Thank you for sharing how this is personally affecting you. It is beyond awful. For me, some of the worst of it as well is knowing that half of this country (and people I know personally) voted against caring for other humans- especially those of color, immigrants, the disabled and the LGBTQ community. They literally voted to do harm to me and my kids (and millions of others) whether they acknowledge it or not. I’m with you- politics is real life and causes real harm or benefit. I won’t be silent anymore. Thank you for speaking up.
Shanna, thank you for your response and giving this piece your time and consideration. I appreciate it.
You're welcome on the thoughts shared in this piece, and thank you for opening your mind and heart to feel someone else's experience. I too have friends and colleagues who voted for this grave endangerment. I'm also trying to navigate around keeping friendships and relationships with people I've known and valued, while attempting to reconcile how they could cast a vote so threatening to me, mine and others they know. It's really hard to do; pretzel logic really.
Another wrinkle in this is the religious component, which I've only lightly touched on here, but may consider focusing on for another piece. Such profound exhibition and support of hate, from people who claim to worship in and embrace love, angers and distresses me constantly.
I know how you feel, Claude. We too, though we’re part of the majority race, are considering what our “line in the sand is.” I learned today that one of the contributing factors to the outbreak of World War 1 was “Social Darwinism,” a theory of social evolution popular amongst intellectuals of the Industrial Revolution era that postulated that the “struggle between nations and races was natural and that only the fittest nations deserved to survive.” It feels sinister to see the same ideas playing out today. Still!
Debi, thanks so much for giving this piece your attention. There are so many factors at play, and if you're a Substack subscriber to American history professor, Heather Cox Richardson, she'll show you that lots of what we're seeing now is the recurring specters of earlier problems.
Racism, sexism, xenophobia, White supremacy, Social Darwinism, a massively yawning income inequality gap, robber barons and their paid off politicians; all of those and more affected the USA in the past. I'm not just disheartened by the fact that these things weren't eradicated and resurrected to full strength. No, what makes this all worse, IMO, is that the country in fits and starts imperfectly addressed each of these forces over time, and in the space of a few decades, powerful lobbies undid about all of it.
The iterative steps to encourage a more just and equitable nation have nearly all been unraveled. The federal government is held in the death grip of one maleficent party, and it is stoking coals in the engine of their locomotive, while too many of us are tied up and struggling on the approaching tracks. I keep trying to hold out hope but optimism is in an ever dwindling supply. Thanks again for reading, subscribing and giving this piece a like. I hope you explore and find more in the Rant catalogue that appeals.
Thank you for sharing how this is personally affecting you. It is beyond awful. For me, some of the worst of it as well is knowing that half of this country (and people I know personally) voted against caring for other humans- especially those of color, immigrants, the disabled and the LGBTQ community. They literally voted to do harm to me and my kids (and millions of others) whether they acknowledge it or not. I’m with you- politics is real life and causes real harm or benefit. I won’t be silent anymore. Thank you for speaking up.
Shanna, thank you for your response and giving this piece your time and consideration. I appreciate it.
You're welcome on the thoughts shared in this piece, and thank you for opening your mind and heart to feel someone else's experience. I too have friends and colleagues who voted for this grave endangerment. I'm also trying to navigate around keeping friendships and relationships with people I've known and valued, while attempting to reconcile how they could cast a vote so threatening to me, mine and others they know. It's really hard to do; pretzel logic really.
Another wrinkle in this is the religious component, which I've only lightly touched on here, but may consider focusing on for another piece. Such profound exhibition and support of hate, from people who claim to worship in and embrace love, angers and distresses me constantly.
I know how you feel, Claude. We too, though we’re part of the majority race, are considering what our “line in the sand is.” I learned today that one of the contributing factors to the outbreak of World War 1 was “Social Darwinism,” a theory of social evolution popular amongst intellectuals of the Industrial Revolution era that postulated that the “struggle between nations and races was natural and that only the fittest nations deserved to survive.” It feels sinister to see the same ideas playing out today. Still!
Debi, thanks so much for giving this piece your attention. There are so many factors at play, and if you're a Substack subscriber to American history professor, Heather Cox Richardson, she'll show you that lots of what we're seeing now is the recurring specters of earlier problems.
Racism, sexism, xenophobia, White supremacy, Social Darwinism, a massively yawning income inequality gap, robber barons and their paid off politicians; all of those and more affected the USA in the past. I'm not just disheartened by the fact that these things weren't eradicated and resurrected to full strength. No, what makes this all worse, IMO, is that the country in fits and starts imperfectly addressed each of these forces over time, and in the space of a few decades, powerful lobbies undid about all of it.
The iterative steps to encourage a more just and equitable nation have nearly all been unraveled. The federal government is held in the death grip of one maleficent party, and it is stoking coals in the engine of their locomotive, while too many of us are tied up and struggling on the approaching tracks. I keep trying to hold out hope but optimism is in an ever dwindling supply. Thanks again for reading, subscribing and giving this piece a like. I hope you explore and find more in the Rant catalogue that appeals.