An Open Letter to my Bad Bitches and Nasty Women

To All the Bad Bitches and Nasty Women in my life and Nationwide,

It's been a long fucking week, huh? I don't think any of us thought the outcome of this election was actually a possibility. I mean obviously it was but who actually had the room in their brain to think that it could really, actually, happen? It has been a trying time filled with despondency and tears, questions about what happened and what exactly the way forward is. I hope there is not, but suspect that there is, an undercurrent to that despondency that says "What is even the point if I must continue to face this sort of sexism and misogyny? What shot do I have if a plurality of America voted for a categorically unqualified, uninformed, idiotic white male buffoon over one of the most uniquely qualified candidates in the history of the Republic and many did so just because the latter candidate is a woman? A woman who has been working to better this nation and our world for over 30 years?"

I have no real answers for you and understand the feeling completely. I have been despairing the past week as well. How could we possibly be here? I just want to be clear that I am in no way, shape or form trying to do some "mansplaining" and was, in fact, somewhat worried that is how this may come off. I had it vetted a bit so I hope no one reads it that way as I mean well. In my various readings and in the mental gymnastics I have expended trying to process all of this, however, I have found and come up with a couple of facts (maybe "fact" is more appropriate here, I'm kind of winging it) that I hope you will find as somewhat helpful/hopeful as I did...

• 46.9% of those who were eligible to vote did not vote (the final numbers are still a bit fluid and still developing from when I saw these numbers last Friday, but these will be close enough I think). Of those who did vote, 25.6% voted for Hillary Clinton and 25.5% voted for a racist and misogynistic orange. Of that roughly 1/4 of the country that voted for walking hot bag of wind painted Home Depot orange, (as pointed out by HRC in her "deplorable gaffe" that was taken out of context) half probably voted based on economic/social concerns and thus are only complicit in the racism and misogyny rather than active participants. This leaves us with about 13% of the country who voted in this election and who are just truly terrible.
• One must suspect, due to the voting demographics (and yes I realize this is rather morbid but, also, on the other hand fuck them) many of this 13% is going to die off in the next 4 years.
• Along with this development, the next four years will bring another generation of nasty women who do not want to be told what to do with their bodies, what sort of contraception is acceptable and do not feel like being judged by their looks rather than their intelligence and accomplishments. These young women will, hopefully, be particularly motivated to kindly show the president-elect where the door is while less kindly mentioning where he can stick his vile views.
• The changing demographics will be beneficial but, as was seen this year, they are not enough. I cannot stress enough that nearly 47% of eligible voters could not be bothered to vote. Without getting into how despicable I think this is because I may give myself a fucking aneurysm, that means that we all (I say "we" as I feel like a nasty woman in spirit) must do better at motivating these people and turning them out. This stuff matters. You do not get to sit it out and not worry about the consequences. People will now suffer. The unfortunate fact of the matter are that the voters most reliable to turn out are the old, white and scared. That means that many of that 90 Million people or so (as not all ~330 Million in the country are eligible to vote) were likely to have been voting for not the orange guy. Everyone needs to try to motivate this section of the electorate going forward.
• Hillary Rodham Clinton went through A LOT of shit to get here. Like Andy Dufresne escaping Shawshank State Penitentiary amounts of shit. To borrow from HRC who was borrowing from Hova, Susan B. Anthony prodded at the glass ceiling so that Geraldine Ferraro could punch it. Ferraro punched the glass ceiling so Hillary could spider web it with a sledgehammer. Hillary swung that sledgehammer so that all of you (and all of us who believe in you) could stomp on that mother fucker until every last fucking one of us is dancing on broken glass with tears of joy running down our faces.

Wednesday morning was supposed to be when those tears of joy started welling up and it didn't go down like that. It fucking sucks. I, personally, was gutted. I felt the flutters of nervousness coming around 9:30 PM Tuesday night and the writing was on the wall early Wednesday morning. I went to bed sick. I, literally, puked on Wednesday morning and then I sobbed while sitting on my shower floor. I know my post-election experience was a lot of yours, although I am sure yours was 10x, as well. But I guess what I am ultimately saying, is that despondency and despair must give way to anger and action. HRC may not be the President-elect right now, but Elizabeth Warren may be in 4 years (speaking of, this is great... http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/11/elizabeth-warren-we-stand-up-and-we-fight-back.html). One of you may even be in the upcoming decades. Even if Hillary was elected, the fight wouldn't have been over. Just look at our current "post-racial world" in the days (DAYS!) after Obama's successor was elected. All this tangerine colored fucking clown shoes means is that all of us need to fight harder to get where we need to be. 

I know I am preaching to a very capable, committed, intelligent and resourceful choir, but this is as much about me needing to organize and express my thoughts as it is about reaching out to y'all. I stood with and still stand with her. And I will always stand with all of you. Wednesday's stumble is nothing but a stutter step on the sprint to eventual victory.

Much love and respect, always.

Image Credit: Scoopnest.com (Don't know what that is but BMurr always makes me feel better)

Ruminations on the Pledge of Allegiance

                                                   Image Credit: iFunny.co

This weird little blog has been dormant for quite awhile now. No real reason why. Not that much I found interesting to write about, life happens, etcetera, etcetera. In the meantime, a man that I, and many others, consider to be a completely unqualified and rather dangerous authoritarian demagogue had been elected the President of the United States. Now that I'm trapped in a glass cage of emotion with sadness, despair, helplessness and anger sweeping around me, I guess I found a few interesting things to write about again.

We Americans, I assume, are all familiar with the Pledge of Allegiance. Many of us grew up mindlessly reciting the pledge every morning with the rest of our snotty little elementary school class. Interestingly enough, it was originally published in 1892 by a socialist (I bet that would freak out a lot of people who push for it's recitation) named Francis Bellamy in The Youth's Companion and read "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." Beautiful right? This was of course eventually changed in the 1950's to the more familiar to the school kids "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." Still pretty beautiful sentiment right? I know I thought so, even as a snotty little kid. Considering our current political circumstances, however, let's unpack the pledge a little bit.

One nation...

I think it's pretty clear to everyone in both parties that we are not one nation. I literally do not know what close to 50% of the country are thinking. I cannot wrap my head around their thought process. I cannot see how they could vote a dangerous, authoritarian, demagogic clown as the leader of the free world. It is almost as if half the country just wants to see the world burn. Yet, vote they did. The man legitimately won despite all he has said and done, both in his cruel and vile campaign and earlier in his life. And I guarantee they do not understand why I am so fearful and why I find this so dangerous. "Let's mix it up because what have the other politicians done for me anyway. He at least tells it like it is." When the constituencies of the two parties look across the metaphorical "aisle" with confusion and concern on their respective faces, we are not one nation.

Under God...

Well I guess to large swathes of the nation, that would depend what god you are praying to. The President-elect proposed a ban of all Muslims entering the country (although that has been recently scrubbed from his website now that he has actually been elected) and encouraged Muslims to spy on their fellow believers in order to "keep America safe." I guess it is all gravy as long as you believe in a Judeo-Christian god. Kind of takes away from the one nation again doesn't it?

Indivisible...

See points 1 and 2 above. I'm relatively young (shut up, I am!) but I do not think I have ever witnessed a more divisive time in my life. When the conservative leaning faction of this country thought they were losing the election, they obliquely threatened armed insurrection, possible refusal to accept the "rigged results" of the election and cried for the imprisonment of their chosen leader's political opponent for some undefined offenses. Now that their candidate has won, they still cry for their political opponent's imprisonment in the cozy confines of the President-elect's victory party. Are you f*&%ing kidding me? On the other side, the more liberal and progressive leaners, myself included, were overconfident and under-prepared for this result. Now shock, anger, confusion and a deep, deep sadness have set in. People are unsure of how to deal with the unfathomable. Thankfully many have chosen to express their confusion and rage in a non-violent insurrection with protests and marches across the country but it is still striking how clear the division currently is. Add in Black Lives/Blue Lives Matter with the racial undertones that are baked in there and I, for one, do not see it getting better in the near future.

With liberty and justice for all...

Speaking of those racial undertones, clearly many people in this country do no feel like there is liberty and justice for all. It is not just race-centric either. Part of the reason for the results in this election was the class based resentment in a large number of post-industrial areas in this country where things just have not felt like they have been getting better. People became scared for their future, angry that their circumstances have not changed, and decided to vote for a change in whatever form it came. Unfortunately for all of us, the standard bearer of that "change" is someone who has espoused normalizing the usage of "stop and frisk" procedures that lead to the targeting of people of color by police forces and the underlying resentment of police that then brews in minority communities. Someone who has proposed the violation of the Geneva Conventions, the institution of torture by our federal agencies (CIA/FBI) by utilizing waterboarding and "much worse." Someone who, as was previously mentioned, wants racial profiling by religion to be the norm. It is hard to see how this election leads to anything but the retreat from liberty and justice for all.

If you bake in the fact that Russian officials, despite previous denials, now explicitly met that they've been in contact with many members of the President-elects team throughout the election, I feel like I am living in a scary time. I do not understand how we got here. I do not see how we appropriately move forward these next four years in a unified country. I do not see how the leader of this country could possibly represent me, my views and my ideals. I'm a great believer in and admirer of our Constitution. It is one of the greatest documents this country, and possibly this world, has produced. It is the reason why this country is great yet all I can see is a man who seems ready and willing to trample on the rights that we hold so dear by threatening the freedom of press and religion. I am sickened. I am sad. I'm scared. I'm terrified.

But I am also willing, ready and able to fight to protect those rights and I hope you are too. Small minded men and women can only take this country from us if we let them. We cannot. We will not. Be vigilant. Be wary. Be vocal.