I am exhausted and I am blessed. I work a full time job, I have a two year old, and a pregnant wife. Between working our jobs, taking care of our daughter, doing the normal household tasks of shopping, cooking, cleaning, and lately preparing a space in our home for an infant, my wife and I are lucky to have an hour or two of down-time together. I am exhausted and I am blessed. But we are more than just busy, we are stressed. Two year olds don’t seem to sleep through the night that well, figuring out how we’re supposed to balance care for two kids instead of one, figuring out what kind of child-care we need/can afford, trying to figure out our new work/life balance before it’s forced on us in the coming year, figuring out how we’re supposed to afford all of it. I am exhausted and I am blessed. Despite this, I know that others face greater challenges than we do. We are blessed to have the support of family. Not everyone has that. We are blessed to be a couple payments away from owning our vehicles. Not everyone gets that chance. We are blessed to be homeowners locked into an affordable house-payment. Not everyone is in that position. My wife and I are blessed to both have salaried, full-time jobs. Not everyone can find a livable wage with one job. We are blessed to have our child and blessed to welcome another. In our experience, not everyone can get pregnant without medical intervention. Not everyone can afford such interventions. And, on the other end, not everyone bringing a child into the world asked to be pregnant or is prepared to be a parent. I know that I am blessed, I am lucky, and in having these things, I am privileged. But it is still exhausting.
And that’s how it was until the election results came in. I am still blessed, I am still exhausted. Those things don’t change based on who sits in an oval office. But now I am also worried. In this too I realize that others face greater challenges than I do. I have concerns that what the new administration has promised will negatively impact me, personally, as a citizen of this country. Note that I am a white, Christian, property owner who pays my bills and credit cards on time. I’m a good little member of this capitalist system. I am also a Licensed Professional Counselor for a local nonprofit that works with at-risk youth. I have student loans and, as an employee of a qualified nonprofit, I am enrolled in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. I also qualify for reduced payments under an Income-Driven Repayment Plan because, despite what I mentioned above how I’m blessed to have a salaried full-time job, therapists that work for nonprofits don’t get paid that much. Based on what the incoming administration has said and made clear in their agenda, I have no confidence that they will honor PSLF or the IDR plans. People have mixed opinions about student loan forgiveness but to take it away would be a major blow to myself and millions of others and would be pretty hypocritical from a president that has filed for bankruptcy 6 times. For myself, when I was considering my future in high school and college I was always drawn to teaching and helping professions. Knowing that PSLF existed and it could help pay the cost of my schooling in exchange for public service was a big factor in my decision to pursue teaching (which then shifted to counseling).
I also have no confidence that they will prioritize funding mental health services as they look to drastically slash the federal budget. They reportedly have grand plans to get rid of the department of education. I don’t want to imagine how that along with stripping protections for minority and LGBTQ+ youth will impact my clients over the next few years. And there will clearly be zero movement on effectively addressing gun violence in schools and elsewhere.
On a not as personal level, but still negatively impactful, how about that tariff plan? Trump’s economic plan was resoundingly denounced by economists saying that it will worsen inflation, increase the cost of goods to the American consumer, and balloon the national deficit. What ever happened to republicans being fiscally conservative? Balancing the budget and all? But, to be fair, the economic experts have been wrong before; In early 2023, many economists predicted a recession to hit within the year. Instead, recession was avoided and the economy has continued to grow nearly 2 years later. Gee, I wonder what that administration could’ve done with another 4-8 years..
And that leads me to my real point and concern through all of this. In my previous post, I referenced the Noam Chomsky collection, “How the World Works.” In it Chomsky posits that the US political system, and the media likewise, is set up to exclusively serve “big business” while only appeasing those that do not belong to this “elite” class. There is only one ruling political party, “the business party” and while they are separated republican and democrat, they both report to the same boss. There may be differences in the two parties and their platforms, but ultimately keeping the “business oligarchy” in power is the top, unspoken priority of both. The election is over but the oligarchy pulling the strings is not done. They are still actively trying to divide and weaken us and they’re winning. We look at the people that voted for the other person and we see them as an enemy. They aren’t, but that’s what the oligarchy wants you to think. Some of the people that support Trump are undeniably terrible, they’re usually the loudest ones and sometimes they’re paid for it. But most of them are just people that are hoping Trump has the answer to making their lives safer and less hard or to “protect their interests.” I disagree with them but I think most of them are well-meaning. Some people are unwilling to excuse these well-meaning voters. They feel that, if at all, they were only excused for 2016 because they “didn’t realize who he was.” Now it’s 2024 and they should have known better.
I just think they’ve been conned. They haven’t realized it yet, and they certainly won’t admit it. Without exaggeration, most (if not all) of the words that come out of Trump’s mouth is a lie, or at the very least misleading. He “jokes” or says half-truths so much that people have a hard time pinning down what he truly stands for or believes in and his supporters will interpret for themselves the version that they most want to believe about him. Cutting through the crap, he stands for himself and whoever is willing to line his pockets. And as for beliefs? He quite possibly believes in nothing. He doesn’t seem to have any principles, he doesn’t even pay his debts. Then again, one belief I’m sure he held was that if he didn’t win the Presidency he was probably going to prison.
But voters were looking for relief because despite the fact that the US has the strongest economy in the world, it doesn’t feel like it. I think voters got impatient with the post-Covid recovery and I wish they could’ve stopped and considered the bigger picture and the “long game” rather than thinking “a change at Head Coach” would turn things around. There’s nothing to turn around. We were already headed in the right direction.
Still other voters feel they have a moral obligation to vote for republicans as the “pro-life” party. There are a few problems with that. Pre-Dobbs data has indicated that women seeking abortions decreased year-by-year under democrat presidents while that number was higher and/or increased under republicans. Post-Dobbs, abortions have steadily risen. Both of these facts would seem counter-intuitive to anti-abortion advocates. Why would the fall of Roe v. Wade increase abortions? There is not a simple answer to that, but we can definitely say that the Dobbs decision was not the pro-life victory they thought it would be. And Trump has proudly taken credit for it. Why would abortions be fewer and decrease under democrats? Here’s an opinion column to provide some perspective. Basically, investing in supports, solutions, and prevention strategies decreases the need for abortions in the first place.
A few more notes related to abortion. 10-20% of pregnancies end in miscarriage. It’s incredibly common. The safest way to treat this condition is abortive care but because of abortion restrictions in some states these women cannot access the care they need for their lost pregnancies. Story after story is coming out of women turned away at the hospital and who end up dying. In Texas, pregnancy deaths increased 56% after their strict abortion ban went into effect. Abortion, as a necessary medical procedure, needs to exist. Clarification on who qualifies and understanding how far along into pregnancy it’s allowed is all that should be up for debate. And voters agree. Every state that has been allowed to vote to enshrine abortion rights into law since the Dobbs decision has passed besides Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Florida required the motion to pass with 60% of the vote and they got 57%. It was 57% against 43% and it failed.
Further, one in 20 women in the United States have experienced a pregnancy from rape, sexual coercion, or both during their lifetimes. And it is estimated that only 21% of sexual assaults are reported. Most states have exceptions for pregnancies through rape and incest, but women often realize they are pregnant after the cut-off has passed and they are forced to carry to term. In other cases, victims may realize they are pregnant and qualify for abortion, but they can’t afford the care so they are forced to carry to term. The very idea of an unwanted pregnancy is heartbreaking, but that is the situation these women are being forced into. There are nearly 400,000 kids in foster care in the US. This is what happens when people are unprepared to be parents, often at no fault of their own.
So here we are. A man with a list of what should have been disqualifying traits has been reelected to the highest office. We are to believe that a majority of Americans have chosen the known sexual fiend, insurrectionist, twice-impeached conman, and blasphemous Bible salesman with 34 felonies to once again be President of the United States.
It doesn’t make sense. I’ve been cycling through the 5 stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. I’m not just upset that a bad man gets to be president again. I’m mad that he will be walking back into the office with the seemingly unchecked power of the 3 branches of government to impose a harmful and unpopular agenda.
But here we are. To harken back to my previous blog post, whether Trump or Harris were to win, the struggle would continue. Neither side of the political divide is our friend. The difference is that one side has put forth efforts to make the struggle less hard for average people and the other has efforts in place to force average people to, at-best, fend for themselves and, at-worst, hinder their access to life, liberties, and the pursuit of happiness.