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Warning Political
Feb. 3rd, 2017 12:14 pmI've been debating this post for a while. I more or less keep my political views to myself and only share it with a small selection. Why? Because I was raised that it wasn't anyone else's business how I voted.
I sign the occasional petition, though I don't really think it will go anywhere. I've escorted friends through picket lines to have a Planned Parenthood appointment (never asking the reason for the appointment as it wasn't my business).
I more or less tried to boycott watching the Inauguration, but when your desk is less than 40 feet from the only TV on the floor at work, I did hear it. The only part I got up from my desk to go see was to watch him put his hand on a book and swear to uphold and protect the Constitution of the United States. I wanted to see with my own eyes and hear with my own ears those words come from his mouth. When he took the oath, and the audience (and many of my co-workers) clapped, I shook my head and simply quoted Senator Amidala ... "This is how democracy dies, with thunderous applause".
But it's been now a couple weeks since the new President was sworn in. And with every day I get more and more scared. Not just for myself. I am a single woman, though white, who at times lives paycheck to paycheck but has medical issues. I'm terrified of getting sick now that health care is under attack and if I lose my job, may not be able to be insured again because I have a preexisting condition (asthma and migraines). I'm scared for my friends who are of foreign descent and a "terror faith". Yes I actually heard someone call Islam "that Terror Faith". I'm scared for my sister who works in Government and wondering how long will she have a job? I'm terrified for friends who rely on the VA and Medicaid to fulfill their medical needs. I am no scared for my SCA foster daughter who is close to graduating High School and it looks like the new Secretary of Education is not for education... how will she afford to attain her dream of attending Medical School? I fear for my friends who risk their marriage being voided, their proper gender not being recognized because that was not the way they were physically born. I am to my core terrified of losing drinking water you don't have to pay to a corporation for, that the extinct species list will triple or quadruple in the next year, and that people and the nation will lose homes and land because parks will no longer be protected and the environment is just another commodity to be abandoned because it is not profitable.
Every report that comes out of Washington talks of what stupid, insane and destructive thing the new President has said. Not to mention the idiotic and uneducated things his mouthpieces have said about "alternate facts". By reports, he can't seem to hold a civil conversation with Foreign Officials without being rude. He insulted Australia for cripes sake. Now I wonder how long before my friends in Oz will not be able to come visit for Pennsic because it's just too dangerous. I'm afraid to cross the border to see friends in Canada for fear that somehow I won't be allowed back in, let along if they would be allowed in to visit here.
I fear for the general public.
And I wonder if all this bombardment of stupid, ridiculous and insane, not to mention fear mongering is planned so that we get so overwhelmed in the first couple weeks that we, as a nation, get to the point of going from "we need to stop this" to "how do we stop this" to "can we stop this" to resignation and acceptance because we can't.
THIS is what I fear the most. The complete and utter feeling of hopelessness and giving up of the American people. That the universal belief will become that if you are not lucky enough to have been born into the elite 1%, you're worthless and why should we bother trying to educate you and keep you healthy.
People used to look at me when I said we no longer lived in an electoral republic but instead have become an electoral oligarchy. Now they aren't thinking I'm so crazy. Now I wonder how long before the electoral part is eliminated. And if it is... how long before the next American Civil War?
I sign the occasional petition, though I don't really think it will go anywhere. I've escorted friends through picket lines to have a Planned Parenthood appointment (never asking the reason for the appointment as it wasn't my business).
I more or less tried to boycott watching the Inauguration, but when your desk is less than 40 feet from the only TV on the floor at work, I did hear it. The only part I got up from my desk to go see was to watch him put his hand on a book and swear to uphold and protect the Constitution of the United States. I wanted to see with my own eyes and hear with my own ears those words come from his mouth. When he took the oath, and the audience (and many of my co-workers) clapped, I shook my head and simply quoted Senator Amidala ... "This is how democracy dies, with thunderous applause".
But it's been now a couple weeks since the new President was sworn in. And with every day I get more and more scared. Not just for myself. I am a single woman, though white, who at times lives paycheck to paycheck but has medical issues. I'm terrified of getting sick now that health care is under attack and if I lose my job, may not be able to be insured again because I have a preexisting condition (asthma and migraines). I'm scared for my friends who are of foreign descent and a "terror faith". Yes I actually heard someone call Islam "that Terror Faith". I'm scared for my sister who works in Government and wondering how long will she have a job? I'm terrified for friends who rely on the VA and Medicaid to fulfill their medical needs. I am no scared for my SCA foster daughter who is close to graduating High School and it looks like the new Secretary of Education is not for education... how will she afford to attain her dream of attending Medical School? I fear for my friends who risk their marriage being voided, their proper gender not being recognized because that was not the way they were physically born. I am to my core terrified of losing drinking water you don't have to pay to a corporation for, that the extinct species list will triple or quadruple in the next year, and that people and the nation will lose homes and land because parks will no longer be protected and the environment is just another commodity to be abandoned because it is not profitable.
Every report that comes out of Washington talks of what stupid, insane and destructive thing the new President has said. Not to mention the idiotic and uneducated things his mouthpieces have said about "alternate facts". By reports, he can't seem to hold a civil conversation with Foreign Officials without being rude. He insulted Australia for cripes sake. Now I wonder how long before my friends in Oz will not be able to come visit for Pennsic because it's just too dangerous. I'm afraid to cross the border to see friends in Canada for fear that somehow I won't be allowed back in, let along if they would be allowed in to visit here.
I fear for the general public.
And I wonder if all this bombardment of stupid, ridiculous and insane, not to mention fear mongering is planned so that we get so overwhelmed in the first couple weeks that we, as a nation, get to the point of going from "we need to stop this" to "how do we stop this" to "can we stop this" to resignation and acceptance because we can't.
THIS is what I fear the most. The complete and utter feeling of hopelessness and giving up of the American people. That the universal belief will become that if you are not lucky enough to have been born into the elite 1%, you're worthless and why should we bother trying to educate you and keep you healthy.
People used to look at me when I said we no longer lived in an electoral republic but instead have become an electoral oligarchy. Now they aren't thinking I'm so crazy. Now I wonder how long before the electoral part is eliminated. And if it is... how long before the next American Civil War?
