We are heading towards an Idiocracy!

[phil_]

So, four eight years of Republicans driving the country into the ground and blaming everyone but themselves when "Government is the enemy, don't govern" results in governance not getting done. While the states run an extermination campaign on their citizens with no remaining Federal or Judicial power to tell them to cut that shit out.

In a bad place right now. And my bad place is Sugar Candy Mountain compared to where most of the country is.

Shit. Just shit.

[RickZarber]

My cousin in Massachusetts was accosted twice this morning in two different locations by some emboldened assholes shouting homophobic epithets at him. First time in nearly a decade, he said. So we're already seeing the signs of this legitimization of bigotry.

Myself, I've been up all night sick with worry and stress, torturing myself with constantly checking social media. On top of the large amount of physical pain I've been in for the last week+, I'm not in great mental health right now... Can't even imagine how others are faring.

[Terex4]

Truth be told, I'm pissed off and terrified. We're about to see an increase in violence against minorities. I don't have a lot of straight, white friends so there's a very real chance that this new climate is going to hit way too close to home on a personal level. We're about to see the last couple of decades worth of civil rights progress that we have fought, bled, and been imprisoned for reversed.

On a more direct, personal level, I'm still early in the process for getting disability and have been 100% reliant on the medicaid expansion through the ACA for my medical needs and I've been leaning on it for years for my hormones. My state is going to be revisiting a bill that would throw me on the sex offender registry for using the women's restroom, and I'm not in the fighting shape that I used to be due to my brain being all fucky. In lieu of fighting, I feel like there's nowhere to run. I haven't managed to enclose myself in a comfortable bubble where I can keep my distance from all of this, rather I've been thick in the middle of it.

Most of the potential consequences of standing against it don't bother me, I just don't feel like there's much I can do right now unless I start to heal a bit. I'm fired up and ready to throw down, I just don't know how well I can do it and that's frustrating as all hell.

[shiney]

I'm gonna fight too. I also don't know what to do but I'm not going to let hatred rule America. We all fought for those rights to be expanded to everyone and I'm not going to let them scale them back without a worse fight. Fuck all of that. If they think that winning the Presidency means liberals are going to shut up and go away they have another thing coming.

I'm intending to be louder and more annoying and fight back harder.

[Tev]

Clinton is giving her concession speech now. I'm at work so I can't hear what's being said. I hope that it is somewhat uplifting. Just watching the screen and being sad right now.

[Terex4]

When it comes to civil rights, there are groups that do know what to do. The best way to break into activism on any level is to start small and jump in with a local group or branch that can use your voice and your talents. There are a lot of aspects to it as well be it administrative, being out in the field fighting the good fight, offering fun things that the community can do and give them a chance to just enjoy themselves in the company of others who fully understand, or offering emotional support through mentoring/peer support.

Finding the right organization can be tough as they all vary wildly. Some talk a big game but don't do anything beyond potlucks and open mic nights, others are too concerned about keeping their machine running and will willfully compromise what they stand for to accomplish it. It gets frustrating and ugly but damn, is it fulfilling when you get on the right track with a solid organization.

[RickZarber]

@shiney: Well, the presidency, plus Congress, the Senate, and soon enough a Supreme Court majority. Potential for damage is high...

Personally, I'm also disabled and dependent on the ACA, particularly the ban of preexisting conditions disqualifiers, so that being repealed will spell the end of healthcare for me. But that's nothing to the danger the next few years of policy making could mean for anyone not cishet white or male. Oh, and if this administration completely ignores all environmental issues...

Anyways, I've apparently worried myself to exhaustion enough to finally pass out now so I'ma do that.

[Karrrrrrrrrrrresche]

This is more of a hope than a predictive notion but I think Trump might have such an absence of personal ideology that he can be worked with. The issues are twofold; Will Republicans work with Trump, and if they don't will Dems work with them, or him?

I can see a future where the GOP throws their arms up and fiercely resists some issue that Dems see as slightly more palatable. Term limits, TPP, something that gets Trump talking with people who walk him far, far away from social issues and into the economic and political. His most fierce rhetoric in the final months were focused on the institutions of power. "Drain the swamp" replaced "Build the wall" by far, and Trump never really held any personal ideas about religious freedom / Social Progress.

I... don't know if I'm right? But that's how I tried to view it. I hope it can happen.

[Terex4]

He balanced that out with Mike-what about the poor christian wedding cake bakers-Pence and I think that in the wake of Trump being Trump, its easy to forget that we also elected someone who is extremely socially-regressive who encompasses the worst ideals of the GOP as his right hand.

[Tev]

Also that Rudy Giuliani, Rodger Ails, and I'm pretty sure Newt Gingrich will all be offered powerful positions within the administration.

---------- Post added at 11:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:21 AM ----------

On the plus side, it still takes 60 Senators to confirm a Supreme Court Justice and Republicans only have 51....