My outrage is, and has been, very real, but the question is how do we unscramble this egg? Yes, I vote in every election and the primaries. I do my due diligence on candidates and amendments. I regularly write my elected officials with my concerns and strongly held perspectives. I try to engage in local politics just as much as I do national. I go to protests and rallies to show up for my causes. I share political news that angers and frightens me, petitions speaking to those issues, and I try to do it in a way that doesn’t just vent into the void, but encourages consideration in others. I have dialogues with my older or ignorant friends and family that I feel might be reached by constructive conversations. I am exhausted. And I feel completely powerless.
I live in a blue mid sized city in a red state. In the midst of COVID lockdowns, they redistricted us yet again to further disenfranchise me with gerrymandering. SCOTUS is stacked with lifetime appointments. Congress is a circus. Trump is still a free man and may very well run again for president. How do we wake up from this collective nightmare?