Now the hard work begins
I'm going to let you all in on a little secret. While the election is finally coming to an end, and it looks as though we will have a new President, the hard work is only just beginning. Everything up to this point was the easy part. Now the actual work of starting to solve our many issues begins in full. When I say many, I mean it.
Voting rights are still being stifled all over the country, police brutality still exists, systemic racism is rampant, climate change is going unchecked, the wealth gap continues to grow, American infrastructure is crumbling, the court system is continually politicized, tech companies still weaponize your data, universal health care doesn’t exist, and we are in the middle of a raging pandemic.
To say this is a tall order is a gigantic understatement and this isn’t even half of it.
Making things worse is that both parties cannot seem to agree on just about any of it. If you’re a republican reading that list above, my guess is you don’t agree that much of this even exists, let alone is a problem. On many of these issues, we simply don’t have time to hem and haw over a plan, action is required now. However, without 50 votes in the Senate, Mitch McConnell has already signaled his intent to block any meaningful regulations. Even going so far as to deny Biden cabinet choices in favor of those sympathetic to the conservative cause.
All of this is, of course, his right and that’s yet another big problem.
As much as we talk about the need to work together, it's nearly impossible to do so when we can’t even agree on what is an actual problem. When action is required on climate change and when the majority of Republicans believe climate change is a hoax it's doubtful anything meaningful can pass. This is why the hard work starts now.
Even if both Georgia senate run-offs go Democrats way, it doesn’t change the underlying problem. If we can’t get more Republicans to agree that these are problems that need solutions we end up in a never-ending see-saw of half-measures and complete inaction. Sure Democrats can ram through regulations that could go a long way in starting to solve these problems, but history shows that the minute Republicans have power again they’ll attempt to dismantle all the progress made.
This cannot happen, but we also can’t fully resolve these issues without bipartisan support. Everyone needs to take a step back and realize that we can’t be a nation of red and blue, winners, and losers.
For better or worse we need each other and we need to get on the same page.
