The Rise of November Activism is Troubling Me

November 8th was the election. If you didn't know any better though, you might have thought it was still going on by the 9th. People took to the streets in mass. Talk of a "liberal Tea Party" began emerging from the dust. People spray painted obscene phrases (like the one above) on buildings. Internet groups, especially on Facebook, emerged.

Where was this on the 7th?

I get it, not everyone loved Hillary Clinton, so the story goes that they weren't inspired during the race. Clearly the hate for Donald Trump is real though. If you actually believe he's a fascist, if you actually believe he's a racist, if you actually believe he's a criminal, shouldn't you have worked harder to stop that? Shouldn't you have volunteered for the Democrats and the Clinton campaign, and given your all to stop him? Certainly, if you believe such terrible things about Trump, shouldn't you have not voted for Johnson or Stein?

Donald Trump very well may do terrible harm to Latinos, the LGBT community, African-Americans, the young, and even the old. I don't disagree that he may take away the health care of over twenty million people, and that's not even considering that he may end Medicare. I agree that Donald Trump is a horrible, horrible problem that may hurt America- a lot.

I reject the idea that you can divorce yourself of politics and actually care about politics though. Elections have consequences, and failure to take part in an election, to really engage beyond voting, is an impeachable offense to me. Was Hillary Clinton someone who inspired like President Obama or her husband? Absolutely not. Was she as firey as Bernie, or as likable as Joe Biden? No. She was competent though, and almost all of those in the streets would agree that she didn't have designs on deporting millions, banning religions from immigrating here, or taking away anyone's rights in America. They just weren't inspired by her. Well, sometimes we have to take our inspiration from things besides a charismatic candidate. If you really think that Donald Trump is a danger to the republic, but you aren't willing to give your energy to beating him before he gets elected, what does that say about you?

A lot of the people protesting right now were heavily engaged in the campaign this Fall, and I'm not really talking to them here. To those who didn't though, I'm speaking pretty directly. The current crop of protests are sort of without a point. Are we all mad about the results of the election? Yes. Does it matter now? No. Donald Trump will be the 45th President. If he and the Republican Congress are capable people (which they may not be), they will act on some of his campaign themes. If you are now protesting in hopes of changing those realities, I'm sorry to bring disappointing news- but it's a waste. If you are protesting now in hopes of changing the minds of Trump supporters by yelling louder, I bring bad news- it won't work. If you're protesting just to vent, that's perfectly fine- but eventually we have to face up to the reality of not winning. The time to change all of these things was November 8th, and before that day.

Elections matter. You cannot be an activist and divorce yourself of that.