Excellent question. And the simple answer is, exhaustion. I've spent my entire life - since I was literally a child - working for equal rights for everyone; women, minorities, religions, disabled, artists, weirdos, etc. I just think every person has value and merit and equal protection under the Constitution. It's really simple: All men are created equal. That they have certain inalienable rights... I grew up in Los Angeles, and my family had to move because the smog was so bad there were whole weeks where we weren't allowed to go outside. Fighting hard against big businesses that didn't give a shit about the air, water, environment, or Earth, we fought for decades, and now Los Angeles has clean air, cars around the world have such low emissions levels that we had to invent new devices to sample them, and people everywhere enjoy environmental expectations of clean water and air. Women are now found in every single job, at every single level, and are respected for their minds, and not just their arm-candy value. Women get intelligent, science-based health care, in clean clinics, where their procedures are medically recognized, refined, standardized, and paid for by their health insurance. People can let their fashion freak flag fly, and get jobs, and not be discriminated against in the workplace. People suffering in other countries can come to America, take a vow, and become American. There is no other country in the world where you can become one of them. America embraces everyone with a shared set of values, and provides a path forward for those whose countries or societies prevent them from succeeding on their own merit. And on, and on, and on. THESE are the values I have fought for my entire fucking life. And every single one of these values was repudiated, spat upon, and openly mocked on November 8th. The smallest, most scared, most base, most hate-filled platform won easily. So fuck all of America between the Cascade Mountains and the Appalachians. It's my liberal, west coast, high tech salary that pays the taxes that keeps those motherfuckers in corn subsidies, welfare, food stamps, and provides the roads and bridges they drive on to go to their Klan meetings. The nipple they suck is MINE. So fuck em. No more freeloading off me. They voted against everything I believe in, and have worked for.
You're not going to give up on most of your life's work and ideals just because the election system in the US is screwed up, are you? 'Cause Hillary won the popular vote. I get it. It's depressing to this this kind of result take place. It's depressing to even see Donald as a candidate. But. You've fought hard for the freedom the US provides. You've said it yourself: you're an American. You're proud of being a part of that wonderfully-inclusive system. You've put effort to make it more inclusive, which is amazing. Will you really give up on that? Democracy is meant to represent everybody, saint or devil, good person or an asshole. That's what partaking in democracy means: to represent the people, whoever they are. You are the people. kleinbl00 is the people. rd95 is the people. Barack, Hillary and Donald are the people. Those guys, redneck Klan members? They're the people, too. They, just like you, have the right to be represented and their votes - counted. It would be nice to create a system which would only be operated by the morally right people, by the good people - but it's not possible. We have to include everybody or embrace that some people are better than others - and we both know that's not true. History has seen many examples of elitism of various groups of the exclusion of particular ones; none ended well. Look at the numbers. Popular vote: Donald - 62,513,667 / Hillary - 64,818,930. That's a shit ton of people voting for Trump, but - Hillary still won the popular vote. That tells me that there are people who can lead this country into a better future (as a people, not through a particular person). It's a shame their votes were ultimately in vain due to the way elections work in the US, but to me, it's a sign that there are reasonable people who care. But there always are. I know it might be aggravating to think about right now, but Trump's victory doesn't mean that those reasonable people have lost. If villains were ever to win, we'd live in a very, very different world right now, because there were always some bad people at the wheel, even in the US. But the truth is, there are no villians: there are only obstacles to overcome for people like you - for people like us, who would like to see this place better when we leave than when we came. You've done your part, and you've done it well. But does it mean you will stop fighting now? __________________________________________ P. S. So, apparently, kb has blocked me again. I don't care much, but these games get tiresome. kb: I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to goobster. I don't care about what you think on the state of American politics right now: you're so damn winded up that I could launch cows at walls off you, Medieval style. You don't like my style? Boo hoo. rd95 was right: get a grip on the shit that's going through your head before it goes too outside of your skull. People respect you highly here, and you going on a rampage in the comments isn't good for anyone. Find a constructive output to your anger. Somebody has to say it to someone who always has something to say.
You know I love you, man, and I truly enjoy hearing your perspective on the US, as a native Russian. Yes it does. For one simple reason, that I have harped on again and again and again: The Supreme Court. The Republicans blocked Obama's Supreme Court nominee because it would have provided a balanced Court. Now a genuine sociopath is going to appoint between 1 and 4 justices to the Court, and his handlers and advisors are chomping at the bit to get their highly politicized appointees in those seats. Which they CAN do, because our tri-cameral system has failed. The idea is that the Legislative, Judicial, and Executive branches of the government balance each other out, so none of them can tilt the scales too far out of whack. There are checks and balances. Unfortunately, activist anti-Constitution Republicans now control the Executive and the Legislative branches completely, and are about to appoint the people who balance the Judicial branch. This is a problem because they can appoint literally anyone they want to without any argument or opportunity for any vetting by anyone else. The system has broken, and now there are three human beings who will determine how all law enforcement happens in the USA for the rest of my lifetime. And all three of these people are publicly on record as being diametrically opposed to everything I stand for. Here's a look at how the Supreme Court can become a political tool of the Republican party within the next six months. The decisions this new Supreme Court will be tasked with hearing, will be defined by a stack of Republican-backed "test cases" that they have had sitting on their desks, waiting for a "friendly" Supreme Court to hear. The man behind many of these test cases - a single, individual lawyer, who will decide how law is enforced in the US for the rest of my life - is a conservative Christian Texan lawyer who believes the US is suffering god's wrath because of fags. (My shorthand interpretation. But you can listen to an easy-to-consume podcast on Edward Blum's history with test cases and the Supreme Court.) THAT is why I am done helping. The game is over. We lost. I just don't have the energy or soul left to fight all these battles again. I know it might be aggravating to think about right now, but Trump's victory doesn't mean that those reasonable people have lost.
Well, I can see how it can be tempting to lay your arms down. It's certainly appalling, the way things went and promise to go still. I can't blame you for feeling defeated. I'll just say this. If it was ever true that people could lose, we'd still live in tribal system, if that. In my naive idealism, I see it as just another step on the path of history - an unpleasant step, one we'd all would've liked to avoid in the first place, but a step nonetheless. Perhaps you're the person who'd understand me best when I say that there are no failures or successes - only the ways turn out, for better or worse. To lay down or to keep going in the face of adversity is a choice everybody makes, and I can't blame you for feeling like it's your time to step away from fighting. It's a tough battle, it's exhausting, it's aggravating, terrifying, sometimes all at once. But I don't feel like you've lost. Not it the sense of "There's nothing that can be done", anyway. Maybe you're right in thinking that it's not your fight. But please, for the love of all good and holy: don't let good people suffer as a result. It's enough that about half of the US has to go through every day with the notion of "President Trump" on their shoulders already. Please, don't let this turn into a fight among people who are already suffering from fear, anger or lack of strength.The game is over. We lost. I just don't have the energy or soul left to fight all these battles again.