A friend on facebook reposted a statement that struck me as both important and flawed.
From @DanaVivianWhite, it states " Vote, yes. But there is no amount of voting that the liberals or the left can do to quiet the intensifying rage and radical action of white nationalism. This will not be resolved by voting Trump and other conservatives out. I feel like no one is saying that plainly."
The overall point is absolutely true, that even if a majority of Americans vote conservatives out of power, the hatred boiling in our country doesn't disappear. That is a horrible truth, but the author is right to point it out. It is vital to acknowledge that we have a hate problem in our country. It is worse than useless to lie to ourselves that this problem only showed up because of our garbage president. The hatred and fear has been with us as a nation, but it tended to live further below the surface before Trump became president. His blatant, loud, and constant stream of racism, misogyny, and intolerance has massively impacted the way people carry their hatred. His prominent hatred, and the lack of consequences he has faced for his hatred, emboldens and enables people to express their own hate and fears; to act out on their own worst impulses. Making a bad situation worse, the republican congress has apparently made the decision not to try and correct the situation, but to milk it for every possible political benefit. The GOP generally, and particularly party leadership, have made the decision to be complicit in Trump's influence rather than oppose it.
This is all tightly interconnected, but still somewhat separate from, the encouraging of division and polarization in general. That is a problem with its own very significant set of consequences.
All that said, here is where I think the original post is flawed: the country voted our way into the current situation, and while we certainly cannot vote away the fear and hatred that underlie a mass shooting at a church, mosque, or synagogue, there is something very important we can do with our vote. We can vote for better people. People who won't model misogyny or racism to their constituents. We can literally empower women, people of color, LGBTQ folks, or people with a variety of religious backgrounds. We can give these people control in our federal, state, and local governments. We can at the very least elect someone who is ready to oppose the hatred of our executive, and the complicit actions of the current GOP leadership.
It is a much longer, more difficult game than the idea that a big blue wave election will suddenly end white nationalism in our country. That's an attractive idea - I wish that could happen.
The road away from the rage and empowered hate groups, though, does require a show by the country that we are not going to stand for it. It is a step - removing Trump and his dumpster fire of an administration is another step - toward addressing our nation's hate problem.
So while voting will not solve the problem directly - my vote won't take away someone's racism - I think that sending a clear message with our votes is a necessary step to moving forward toward a future where we as a nation first admit there is a problem, and second commit to addressing it. We can't go back to a place without racism or hatred, because it has been here since before our nation was founded, but we can try to go forward to a place where we speak openly about the problem and do something about it.
