July Malaise
- 3 minutes read - 472 wordsCWs: politics, gloom
Well, we’ve reached the start of July. It’s been a weird year, and already a weird month. In the US, at least, evil has seemingly triumphed, with the passage of the GOP’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill.” I’m worried, not as much for myself, but for myriads of others. There are darker times ahead in the US, and I fear the world as well. I remember when George W. Bush got reelected in 2004 and I wrote something insipid in Greek (I was learning Greek at the time) about the country rotting and being corrupted, but I think I was about 20 years too early for the real event. That was just one more step in the blight.
I don’t have anything sage, much less comforting, to say about all of this. It’s an especially scary time for anyone who isn’t white and Christian and conservative. But maybe it’s business as usual, since the US has always been a scary place for anyone not fitting into that particular box. And scars endure. I feel at a complete loss to combat any of this at a national level. I am trying to do what I can at the local level, but national politics seem very difficult to change. The Democrats talk a big game, but I don’t know how much they can (or even want) to do to change things, given the current political landscape. After the loss in 2024 (not decisive, by any means, despite how much the GOP states to the contrary that they had a mandate; Trump won by about 2 million votes), the Democrats still seem rudderless and committed to repeating the same behaviors that constantly cause them to fail. Look at how they’re treating Zohran Mamdani, the nominee for New York mayor, hesitant to back him and seem “too” “progressive” (Trump is already calling him a “communist,” unsurprisingly). It’s a microcosm of how ridiculous politics is in general.
I don’t have any great answers for this particular mess. Keep your loved ones close, help friends and harm enemies, work towards a better world not only for yourself, but for everyone, reject and vehemently attack bigotry and fascism and authoritarianism, find empathy and compassion. Dismantle whiteness and white supremacy. I honestly think the US will have to be massively reconfigured and rebuilt to check this blight. I feel like I’m constantly told to give people space and grace, especially Republicans, who have consistently demonstrated, by and large, that they lack basic empathy and humanity for others, but I don’t always know how to do that. I consider this latest salvo, the budget bill, unforgivable on the part of Republicans (and, in the case of Fetterman, their Democrat enablers). I can’t get past it. “Not all Republicans”? citation very much absolutely needed.
Take care of yourselves, friends <3