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It’s been a tough week for many of us and actually, a culturally challenging year for nearly all of us. It took me several days of reflection and recovery to feel prepared to write or speak about what we’ve all just experienced.
A big question is, now what?
There are likely people among my subscribers who voted for Trump and nearly all of us have friends or family who did so. It is my hope that we can reach a day where such differences of opinion aren’t the sharp dividing lines they currently are, but I think that day is a long way and a whole lot of bumpy miles away.
While 51% of Americans voted for Trump, 49% voted for Harris. Many are celebrating and hopeful; others are hurting and heartsick. I’m in the latter camp. I feel bruised, disappointed, defeated, angry and I’m deeply concerned about what this means for our country and this already-ailing planet.
This week, Americans had a political choice between an embodiment of anger and fear or a politics of kindness and hope and a majority of us chose the anger and fear. I was so ready for a leader with a different tone and way of interacting, but that is not going to be the case for the time being. For those who may share my views it’s OK and healthy to grieve but I urge you not to despair or give up. A strong resistance movement is already activated and growing.
No matter who you voted for in this election, we as Americans need to have some uncomfortable conversations and considerations. I just wanted to share a bit of perspective that might be helpful. Over the past couple days I have spent many, many hours researching numerous sources on both sides of the aisle and reflecting and analyzing what it means.
Our country is deeply divided and I think it’s important to squarely face those divides because that can help us know where to shine healing light, practice understanding and compassion, and leverage system change. Those who are hungry for greater kindness and a more positive tone must demonstrate a contrast, another, better way of being. Before we have a plan of action, we need to have kindness in our heart. We cannot heal this nation through piling hatred onto hate or fear onto fear, for sending out punches to the “other side”, no matter how tempting that may be. We can only defeat hatred with love and intentionally avoiding “othering”. We can be kind and really tough at the same time.
So here are the major divides as I see them and they may not be exactly what you’d expected. Let me start with gender. We are a nation whose heralded founding fathers believed women shouldn’t vote. We’re a nation whose predominant religion teaches that God is male. While women have made great strides, it appears America is still a nation that believes any man is a better leader than even a highly qualified and talented woman. That pisses me off but it is what it is. There is still work to do.
That said, I don’t think the gender divide was as large a factor behind people’s vote as some believe. Eighty-nine percent of black women and 60% of Latina women voted for Harris. However, 53% of non-college-educated white women voted for Trump. This reflects an educational divide that’s related to the economic divide I’ll address below.
One thing that became clear in this election is that the Democratic party leadership tends to strongly reflect and speak with and to the more educated “professional class.” Many, many people on the other end of the political spectrum, including people in my own family, are distrustful of and feel looked-down upon by those types of “elites.”
Now, do I believe there is an aspect of the MAGA movement that is blatantly sexist, racist, and adheres to a Christian Nationalist value-set that wants to remove the separation of church and state? Yes, and I think they are behind dangerous developments like Agenda 2025. However, they’re a relatively small percentage of the population that voted for Trump.
The bigger and broader division is being driven by two huge problems in this nation -- media and the economic system.
We are in a world where our “news” comes through different “feeds”. I have written and spoken about this a lot. We literally have large swaths of people who are navigating different realities. Many people who voted for Donald Trump did not even know of some the things that others found so off-putting. And many people were shown a very different version of Kamala Harris than what I perceived.
Understanding this media divide may help to counter the feeling that a bunch of Americans are just awful people. We cannot go down that path. All of us are getting skewed “news” and manipulated versions of what is really going on in this country. That should give us impetus to have a little empathy and compassion with one another.
I’ll be writing more on the media mess in upcoming posts, but just consider that currently there are no federal laws requiring campaign ads to be factual and there is no watchdog whatsoever over online content. A staggering $15 BILLION was spent on campaign ads during this election and depending upon which media outlets you tuned into you were given very different versions of the candidates, polices and implications.
Then there is our economic situation. The truth is all the mainstream economic indicators show that Biden’s economy is thriving -- a record stock market, low unemployment, inflation going down, and GDP growth that leads most other economies – but these things are disconnected from the daily experience of millions of American families who live under constant chronic economic stress.
A guy’s driving to work and his “check engine” light goes off and his stress level shoots through the roof because he knows he can’t pay for it, but he’s got to work to be able to feed his kids.
A mom is checking out at the grocery store and with each “beep” the bill goes higher until finally she has to suck up her pride and go put things back on the shelf while her kids plead for her not to. This is real pain, real stress.
Inflation has been an issue. I now know where the cheapest gas stations are – I didn’t really pay attention to that before. I now use more coupons. And I am relatively well-off compared to millions and millions of my fellow Americans.
Biden inherited a mess with COVID and the state of the economy at the time and had to take extraordinary measures to try to keep people afloat. But that did generate inflation and research shows Americans hate inflation even more than unemployment.
A lot of Americans were looking for a savior. I don’t believe Trump will do anything to really help lower-income people – tax cuts to billionaires won’t help them – but I do believe he did a better job speaking to the real economic stress and fear that people are experiencing. We can learn from that.
Finally, and probably most importantly and related to all of the above, a difficult truth is the U.S is really not a democracy, but a corporatocracy.
In this election people on the Harris side of aisle have been appalled that Elon Musk, a billionaire, funded the campaign to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars and paid a bunch of people a million bucks to sign up and vote on their side. That is indeed appalling.
The corporatocracy won big-time with the election of Trump. But it’s important to note that Harris was also funded and supported by corporations and billionaires. She too supports a limitless-growth, consumption-driven economy.
Many share my concern that a Trump Administration will once again accelerate the damage being done to the Earth, will roll back environmental regulations and protections like he did last time and will fail to take any real action toward addressing climate change. My heart breaks over this.
However, the Biden administration opened up more oil and gas drilling than the previous Trump admin and Harris was claiming you could effectively tackle climate change AND support increased fracking. You can’t. No U.S. administration has come close to doing what really must be done to address the climate crisis.
A hard fact is that America’s electoral and governance systems are broken and we are hitched to a limitless growth economic system that is trying to play outside the laws of physics and is incompatible with a healthy, livable planet.
OK so what now?
First, there is still over two months before the Trump administration takes power. The Biden Harris administration and many states are already taking steps to protect civil rights and firm up some environmental protections. A powerful resistance movement -- environmental, civil rights, and pro-democracy groups -- is already organizing like crazy.
A lot of women and from what I’m hearing most black women feel gut-punched right now. Be gentle with them. Recognize the value of the women you care for.
Our LGBTQ friends and family and a lot of immigrants and their spouses and families are pretty shaken. They can use our love and compassion.
Environmentalists and climate activists are heartsick and discouraged. This would be a great time to thank them for their efforts and maybe make a donation to their work.
People with loved ones in Ukraine and Gaza are likely freaked out just now. If you know some of them offer love and kindness.
And, maybe most importantly, be sure to give yourself love and gentleness. These are uncertain times but most times are in one way or another. Peace is a choice and there is a peace inside of you that nobody, including a public figure can touch. Let us not spend these next months in fear. Whatever comes we can respond at that time with love and power. Until then do not wear yourself down envisioning the worst.
Right now, many of us feel like a minority, some for the first time. Just remember, it has always been a minority that starts and builds the move toward positive, society shifting change.
I am reminded of the Tolkien quote from Lord of the Rings:
Frodo, facing the terrible darkness at play in his world says, “I wish it need not have happened in my time," And Gandolph responds, "So do I, and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
It may just be that what’s being presented in this dark-feeling time is an opportunity to finally get honest about the flaws in our systems, honest about ourselves. The myth of America as a healthy and inclusive democracy that offers equal opportunity to all has been exposed for what it is: a myth. That myth is now largely dead and that’s a good thing. The myth had to die for the possibility of the IDEA of America – the idea and promise of a genuine functional democracy -- to come into fruition.
Maintain hope friends. Hope is not passive. It is a choice. And it is a power. The sun came up today, and the sun will come up tomorrow. And there will be beauties aplenty. We will get through this.
Much love.
Cylvia
A Little Spark of Fierce Joy Finds Freedom
And just for a little viewing pleasure. In some indigenous traditions, hummingbirds represent joy. For the first time in my life a hummingbird got stuck in my garage, and helping her find freedom was good for my soul. Here’s the short vid.
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