So, I have the amazing “luck” to be the first, or near first, guest blog poster here to add something after the results of the US elections of 2016. I must ask your forgiveness, as much of this is a bit stream of consciousness, I’ve been up since yesterday morning. And I’m angry. And I’m hurt. And I plan to work forward, but I am still wounded. SO, it’s going to be a political blog.
I voted last night, for what I sincerely expected to be the first female president the US had ever elected. I had my areas of disagreement with her politics, but we align on so many things from a party perspective that I was perfectly happy to fill in her little bubble on my standardized test voting form. Unsurprisingly, my state did as always, and voted her to win with a handy margin.
But, we were one of the only states to do so. As the night wore on, and the tequila bottle diminished… more states rolled in, and they overwhelmingly said the same thing.
“We are tired of decorum. We dislike progress. Sophistication and multiculturalism are a weakness, and we will have none of it”
… and most vividly?
“Women are property, not leaders”
And then they did it for our legislature too.
I have never been more ashamed of my country. I believe, more and more firmly, that at its heart the issue we see in so many aspects of this divide, is misogyny. There is the obvious misogyny: the groping and degrading verbally of women, the assumption of power making consent.
Then, there is the hetero-normative prejudice. In these, my fellow cis-male-white-Americans, I see it as another face of the misogyny. Gay and bi men are “womanish” they say. Weak! Swishy! Clearly THOSE men are property too, and USELESS property, because you can’t even use them to breed another man! Gay women? Just broken property. Slaves that won’t put out.
The racial issue is more property thinking. The immigrants stealing jobs from “real” Americans. Those people of color taking space that “real” Americans could use. After all, white, hetero, cis-men are the only “real” Americans, and every other human creature is property to serve them…
This morning, I had to explain to my child, who is 12 and pretty clear in her attraction to women, that our nation had voted to codify her as broken property. To reinforce the bullies who called my candidate “bitch” and “stupid cow” and “cunt” at school. To minimize social progress as “Political Correctness bullshit”
And I held her, while we all cried.
Tonight, I try to plan to continue the fight. To forge ahead. I don’t know how yet precisely, but I know one thing:
I am not the only one here that deserves to never be considered PROPERTY. YOU do not deserve to be considered PROPERTY. My daughter is not PROPERTY. My friends are not BROKEN, are not USELESS, and are not PROPERTY.
WE belong to our SELVES. We are unique and special and one of many all at the same time. And we will NOT be silent.
To the world? I am sorry. You deserve better from your neighbors, but our house has issues we need to deal with.
To America? Do not rest smug in the assumption that this moment of resurgence of chauvinist, misogynist bigotry is license to return to the ways of the past. Is some kind of rebuttal of the progress we have made these two mere centuries. Parts of you have tarnished our torch of liberty, soiled our social contract. But don’t you worry.
We? The progressive Americans who believe in social equality, in caring, in a country that is understanding and inviting?
…. we, will Make America Great, Again.
Amen. I am shocked and appalled but most of all, disappointed.
I too am ashamed of this country, and our entire voting process. The electoral college is BS. Only the ancient Greeks had a true democracy (despite their eligibility requirements for voting). At least then every vote actually mattered.
Beyond the rage, the feeling of ultimate betrayal, the gut-wrenching feeling of vertigo as our country is pulled down the rabbit hole of Corporate Fascism, I have to ask – How did we EVER let the level of critical thinking sink to ‘Endangered Species’ level? This is directly akin to accepting a painting of Adam and Eve as Caucasians with belly buttons.(Think about it.)
Next spring, if Providence blesses, I will welcome my first grandchild into our family. This is not the America I want him or her born into. I shudder for the safety of this child’s mother who is currently using Medicaid as her benefits at work are too expensive – she would have to choose between insurance and eating.
Human beings in America have just become commoditized – you are no longer valued by simply breathing, but by how much profit your efforts can bring to the fiscally elite. But, those efforts MUST be accomplished under the guise of a white, Christian heterosexual male. All else are allowed existence under suffrage until the age of 35 for a woman, or the ROI for all else dips below the cost of ammunition.
Congratulations, America. You have become the Painted Harlot of Revelations, the Whore of Babylon, that ephemeral boogey-person of fire and brimstone preachers. What’s even worse is that the very people who were indoctrinated into that mythos are the same who cast their vote to Make. It. Happen.
How many of the folks I love and admire from afar are going to be rounded up and sent to America’s 20th Century internment camps?
I <3 you so much GT! I have never felt less patriotic than I do today. Or more betrayed. My own parents dismissed my fears/concerns when I called crying upset because my gay, trans son feels unsafe/threatened. We are seriously considering moving out of country.
After spending a month this summer in Monterey, California I returned to the state I live in filled with hope and optimism. Unfortunately, watching the election returns, all I could taste was the ashes of burnt hope. Once again, Texas and so many other states, allowed their hate and fears and bigotry to enter the polling booth with them. My only hope is that saner minds in Washington and across the nation will be brave enough to step up and rally others around them beginning today. McCarthy is probably laughing gleefully in his grave.