kreature feature

I don’t think a single person can “save” us or that Biden winning the presidency will do much in-and-of-itself, but it WILL stall the consolidation of power we’ve seen happening on the right over the past forty years which is essential if we ever want the opportunity to make changes that aid the greater good in the future. It’s less Trump v. Biden for me and more Authoritarian Gov’t vs. the People. Do I think casting a vote is the end-all-be-all? No. I have to stay engaged on both a personal level and local community level, but a vote IS a tool and we need all the tools we can get right now. That’s why I’ll be voting this November.

Prior to Trump’s election in 2016 I’d grown really complacent and uninvolved with politics in this country - both on a grand scale and within my local community. I didn’t pay attention unless there was a major news story and even then my attention span was laughable. I think it’s this level of complacency on a mass level that has allowed so many of the injustices we see on a daily basis to continue- mostly ignored, sometimes challenged, never fully changed. It’s also what has led to the slow, steady demise of democracy in the USA. We’re all so busy trying to get paid that we’ve forgotten we can actually have a say in what goes on here. We’ve forgotten to pay attention and people are taking advantage of that. If you want to read more on the growth of authoritarianism in the US, I recommend reading anything By Sarah Kendzior.

I like to imagine a different future and as adrienne maree brown wrote in her poem there is an edge (ode to radical imagination) in 2015:

We can imagine so much! We can only imagine so much.

If perhaps it is a function of our collective minds A dream of our endless nights Then there will be abundance so long as we can imagine it – Abundance on earth If we can imagine it Or abundance of earths A sphere for every tribe And every combination. And to have it all All we need is to remember there is an edge And grow our dreams beyond it.

 In this alternative future of my imagining, people engage both in their personal lives and with their community on a daily basis. We work together to create a world built to support everyone's needs. I don’t think we have an example of what that looks like in recent history, so that’s where the imagination plays a crucial role. Do I think it is possible? Yes. Do I think it will become more difficult under another four years of authoritarian republican rule? Also yes.

I hear people saying that their vote has never mattered or made a difference in the past, so why would it now? I hear people saying “it’s all facism” and “fuck the government.” I hear people arguing that real change doesn’t come from voting. But that all sounds like apathy and discouragement to me. And ultimately, apathy and discouragement play into the hand of the oppressor.

Also, let’s not forget all the times the cocktail of protest and voting HAVE worked in the past. The abolition of slavery, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, the list goes on and on. While there ARE still issues in all of these areas, we're nowhere near where we used to be and THAT is because of our community’s efforts to get involved and vote in the past. There is more work to be done to root out the fundamental issues plaguing our society so that we can build a truly equitable future, but to write off voting as a tool for change is to be ignorant. If you can vote and you choose not to, I’d argue that that is just as bad as ignoring the issue of racism because you're white and it doesn’t affect you. Ignoring your privilege doesn’t make it go away, and it certainly doesn’t do anyone any good to waste the opportunities it affords you in the fight for a better future.