Mango dress
Noul sweater (similar)
Flattered boots (similar)
Fendi bag (similar)
Zara sunglasses (similar)
Location: Exchange District – Winnipeg, Manitoba
Four years ago, on the heels the last US election, I wrote that love trumps hate. Hindsight is always clearer than foresight, but none of us could have predicted then what was to come. After all, we can only imagine what, to some degree, we’ve already experienced. And none of us had experienced anything resembling the chaos that an uncontrolled, emotionally immature narcissist can cause when handed extreme, unearned power.
It’s not fair, or accurate, to say that Trump went mad with power. (I find it infuriating when medical professionals try to explain his behaviour away by diagnosing him from a distance, blaming his tantrums and inconsistencies on mental illness. He is not sick. And he knows exactly what he’s doing.) What he did do, and continues to do, is be himself. The difference is that for the four years since the 2016 election, the whole world has been forced to listen. What we’ve learned in that time is that opinions trump facts. Lies trump the truth when the truth is inconvenient or complicated. And money trumps absolutely everything else.
Love does not, in fact, even enter into the conversation.
As I type this, a day after the polls closed, the election remains undecided. That hasn’t stopped the incumbent from declaring himself the winner. And attempting to sue to stop the counting of legitimately cast ballots. It looks like reason may, in the end, win the day, but by such a narrow margin that the victory, while worth celebrating, doesn’t feel like the momentous occasion it should.
I admit that I resigned myself to this months ago, to the idea that there would be no blue wave sweeping across the nation on election night. And I cast no judgement on Americans for that, because the way I see it, Canadians are not so different. We are nations deeply, deeply divided, our populations standing on opposites side of a chasm of values. Some of us believe in equal rights for all people, regardless of gender, race or religion. We cast our votes for political parties who support that ideal, regardless of what else they may believe. But the rest of us, although we may also believe in those things, believe, at the very least that there is something else more important, something worth sacrificing equality for – the right to own guns, for example, or to police women’s bodies by restricting abortion. And we vote accordingly.
If this election demonstrates anything, it’s that that chasm divides us almost equally. That’s what frightens me in about the results – the questions that it raises about the people around us and how diametrically opposed our values truly are. Merriam Webster defines a society as a community, nation or broad group of people having common traditions, institutions and collective activities or interests. We may have common traditions and institutions. We may even participate in collective activities – voting in an election is, technically, one of those. But we no longer seem to share common interests or values. Which suggests that we don’t actually meet the definition of society anymore. And if we no longer qualify as a society, what are we?
I don’t know, and that scares me. I’m not just scared, though. I’m also sad – the fact that I resigned myself to this type of outcome in advance doesn’t change that. I grew up an hour from the US border. There is nothing quite like living so near to the self-proclaimed greatest country on earth. It casts a shadow over everything, but a fascinating, mesmerizing shadow, a shadow that glitters. I believed in the greatness of the United States when I was growing up, even if I didn’t always agree with its politics. I believed in it because I could see the evidence of it, the proof that anyone, with a combination of luck, hard work and good circumstances, could be anything in the USA. But that evidence has been disproven over the years, piece by piece.
The United States in 2020 is a country that does not take care of its people unless they can pay for that care. A country that rewards hard work with stagnant wages and luck with tax breaks. And close to half of its citizens of voting age believe in the righteousness of that. They wouldn’t vote for Trump, or any of his Republican cohorts, if they didn’t. In the post-fact age, the one Trump himself ushered in, no evidence we present, however accurate, is likely to change that. When I look towards the border now, all I see is the shadow, a looming pall in the distance. The results of the election matter. But at the same time, they almost don’t. In many ways, we’ve all already lost.
I’ve essentially been a functioning ball of despair over all of this since 2016. The divisiveness, the virulence of it, the incredibly broad-based racism, misogyny, and homophobia – it’s all just crushing. And is just spreads. It’s honestly just horrifying to think about.
Courtney ~ Sartorial Sidelines
I won’t comment on the current POTUS, except to say I’m happy to be Canadian. My only other comment is to hope that we all resist the urge to judge the morals of others based on their political affiliation. Passing judgment on people based on who they vote for is incredibly unfair. No party is without flaws. I encourage people to actually research a party’s platform and not base judgment on media reports or the passionate pleas of political opponents.
You’re right, Karen – no party is without flaws, and I will be equally quick to criticize the new administration if they demonstrate (and, at times, they undoubtedly will) a willingness to support, accept, or act in a manner that is racist, misogynistic, homophobic or transphobic. I’m human, and my tolerance has limits. Being asked to show tolerance for a collective that votes in favour of those essentially intolerant values is a difficult pill to swallow, and one that I struggle to stomach every single day.
Cee