Trump voters, you need to listen: Young people are scared about what’s ahead | Opinion
As a senior in high school, I cannot help but feel a profound sense of anguish and bitterness as I gaze upon the results of this week’s presidential election. I also feel sadness for the country I had so wished to be proud of.
Donald Trump’s regime of alt-right political theater, destructive policy, lack of ethics, and general incoherence has taken a sour toll on the United States. I can hardly fathom how such an outcome could once again become reality in such a civilized and educated nation. The Republican Party is completely defunct of its professed values and morality, its leaders having gorged themselves preying upon the less fortunate and twisting the minds of millions into a sense of an impending doom by alienating and antagonizing minorities, parties and ideals they cannot control.
With access to social media, it is easier than ever for the alt right to create political strife and discourse in order to distract and divide the American people into a sense of endless political warfare that seldom ceases. We can see these never ending squabbles playing out in key issues such as LGBT rights, gun control, reproductive rights, racial issues, economics and countless more contentious points that have been skewed to play to the radical sides of both parties — significantly straying from the issues themselves and never providing actual change.
As a young man, my generation has become accustomed to a lack of the bare minimum in our elected leaders in the Trump era, because Trump and his allies do not meet it in any sense. Nonetheless, the masses will keep them in power because of empty promises, cult-like fanaticism, fearmongering and a bygone dream of returning to the past under a fraudulent “leader.” America is a husk of its former glory, and thus our hopes of returning to our more civilized past has faded with Trump’s return.
There is a palpable anger, sadness and hopelessness among the younger generation so strong that some don’t even bother paying attention to politics at all, providing an easy route for the right to sweep national and local elections, impacting everyone. While Kansas and Missouri have held strong against the sweeping changes proposed by the right, thanks to officials such as Gov. Laura Kelly and Rep. Sharice Davids, we are not immune to the chilling influence of the alt right and the consequences that come with it.
Missouri voters just recently overturned Republicans’ harsh abortion ban sparked by the dismantling of Roe v. Wade. Marcellus Williams was recently executed despite evidence of his innocence. And the GOP continues to stoke fears of fraudulent voting and mistrust of our elections as a cornerstone of their campaigns in both states. These examples all go to show the constant belligerent influence that the right sows both nationally and locally to rally communities by frightening and alienating those who oppose their radical speech.
I have seen such disappointment from my own peers and other young adults across the nation who feel a sense of hopelessness and despair with the impending consequences of Trump’s reelection looming. Many of us are scared for our future with the bizarre and perplexing sway of our country. We had been hopeful there would have been a better future in store for us, but that dream seems strained as the years march forward. My friends are scared not just for the security of their future, but the security of their rights, their freedoms and sense of justice. There is simply no greater pain to experience than watching the people I love utterly terrified for what’s to come.
I write not out of passion, but out of desperation and resolve. I implore my fellow students to understand the imminent disasters that are sure to come under Trump’s next term. It is up to us to make our own voices heard. Now, more than ever, we need leaders who inspire, unify and welcome all Americans into what should be the most prosperous and inviting country in the world. We need to step up, and be the leaders America needs.