This is a post about politics, so feel free to click away if you came here looking for something about books.
From the fact that I write romance centering LGBTQ+ characters, and from a hundred other cues, you can easily deduce that I identify as progressive. I am, therefore, like countless others, a little bit crushed right now. Disappointed, sad, and worried.
I think it’s pretty clear that the United States of America, the last successful empire, has entered its twilight. I’m not alone in comparing our current status to that of the end stage of the Roman Empire, when the only things keeping the plebians in line were food and entertainment.
Now that the election is mostly over, with a solid chance the red tide has swallowed up the Senate and the House as well as the executive office, the majority of voters will consider their work done and go back to their daily concerns. If the rest of us want different outcomes in the 2026 midterms and the 2028 election, we cannot say “well, we tried” and simply abandon the work.
You can be sure that the new administration will hit the ground running with executive orders and new legislative bills its underground team has spent the last four years preparing. The red tide begins locally, so here are a few steps to take:
Know who your local, county, state, and federal elected officials are.
If you want to start at the top, click HERE.
Bookmark your officials’ websites, or set up alerts to check regularly for new proposed regulations. Make noise about the ones you disapprove of. Ask your like-minded friends to do the same. And make sure you have your citizenship and voter registration information ducks in a very clean row, because they will question your rights.
On the federal level, we know – because they have told us – that they will be coming after the Affordable Care Act. They will attempt to blame progressives for the skyrocketing healthcare costs, or loss of access, that will result. We have to keep track of official statistics and reports to counter that.
We know – because they have told us – that they will begin a mass deportation sweep. They will continue blaming progressives for the immigration problem (and it is a problem, all over the world), despite the fact that President Biden’s most recent order resulted in a tremendous drop in border crossings. If you have friends or family who are undocumented, build a plan now. That may require helping them leave the US, but under their own power and not at the point of a rifle.
We know – because they have told us – that they will move for a national ban on abortion, despite the states that have passed laws to protect women’s rights. This cannot be waved off as an issue that doesn’t affect you, for whatever reason. National laws against any form of healthcare can easily become laws against many forms of healthcare (yes, trans Americans, they are coming for you).
We know – because they have told us – that they will come for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy. Dreamers, you’re at serious risk of deportation and should take steps accordingly. During the previous Trump administration, we saw stories of college graduates and National Guard members being deported because they came to the US as children of undocumented parents. That will happen again.
The new administration will attempt to distract us with impeachment actions and noisy attacks on federal agencies they want to kill, like the Department of Education. We can’t be distracted. We have to pay attention.
This election wasn’t stolen. We lost it fair and square, so we need to listen to the voters. We can’t waste time blaming, calling them names, gaslighting them. They told us what they were most worried about.