In Dubio

CWs: US politics, gloom

It’s been a rough week. We’re exactly a week out from the US election today. It’s been a rough week, and as I mentioned before, I’m not someone who will be particularly affected by the turn for the worse (white, cis, able-bodied), but I am very concerned about many others who will be affected. I’m still wrapping my head around it. The Democrats have been coasting and doing the bare minimum for ages, and I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising, but it still sucks. I wish we didn’t have a two-party system where both choices suck, but the Democrats suck, at least on paper, a bit less. I wish we had strict term limits at all levels of government. Not that I want to lose institutional knowledge, but there’s gotta be room for new people. I wish we didn’t have a constant election cycle where people are gearing up for the next election instead of governing like they were elected to do. You’d think the Republicans would be all about Teddy Roosevelt’s “Duties of American Citizenship”, a speech made in 1883 decrying, inter alia, career politicians and advocates for term limits, but nope. Career politicians are only a problem when it’s not our guy. Got it. I don’t like the “GOP” designation; there is nothing “grand” about the Republican party.

So we’re navigating how things are going to look in 2025 and beyond and it is not looking great. I’ve been following news about cabinet appointments and they are not encouraging. Hilariously, Trump seems to be appointing a lot of sitting senators/congresspeople, which may reduce the Republican majority by at least a little bit in Congress, but it’s not much consolation. I have been mostly trying to unplug from the constant news cycle and look towards my community, my friends, those I have more control over helping, y’know? At the same time I gotta be present so I know what’s going on at the very least, and try to change whatever I can for the better. It’s really discouraging and depressing, all of it, but I have to keep telling myself that I can’t handle and fix everything, and to take it one step at a time, one day at a time, &c.

The days are shorter and gloomier and colder, which I love, unlike many people, so strangely that puts me in a better mood. There are so many questions and very few answers, and fewer answers that I like. But we’ll make it through, and I’ll do whatever I can to help others while keeping myself above water also.

Hang in there, friends. There is a time for hatred, but there is also a time for love and light, and we are going to need a lot of that to get through the dark times ahead. <3