It's so easy to be pessimistic about the next four years. We have a VP who supports conversion therapy, which alone should be a huge red light, and a president who says such crass things about women and non-white races that, politician or not, no humane person should imply. His campaign was built on fear, and for the first time in my life, I am afraid to be a minority, bi-questioning teenage girl in America.
But it's not about me, really. It's about the Muslims, the Mexicans, the lgbtq+, the unheard, repressed minorities. At the end of the day, the world looks to US as the leader of the free, progressive world. If we openly discriminate against so many people based on bigotry and fear, what does that mean for the world? The truth is that we essentially elected a joke candidate who had all the odds stacked against him, that already democrats and republicans have divided more deeply than before, that suddenly it's okay to be misogynistic, okay to be sexist, and okay to be racist because our leader is all these things and more, and the countries that look to us for guidance will follow in our dubious footsteps. I am so disappointed because I never even considered this possibility, but the fact that Trump will be our president means that his insidious campaign of fear and hate has penetrated the mentality of the majority and has created a discourse that can only end catastrophically.
I hope that Democrats and Republicans can remember that the outcome of this election doesn't affect the fact that we are Americans. We are the future, the millennials, the world shakers. If we fight for freedom, equality, and justice, we will have them. Please, don't let the bitterness created by this whole presidential campaign to poison the core of our American values. Now, more than ever, unity is essential for our further social progress. Take a stand for what you believe in, but at the end of the day, we will not progress as separate parties. We will progress as a country.
