While the urgent, visceral emotions and reactions to the results of Election 2016 would’ve been put to better use in the actual election itself, those emotions and reactions have been amazing to see nonetheless. In America, there’s only so much bullshit a thoughtful, well-informed person can take before you decide it’s time to jump in and fight like hell.
As thoughtful, well-informed Americans who draw lines in the sand when it comes to truth, inclusivity, and overall progress come out en masse to rally, march, and protest, the burning fire of activism starts to overtake the feelings of defeat. Yes we lost, and to the victors who think they hold the torch of American direction, we’re coming for you.
It will be a long game. There will be setbacks. This “resistance” will need to shift to full on “opposition” at some point. (Democrats! Where you at?) And the purists will need to be okay with not getting 100% of everything because this is politics. The game of leading, compromising, and holding the line.
This is America. Diverse and beautiful, intolerant and fucked up. A place of dreams and nightmares. A full-spectrum citizenry of half-participation, almost constant hyperbole, and a political national discourse that does not serve us well. The way we as Americans sort of, sometimes, do the right thing and the way we go about it has done okay for us in the last couple decades. But moving forward, our previous methods won’t be enough. That’s for damn sure.
Given where we’re at, with the party of closed-minds running the government, there’s a clear before and after. Where we were before Trump became President. And after. There was a certain quality to the reality during the Obama administration. Especially in its twilight. We had made it. It was, in even mild terms, a success.
Big, medium, and small things accomplished. Without a single major (or even minor) scandal. And the torch was being passed to a Democratic successor who would lock in a good amount of things that could be undone by another political party. And then, in the most unexpected, cruelest of ways, the other political party won the day. The form the win took was in a vile human being spewing forth a view of reality that makes the thoughtful, well-formed among us cringe and hold our loved ones close. This reality is what we must deal with.
And now, graphic design.
