A Few Thoughts From Somebody Who Has Nothing To Fear From The Next Four Years
I’m a straight, white, professional male; a homeowner in a comfortable suburb. I don’t know if I’ll ever think of myself as wealthy but I’m more than comfortable, free of debt, and well set for retirement. I have the privilege to opt out of religious belief and not be despised openly for it. I am, in this ability to go through life at the lowest difficulty setting, unbelievably lucky.
If I were a different color, had a different sexual preference, elsewhere on the gender spectrum, not able bodied, not neurotypical, not able to handle a sudden expense without it proving financially ruinous, an adherent of an unpopular religion, descended from an unpopular culture, or in any other way marginalized I would be terrified today. I’m as well set as one can be no matter what the outcome of the election today is, and I’m sick to my stomach on behalf of all my friends who deal with one or more of those weights that they were given at birth and told Here’s your de-buffs, now succeed on your merits just like Gary, it’s a completely level playing field. Because they don’t have the luxury of going to sleep tonight and thinking Well, whatever happens, it won’t be that bad.
If all goes well for the next four to eight years, my taxes will go up. My job may be less secure because people that don’t look like me will finally be able to compete with me for it. My relative standing in this society will decrease. I’m okay with this because if all this comes to pass, things will be more fair for people who’ve had fairness denied to them.
And if things go very, very badly, I’m going to spend the next however many years standing with all those who are still waiting for the promises of America’s foundational myth to make it to them.
Today I’m voting for them. Today I’m voting for her. Today I’m voting to send a message to the regressive forces that this country is imperfect, but that we’re better than the supremacist, misogynist, phobic, bigoted rage-spasm of ignorance that you espouse. I know that you’re not going away, that we’ll have to pull you out of whatever comfortable hate you inhabit one at a time, and that process may well take the rest of my life and more years besides. Let’s do it.
A final thought: as the long demographic march continues that makes straight, white, professional males a smaller and smaller slice of society, I really hope that everybody else treats us better than we’ve treated them. But if they don’t, I can’t say that we didn’t deserve it.
Spam of the day (because we have to have something to laugh at today):
You have 1 unread personal message from Wilma Connor
Wait. This is a fake LinkedIn message. What about me makes you think that I’d ever read a message from friggin’ LinkedIn? They’re more annoying and persistent than you are, Spammy.
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