It is unfortunately true that I wake up every morning to a new revelation of what white conservatives think America should be. In a nutshell, they want America to be ruled by white “Christian” men; they want everyone to be heterosexual and male or female as assigned at birth; they want fantasy to replace actual history and science; and most importantly, they want freedom and justice for themselves, but not for others whose backgrounds, values, and beliefs differ from theirs. And they are willing to fight dirty or violently to get what they want.
These older white conservative men grew up in an America built on a foundation of genocide, slavery, racism, and sexism that specifically catered to their needs and their ambitions. They didn’t have to compete with feminists, people of color, or LGBTQ folks for access to the best education, highest paying jobs, capital from banks, or political power. Even when feminists and people of color finally won the right to vote, white conservative men were able to pass laws that ensured their unfettered choices and opportunities for success in life for many more years, while legally finding ways to oppress the freedoms and opportunities of everyone else. Every small victory for the access was met by opposition from the conservatives and complaints of “reverse discrimination”. However, just recently, the doors of freedom and opportunity seem to have cracked open for the previously oppressed and they want to close them again.
Feminists, people of color, LGBTQ folks, religious minorities, and fair-minded white folks were able to ban together to demand access to justice, opportunities and equal rights. They effectively used a combination of protests, creativity, the political process, lawsuits, and determination to pry open these doors. For conservatives, I think the election of Obama followed by the legalization of gay marriage terrified them. Obama signaled to many white Americans that they were losing “their” country and the passage of gay marriage signaled that they were losing their “freedom” to discriminate and oppress those whom they never accepted as fully American in values, color, or religion.
Instead of turning to prayer, they turned to Trump. I think in their heart of hearts, they know that Jesus isn’t on their side. Jesus calls us to love our neighbors, not to judge nor oppress them. I think they know that the devil is a liar from the beginning, and yet they embraced the liar and his ongoing lies with gusto. To say these conservatives are “Christian” is a disgrace to true followers of Christ. These folks have truly abandoned the faith for an evil bigot and his oppressive ways. They are almost foaming at the mouth in their level of hatred for the push toward justice, freedom, and opportunity for all.
While draping themselves in the American flag and crying freedom, they want to force women to give birth, ban books, prevent teachers from teaching history and science, prosecute parents seeking care for their transgender children, force media companies to carry networks that promote lies and misinformation, defy mask and vaccine mandates that save lives, and block reasonable gun regulations. Their policies are deadly, yet they claim to be “pro-life”.
So, I wake up each morning realizing that it’s not time to celebrate the glimmers of freedom, opportunities and justice feminists, people of color, religious minorities and LGBTQ folks have finally won. The battle continues and it’s only becoming fiercer. The battles are taking place in the courtrooms and school boards across the country and will soon be waged at the ballot box. And it is no coincidence that the conservatives have made it more difficult to cast that ballot.