Now We Work

A few thoughts from me about last night:

I’m heartbroken. Heartbroken just like many, many friends who have shared their thoughts already. Frankly, I’m having a hard time comprehending what happened over the last 24 hours — but I wanted to share my thoughts anyway.

Hillary was not a perfect candidate. We’ve yet to see a perfect candidate and we never will. Our candidates and leaders are flawed humans just like all of us. But she was — and still is — an extraordinary, experienced, and compassionate public servant. She was the most qualified person ever to run for the office. Even more, her candidacy stood for something. And that was really, really important. I’m proud to have supported her.

I am also elated to see friends, colleagues and family members share their thoughts today and commit to take a stand. I’m with you.

But here’s the thing: We (and this is really a collective we) cannot complain about the outcome of an election if we did not do all we could to ensure the outcome we wanted.

Some people thought the remarkable media circus of this election cycle, the first female candidate, and a “clear choice” would drive historic turnout. So many people watched it unfold, so it seemed that they might want to stake their claim in it. Right? That did not happen. 47% of people eligible to vote in this election did not vote.

This type of turnout is abysmal and should embarrass all Americans. There were legitimate efforts to depress turnout in many states and that may have had an impact. But the impact of eligible voters sitting on their hands and choosing to forego their say — well, that’s far bigger. In large part, Democrats lost this election because many, many Democrats stayed home. So now what?

I’m not trying to be inflammatory, but let’s be clear: we will likely see much of the progress we’ve made over the last 8 years rolled back. The same Republican party who voted dozens of times to overturn the Affordable Care Act, wants to overturn Roe V. Wade, eliminate marriage equality, reduce consumer protection, repeal environmental laws, shrink power of labor unions, continue to weaken campaign finance laws, loosen gun regulations nationwide, end federal funding for Planned Parenthood, make it harder to vote, ignore climate change, build a border wall and more — is now in control of the presidency, the Senate, and the House of Representatives.

The same Republican party who claims to want to keep government from interfering with the lives of the American people has a lot of strong ideas about how we — men, women, the LGBT community, latinos, Muslims, people of color, people with disabilities, union members — should live our lives is now in control of two of the three branches of our government. The Supreme Court is next. It’s a bit scarier this time around because while Republicans have certainly earned this right to govern, they will do so led by a president with no experience governing and with a track record of screwing the vulnerable over. That’s different. That’s what makes this change of power harder to swallow than usual, at least in my view.

If you believe in making progress for everyone, this should scare you. Each one of those positions is fundamentally at odds with the notion of expanding freedoms and liberties for all Americans. So what can we do after a few days of reflection?

Now we work to protect and defend everything we care about. It’s time to stop using social media and other tools to just talk about our view. It’s time to use those same tools to take action. Follow the progressive issue-advocacy organizations that align with your political priorities right now. Join their email lists and look for opportunities to get involved. Make it a priority to pay attention to what’s happening in your local, state and national legislatures and speak up when elected officials are making decisions you disagree with. Get involved with the next campaign sooner. Join full-time. Volunteer.

I am disgusted that even after Donald Trump showed us his truest and ugliest colors, we still elected him. Even so, I genuinely wish our leaders on both sides of the aisle well and hope for the best but if you feel the way I feel right now — you know that the next few years are going to be difficult. If we let this feeling sink in and give up, we lose. If we pay more attention, get more engaged and turn talk into action, we can win. I know it’s cliche — but you might be genuinely surprised to learn how impactful a few dozen strongly worded letters or phone calls to an elected representative can be.

Young people have been the agents of change in every generation. But the tools we have for organizing and action far exceed anything previous generations had at their disposal. If we waste the chance to use them to their highest potential for good — well, shame on us.