siren song of "the economy" and their own hurt feelings. It is hard to feel pity for them when they are so willing to throw away the lives of people they love and care about.

But the reality of the situation has become quite clear to me, and it's the scariest part of them all. There are only two options, and both do not bode well: either they had no idea this was going to happen, or they knew all along.

All I know is, it's not going to make me back down. I will not stop fighting this until I am finally able to simply live my life the way I want without someone telling me they should have a say. I am a woman, this is my god-damn life, and I will never, ever let you take it from me.

When I was growing up, America was explained to me as this grand melting pot of all kinds of people. That all were welcome, no matter their color, creed, values, or gender. These were things engrained in to me by my teachers, whom I may never be able to express my gratitude for, but wish I could every day, and my parents, who wanted me to be a good damn person. I was educated on our laws, our checks and balances, our systems of governing and what our lawmakers do every day.

It's hard not to have faith in a system that you know this intimately. To have participated in it, and seen what it can do to help people like me. However, not everyone was raised like this - many are taught to distrust our institutions, and for good reason. When they are weaponized, they can be an unstoppable force of chaos.

So what do we do against these weaponized institutions? Well, there are plenty of leftists ready and willing to tell you how. Listening to them is a good start, and leads me to my ultimate point:

If we had listened to leftists in the first place, it's likely we wouldn't be in this situation at all.

A fantastic and often used example of this is Bernie Sanders. He has been fighting for the people for his entire life, and seems to be fueled by an endless well of old-man-magic keeping him alive, just for him to keep fighting. He was an easy choice for the nominee; at this point you may have seen the donor map indicating the country's clear and easy choice. If you haven't, here it is:

It does speak for itself - and we shouldn't have ignored it. Provided there are elections in 4 years, we MUST ensure that our collective support is rallied behind a candidate that speaks to the people, for the people, and can REACH the people.

At the end of the day, I am scared. I am not sure if I will have to (or can) leave the country. I am certain there are people around the world that would help me and support me, and to them, I want you to know my love is unending. There are times when I enjoy being an American, but I have found that it consists mostly of loathing. Loathing for this horrendous system, loathing for those that try to keep us from making progress, loathing for those that want to fucking kill me, and loathing that this world is so utterly fucked.

I really, REALLY just wanted to live my life. If that gets harder, I'll make sure I'll push back just as hard. I am keeping hope that this will be a winnable fight, and that I'll live to see a brighter day. I have good friends that support and encourage me to push harder, to keep hope and to be positive. Without them, this victory may have been crushing.

Instead, I've found it invigorating. I am pissed, and I work best when I'm pissed.

published 11/8/2024 looona.io