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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGin and Tacos: I Know Why You're Sad
You're also not sad because Beto lost, or Andrew Gillum lost, or any other single candidate who got people excited this year fell short. They will be back.
No, you're sad for the same reason you were so sad Wednesday morning after the 2016 Election. You're sad because the results confirm that half of the electorate a group that includes family, neighbors, friends, random fellow citizens looked at the last two years and declared this is pretty much what they want. You're sad because any Republican getting more than 1 vote in this election, let alone a majority of votes, forces us to recognize that a lot of this country is A-OK with undisguised white supremacy. You're sad because once again you have been slapped across the face with the reality that a lot of Americans are, at their core, a lost cause. Willfully ignorant. Unpersuadable. Terrible people. Assholes, even.
You were hoping that the whole country would somehow restore your faith in humanity and basic common decency by making a bold statement, trashing Republicans everywhere and across the board. You wanted some indication that if you campaigned hard enough, rednecks and white collar bloodless types alike could be made to see the light that perhaps the levers of power are not best entrusted to the absolute worst people that can be dredged up from Internet comment sections running on platforms of xenophobia, nihilism, and racism. In short, you wanted to see some evidence that corruption, venality, bigotry, and proud ignorance are deal-breakers for the vast majority of Americans.
Remember this feeling. Remember it every time someone tells you that the key to moving forward is to reach across the aisle, show the fine art of decorum in practice, and chat with right-wingers to find out what makes them tick. Remember the nagging sadness you feel looking at these almost entirely positive results; it will be your reminder that the only way to beat this thing is to outwork, outfight, and out-organize these people. They are not going to be won over and they will continue to prove that to you every chance they get.
The website, ginandtacos.com, seems to be down. This was on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ginandtacos/posts/10156484955176677
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)But it is changing, if slowly.
Autumn
(44,972 posts)I'm not sad, I'm extremely happy. America voted to put the breaks on their destruction. And it's time to get with it, fight them every step of the way. In office and out of it.
Azathoth
(4,607 posts)Under any other circumstances, retaking the House against massive structural disadvantages like gerrymandering and a roaring economy would have been considered an amazing come-from-behind-win. But it still feels like a loss because there was absolutely NO hint from the other half of the country that they were starting to question what Trump is selling. We're living in an age where a fucking president can call himself a "nationalist" and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with actual neo-Nazis... and half the country nods and says, "Well, at least he's not a Democrat. And you know, maybe he has a point."