Anyone who has ever met me knows I am not a fan of social conservatism. I don't believe it has a place in this modern era. I can understand how people who were brought up in much more conservative times are products of their generation, however, that is not an excuse for blatant bigotry.
I can remember how excited I was to cast my vote for Barack Obama in November of 2008. I walked into the dorm that was our polling place. I proudly took my Democrat ballot and used the pen at the voting station to fill in the Obama circle. I then took my completed ballot and placed it into the ballot box, though it was actually an electronic vote scanner.
A few hours later, as the polls closed in California, I can remember hearing cheers erupt throughout my campus as the election was called for Barack Obama. The man who campaigned on hope and change had won the office of President of the United States of America. I had never had more optimism for our country's future. His campaign promised major healthcare reform. He fully supported LGBT rights. He pledged to end Don't Ask Don't Tell. It was a new era in American politics.
The election of 2016 was very different. While I was a staunch supporter of Hillary Clinton, her campaign was markedly different than that of Barack Obama. Secretary Clinton had a vision for America, but instead of campaigning on that vision, their strategy was mostly "anti-Trump." The biggest problem she faced was her lack of trust, and that campaign strategy only reinforced her image as a canning manipulative politician.
November 8, 2016 was a day I was very much looking forward to though. My roommate and I were having an election watch party. We invited dozens of friends over to watch the results. We were confident the we would be watching Hillary Clinton demolish the misogynistic, xenophobic, racist dumpster fire of a candidate the GOP had run. We had food, drinks and great company.
Then the results started pouring in.
The mood in the room suddenly turned. Instead of being a celebration of a continuation of the Obama policies that literally made my life better, we were watching our country elect a man who openly mocked a disabled reporter, who said he could grab a woman by her vagina with no repercussions, who chose a vice president who believes that if you electrify gay people they will turn straight. It was quite literally the antithesis of what I felt back in 2008.
Now I live on 16th Street in Washington, D.C. For those who aren't familiar with the District, the White House is at the corner of Pennsylvania and 16th Street. That means if I walk out of my building and turn left, I look at the presidential mansion. Walking down the street and seeing the Obama White House filled me with an immense sense of pride. But beyond pride, it filled me with that same sense of hope and optimism I felt when I cast my first vote for a president when I was eighteen years old.
Now I avoid looking at that building. It stands as a symbol of all that I see wrong in this country. It no longer is a bastion of scientific progress. Instead it stands as a citadel of the ignorant. The men and women who walk through those doors to go to their jobs in the west wing support backwards policies right out of the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The level of hypocrisy in the new administration is astounding. From the pick for Attorney General who was too racist to be confirmed as a federal judge to the pick for Education Secretary who has never taken out a student loan for herself or anyone in her family, we are in for dark times. But I still have a flicker of hope burning inside of me. If any good comes from this election, it's that good people are hearing the call of public service. And I pledge my support to make sure they can do all of the good they need to get our country back on track.
I can remember how excited I was to cast my vote for Barack Obama in November of 2008. I walked into the dorm that was our polling place. I proudly took my Democrat ballot and used the pen at the voting station to fill in the Obama circle. I then took my completed ballot and placed it into the ballot box, though it was actually an electronic vote scanner.
A few hours later, as the polls closed in California, I can remember hearing cheers erupt throughout my campus as the election was called for Barack Obama. The man who campaigned on hope and change had won the office of President of the United States of America. I had never had more optimism for our country's future. His campaign promised major healthcare reform. He fully supported LGBT rights. He pledged to end Don't Ask Don't Tell. It was a new era in American politics.
The election of 2016 was very different. While I was a staunch supporter of Hillary Clinton, her campaign was markedly different than that of Barack Obama. Secretary Clinton had a vision for America, but instead of campaigning on that vision, their strategy was mostly "anti-Trump." The biggest problem she faced was her lack of trust, and that campaign strategy only reinforced her image as a canning manipulative politician.
November 8, 2016 was a day I was very much looking forward to though. My roommate and I were having an election watch party. We invited dozens of friends over to watch the results. We were confident the we would be watching Hillary Clinton demolish the misogynistic, xenophobic, racist dumpster fire of a candidate the GOP had run. We had food, drinks and great company.
Then the results started pouring in.
The mood in the room suddenly turned. Instead of being a celebration of a continuation of the Obama policies that literally made my life better, we were watching our country elect a man who openly mocked a disabled reporter, who said he could grab a woman by her vagina with no repercussions, who chose a vice president who believes that if you electrify gay people they will turn straight. It was quite literally the antithesis of what I felt back in 2008.
Now I live on 16th Street in Washington, D.C. For those who aren't familiar with the District, the White House is at the corner of Pennsylvania and 16th Street. That means if I walk out of my building and turn left, I look at the presidential mansion. Walking down the street and seeing the Obama White House filled me with an immense sense of pride. But beyond pride, it filled me with that same sense of hope and optimism I felt when I cast my first vote for a president when I was eighteen years old.
Now I avoid looking at that building. It stands as a symbol of all that I see wrong in this country. It no longer is a bastion of scientific progress. Instead it stands as a citadel of the ignorant. The men and women who walk through those doors to go to their jobs in the west wing support backwards policies right out of the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The level of hypocrisy in the new administration is astounding. From the pick for Attorney General who was too racist to be confirmed as a federal judge to the pick for Education Secretary who has never taken out a student loan for herself or anyone in her family, we are in for dark times. But I still have a flicker of hope burning inside of me. If any good comes from this election, it's that good people are hearing the call of public service. And I pledge my support to make sure they can do all of the good they need to get our country back on track.
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