Turner Watson

As I sit and write this on the morning of November 6, 2024, the emotions are heavy. It’s not shock, not even really horror. We knew this was a possibility, and on some scale, we’ve already been living with the current situation. It’s been taxing, to say the least. No, what permeates my mood this morning is a combination of sadness and the painful acceptance of some very bad things.

There’s a lot to be sad and concerned about, of course. Many of the issues with which we will contend won’t really bother me too much. I’m a white, CIS-gendered, heterosexual male. Life, for the most part, won’t immediately change for me. (I say immediately, because of course there are black clouds on the horizon.) One thought that actually did sort of terrify me as I absorbed all of the results of last night’s election(s) was this: there’s no one to save us. Europe, during WWII, at least had the world’s newest and most prosperous superpower to help them throw off the shackles and earn back their freedom. Say what you will about the first Gulf War, but our allies in Kuwait could count on their old business partners, the United States of America, to help bail them out and expel the foreign adversary who had sought to overwhelm their nation. We, on the other hand, currently have no such recourse. If things get bad…really, really bad…there’s no help coming from foreign shores. Not from Russia, who finally have exactly what they’ve coveted: a subservient American President, willing to aid and assist them in whatever global designs they are entertaining. Not China, who relies on the US to contribute so much to their GDP. And other emerging world powers might even enjoy a bit of schadenfreude at our expense. “Oh, so sorry. Hope things work out for you.” No, we’ve made this mess, and help isn’t coming. We’re stuck, and the idiot in charge has the nukes to keep everyone else at bay.

Remember earlier when I said that my rights won’t immediately be affected? I don’t fit into the sub-categories that many of my friends and countrypeople find themselves in: immigrant, gay, trans, female, black, Jewish, poor…demographics which could see seismic shifts in their citizenship status. But I do consider myself agnostic, subscribing to no religion, and eschewing superstition and ritual in the hopes/pursuit of some non-existent eternal life. I foresee a point in the not-so-distant future where I am coerced (or forced outright) to attend a Christian church, to, under penalty of punishment, be required to profess my faith. Daily prayers could become as much a part of daily life for Americans as the Pledge of Allegiance was/is in grade schools. Think I’m overreacting? There are two Supreme Court Justices who could very well retire in the next four years. With control of the Senate, the GOP could easily replace them with justices with an even more conservative bent, and the highest court in the land could be absolutely stacked for another generation. There’s no reason in the world for me to be optimistic about the possibility of some challenge to the separation of church and state to not go the way of the conservative Christian movement. We could well be heading towards a true Christian Taliban situation in this country…something that our conservative friends have long wished for.

But the main reason for sadness and disillusionment is this: as bad as all of this is, as horrible as the prospects for individual freedoms look, as dire as the situation is for anyone who isn’t white, male, affluent, or Christian, the most sobering and sickening truth is simply the fact that half of our fellow citizens want it this way. They have said so, over and over, and last night they confirmed it at the ballot box. THAT is the most depressing thing, from my point of view. The realization, the acceptance, that this nation is in no way the one I believed it to be. Half of our country voted for persecution, denial of rights, for further militarism, for discrimination. This is what they wanted, and they finally are close to achieving everything their hearts desired. The United States of America that I loved, the one I was proud of, simply doesn’t exist. And that is so very sad.