I've had, quite frankly, the worst month of my life these past few. This election didn't do me or the country any favors. But I do have some thoughts.
First and foremost, I'm done with being nice and I'm done entertaining false equivalents. We have a president elect who loves giving derogatory nicknames to his opponents. Who does nothing but mock others and tear them down. Neither he nor his die hard fanatics have any qualms about name calling or being derogatory. When one side refuses to act with decorum, it is not unreasonable or untoward to refuse to treat them with kid gloves or nicely. You do not get to sit back and say that one side has to show some respect and courtesy when the other side goes out of their way to be assholes.
I really don't care if you don't like the term 'traitor'. It is a term that fits both by definition and legally. Your feelings mean nothing now.
I don't care if you get offended when people are angry with how you voted. Your willful ignorance has a cost. People have a right to be mad and I don't blame them. What is it all the MAGA people like to say? "hug your feelings". Works both ways. Cry harder. When one side makes it a point to be cruel and derogatory, they don't get to ******* whine when they're called names.
The second part of this is the false equivalents. No, both sides are not alike. No, both sides are not equal in their problems and the issues they present. No, both sides don't have good points and bad points. This was once true, but now it is not and I'm sick of people clinging to a middle ground that no longer exists. Trump has made it clear what he thinks of minorities and the LGBQ community. Neither should have to play nice or spare his feelings after his blatant nazi buddies wave their swastikas around. Trump has made it a point to dismantle governmental checks and balances. His nomination announcements make it clear he wants to gut the safety net that keeps millions of people alive. His extreme choices are nowhere near mere policy disagreements of the past.
Finally, on the election itself, here's where i'm sure I'm going to piss a lot of people off. Kamala never should have been the candidate. It was proven in 2016 that America will vote for the least capable male over the most qualified female. While Clinton had other baggage, so did Biden. But people (especially other women) were willing to vote for Biden. They weren't for Kamala. I'm as progressive as the next person. I believe women to be just as capable as any man, especially that man. But the nation, by and large, isn't.
The second big issue with the election, that apparently no one is talking about, is how the billionaires put their thumb on the scale. We don't have inflation, we have massive price gouging. By corporations and billionaires who were able to increase their profit margin and increase anger and dissatisfaction in the lower economic classes, all of which benefited Trump, who will, of course, reward them with massive tax cuts and the ability to act with impunity.
We're not becoming an oligarchy, we're already there and we're there because Biden (and Kamala) wanted to pretend like it was the 1980s. The scales have already tipped. We have billionaires who control the media and we only get their view. (looking at you Bezos and WaPo). They can manipulate the markets for political gain. Meanwhile, Kamala tried to run on the "strongest economy" argument while staples cost more now than they ever have.
If the democrats want to win, then we have to put aside nicety. We have to campaign like we've already lost and have nothing to lose. We need a firebrand who will call out this behavior and bullshit instead of giving pithy statements and nonanswers. hug, run Lewis Black. That's the kind of energy needed.
www.nbcnews.com
