Darker Days

It has been a long time since I updated this blog publicly. We lived (are living) through a global pandemic, and there are 3 simultaneous genocides happening in other places to other human beings. The United States has just re-elected the person whose original presidency spurred the creation of this blog. This post is a record of my thoughts and will hopefully be read by someone else who needs it. It has not been edited.

To leftists: The swirl of conflicting emotions feels unhealthy, but these emotions need to be honored. Give yourself a day to stir them, let them settle, and scoop out which of the anger, fear, despair, or others will drive you to action and resistance. Take that emotion and grind it into a fine flour. Bake it into each meal, mix it into your drinks, sprinkle it like glitter or mist it like perfume as you get ready for each day. And each time you do, let it galvanize you.

To others: The election in 2024 has upended what a lot of people thought was a common good that would prevent a doddering, narcissistic, felonious madman from usurping the title of President for a second time. But even there, in the language I used to describe him we cannot find agreement. Where I see cruelty in policy and politics, and economic policy that will bankrupt us for decades, you see decades of decline in your home areas, factories, farms, and infrastructure. You see the result of corporate greed and consolidation as the failure of Democrats. You blame the scapegoat of immigrants for home-grown problems borne of our own complacence. Democrats are not liberal despite what you thought, and continue to think, but neither are they a great evil. They are humans trying to do something helpful in a climate of vitriol and contention from the only other party we’re allowed to vote for.

Democrats are trying to keep afloat a system that has been broken from the start. They want slow change in a positive direction. But slow change does not help and to you who voted in 2024 it seems like empty words after decades of neglect. So you see a demagogue, a strong personality, a charismatic demeanor backed by a cadre of Christian Nationalists who promise you that they will upend things as they are. And they will. But keep a journal, please. Mark down your day to day thoughts and read them back on each year’s end. Take note of how your lives have or have not improved. Write down each emotion you have and ask yourself if they are healthy, and if you are happier now than you were before. This goes for congressional races too, by the way. Congress is supposed to set policy, yet so divided have we become that each session of legislation feels less and less helpful. Changes now have to come from places like the EPA, the FTC, the Fed, and the FDA using what little power they have to get real work done.

The problem is that we’ve never allowed real choice into an election. All of the elections I have participated in for the entirety of my voting life have been a “lesser of two evils” choice. I don’t prefer Democrats OR Republicans on a vast array of policies. Most of the people in my circles feel the same, but none of us have any power to change that.

Telling us to vote our conscience is cruel, too. Yes, vote for the person who you know will lose and pull votes from a marginally better option. What needs to change is not the parties themselves. Let Democrats be war-happy centrists. Let Republicans be whatever they sift out to be. But let’s put proportional representation into play so the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, and whatever else pops up have a real seat at the table. Use third parties for what they’re good at: people voting for things they actually care about that will actually impact policy going forward..

While we’re making big changes, let’s do Ranked Choice Voting. In places where it’s been implemented before, the entire tone of elections has changed. Ranked Choice Voting encourages real, lasting coalition-building centered on policy over popularity, and eliminates a lot of the contention in campaigning. Candidates don’t want to risk being negative because it turns off a lot of voters who might otherwise be persuaded to put their name in a higher rank on the ballot.

How it works: Candidate A and B agree on two big talking points that are in the zeitgeist at the moment. Vote for both so that there’s a better chance those two big talking points have a shot to become policy. Don’t like the rest of Candidate A’s policies? Well, put Candidate B in your top slot, and A in the second. Both votes will be counted, and if Candidate B doesn’t make it through to the next round Candidate A just might. And as long as you get your two big talking points changed you know you can live with the rest. You feel more powerful as a voter because you ARE more powerful as a voter. This is especially true for people living in a solid color state. There’s no guarantee the new systems would work, of course, but as it is now we are headed for either physical conflict, or a quiet death of democracy.

Our republic is broken, and has always been broken. It would be easier to change if we were smaller. Abolish the electoral college and winner-take-all elections in favor of Ranked Choice Voting. Implement proportional representation in the legislative branch, and add term limits to all 3 branches. I don’t precisely know how to do this, but I am certain it will not be done without a massive organizational effort. You can reach out to FairVote.org to start or boost efforts in your region, as the process to organize this is already underway by folks much smarter than me.

In the short term, connect in person with your neighbors and local mutual aid groups. Reach out to RAICES and other immigrant service organizations to find out what you can do. Do it offline and don’t use social media to organize. Get a VPN and find a local printer who won’t ask questions about the content of your flyers. Donate time and funds to mutual aid, local Fairvote orgs, and any issue you’re panicking about with any amount you can spare. Consume less from the oligarchs and do the hard, extra work to buy local. If you can’t, ask if you really need the thing before you buy it. Prepare your couch or spare room. Above all else, be kind to your neighbors no matter what.