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Vote for the America You Want to See

I can remember the refrains from November of 2016:

He might do things differently.

Just give him a chance.

Let’s see what he can do.

Friend, it’s been six years,

I want you to think about what you’ve seen, now that he and his party have been given a chance.

Here’s what I’ve seen:

I’ve seen travel bans,
border walls,
family separations,
children in cages,
refused refugees,
hospital room ICE raids,

racists walking with torches,
cars running through crowds,
fine people false equivalencies,
ignored school shootings,
pepper-sprayed Bible photo ops.

I’ve see assaults on Dreamers,
on unarmed black men,
on affordable healthcare,
on free speech,
on Military members,

on the environment,
on peaceful protestors,
on the electoral process,
on the US Postal Service,
on the rights of women,
on objective truth.

I’ve seen lies about a virus,
anti-mask bullying,
nonsensical conspiracies,
denials of Science,
silencing of doctors,
deadly fake cures,
disregard for a million dead Americans,
stoked racism,
white vigilantes celebrated,
black victims vilified,
and still, more lies about a virus.

What have you seen over the past six years—and have you seen enough?

I have.

I’ve seen enough cruelty,
enough criminality,
enough divisiveness,
enough malevolence,
enough hatred,
enough ugliness,
enough needless suffering,
enough unnecessary death,
enough Constitutional crises,
enough manufactured emergencies,
enough condescending press briefings,
enough presidential tweet tantrums,
enough intentional chaos.

I’ve seen enough of this frenetic circus of incompetence over the past six years to last a thousand lifetimes. Have you?

And after you’ve thought about what you’ve seen over the past six years and of all the things you’ve had enough of—I want you to think about the next twenty years.

What do you dream of for this place?

What nation do you hope for?

What world do you want to leave as your legacy?

What do you want to see?

I want to see a collaborative spirit in America again.
I want to see equity pursued.
I want to see bigotry shouted down.
I want to see justice escorted in.
I want to see compassion trend.
I want to see kindness go viral.
I want to see diversity celebrated.
I want to see poor, tired, huddled masses breathe again.

I want to see black men breathe again.
I want to see ceremonial American “greatness” give way to actual common goodness.

So, you’ve thought about the past six years and about what you’ve seen,
and you’ve dreamed of the next twenty years and what you want to see.

Now, think about this moment—because that is what this all comes down to.

You have this moment to end what you’ve seen enough of and to usher in what you want to see more of;
this moment to demand what you cannot live without and to condemn what you will not abide;
this moment to create a home for you and your children and their children, for everyone who lives here and for all those who dream of living here, and for the vast multitude on the horizon of history who will inherit this place;
this moment, between the America that is and the America that could be—and for better or for worse, will be.

And this moment all in your hands.

In these days, no politician is likely to move people still inexplicably undecided; those still stuck in apathy or hopelessness; those who still aren’t planning to temporarily move from their past party affiliation in order to protect us in this moment of unprecedented urgency.

Only you can do that.

Only you can reach people in small and the close places of their stories, in the trenches of your relationships with them: in your home and your neighborhood and at your school and at work and on your timelines. You can be the difference in the day.

What have you seen over the past six years, and have you seen enough?
What do you want to see happen in the next twenty years?
What will you do in the coming days in response?

America is not in the hands of a politician or a preacher or an athlete or a celebrity—it’s in your hands.

In this moment, may you leverage your voice, your time, your resources, your circle of influence, and may you do all you can to transform the America that is, into the America that could be.

On November ninth, may we wake up in that hopeful, beautiful, glorious place of possibility again.

Your move.

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