It comes as no shocker to anyone when I say that the past few weeks of my Substack posts have been focused on politics. There’s a few reasons for this.
One, there’s the kind of shameful answer that you readers seem to respond more to the politically oriented posts. As I am a writer just trying to start out, I need all the support I can get. So yeah, I’m going to write about what gets me the most views. I’m not entirely proud of that.
Another reason is the fact that the person who introduced me to Substack, Robert Leonard, did so because I wrote a very passionate piece about the then recent overturn of Roe v. Wade. He wanted me to voice my opinions more. He wanted me to talk about these things as a young person.
But finally, I think the most important reason is the fact that I’m scared. I’m scared as a teenage boy who can’t vote. I’m scared that my country is in severe danger, and that my fellow voting citizens may not realize the severity of the situation we’re in. On the flip side, others exaggerate the situation and make it seem to those who don’t understand the severity that this whole thing is just being blown out of proportion.
Well, if Project 2025 has anything to say about it, there’s no way I can actually blow it out of proportion enough.
And if not Project 2025, then Trump’s very own Agenda 47, which, while less extreme than Project 2025, still calls for disgraceful things that should never be considered here in the United States.
And then, of course, there’s the Republican majority Supreme Court who basically just gave the president immunity to the law, which completely guts everything our Founding Fathers stood for.
I am afraid of where our country is headed. I’m afraid of where our species is headed. Where our world is headed. I will be entirely upfront with you, I am terrified. The more I hear, the scarier it becomes.
But sometimes I ask myself, why would me, a straight, white male, be so afraid of the modern Republican Party?
I don’t want to downplay all the risks they present against me between their attacks on public education, freedom of speech, their bailouts for the wealthy, and so on. But then again, the likelihood is that if the Trumpocalypse does happen, I could be fine.
I could just put my head down and conform, and I could probably get through life. Sure, I won’t be very happy, but I could probably find joy here and there. Eventually come to terms with the way things are.
But I’m not afraid for my sake. It’s never been about me. It never should be. I can’t vote, but if I could, it would be a disgrace for me to vote on my issues alone. That’s unfair. It’s greedy. It’s selfish.
I’m not afraid for myself. I’m afraid for everyone else.
Going back to that post I wrote about the overturning of Roe v. Wade before I had Substack provides an illustration of this. I am a male. I was born a male and continue to identify as a male. Abortion isn’t really my problem directly. So why would I care?
Well, I spelled it out for the reader in that post, and it only got solidified in a response I got from it. There were a lot of reasons that the ruling disturbed me, but the main one had nothing to do with me.
I had just finished my first year of high school. Suddenly, I had a bunch of friends who were biologically female. Almost all of them were capable of getting pregnant.
Those friends provided me with compassion. They gave me warmth when I needed it. Some of them even provided me with leadership when I needed it.
They were strong, young women with promising futures ahead, yet some bigwigs in far off Washington thought they had the right to assault their healthcare rights.
I don’t like abortion. I don’t like the idea of killing the unborn.
But the idea I hate even more is seeing one of those friends of mine stuck with an unwanted pregnancy, be it they just couldn’t support the child, their boyfriend walked out, they literally can’t carry the child to term, or heaven forbid from rape. But heaven doesn’t forbid rape, so why should we forbid abortion?
Their promising futures would be crushed. They wouldn’t know what to do. They’d be stuck.
And if I had any doubts in my logic, a girl texted me after I dropped that post. She was a few years older than me and was actually my section leader from marching band.
She told me she was in tears texting me. She was so overjoyed to hear a younger male voice be so supportive of her and other women’s healthcare. She said this meant so much to her and others with uteri.
That moved me. It helped me further realize the importance of standing with those who are affected by a problem.
Abortion doesn’t directly affect me. But I don’t care. It’s not about me, it’s about them. It’s about those who’ve cared for me, and those I’ve cared for. It’s about those who I’ve never met before and will never meet, but ultimately have good hearts.
So why politics? Why am I afraid? Why am I trying to spread the word even when sometimes I just come off as an echo chamber?
It’s because it’s not about me.
It’s about those female friends, some of them dearly close, who are getting oppressed by fools who don’t deserve the prestige they have.
It’s about that specific young woman who was so moved by my message just because she needed an ally in these troubled times.
It’s about my LGBTQ+ friends, classmates, role models, and relatives, who deserve a chance to express themselves freely without having to be forced into hiding because a small yet loud minority considers their lifestyle “disgusting.”
It’s about some of my best friends who are bisexual or transexual or just plain confused, but they have the right to explore their confusion over their sexuality without having to be afraid of government intervention. Teenagers should be allowed to try to understand themselves without having to fear becoming a criminal.
It’s about one of my trans friends who put so much into perspective about being trapped in the wrong body. Who confided in me very delicate secrets and stories.
It’s about my friends from different races, even the products of biracial parents. It’s about my friend who’s an immigrant from the Philippines.
It’s about people I’ve never met. It’s about the minority groups who feel oppressed and trapped. It’s about the specific members of those minorities who are stuck because of the way they were born. Sometimes, I stop and think about people I’ve never met and never will meet. These people are facing these issues in my head, and even though I never met them, I know they’re real. And I want to help them.
It’s about people of different faiths and religions, who are ostracized by a few self righteous “Christians.”
It’s about the impoverished and struggling people and families around the country who keep getting punished by a privileged wealthy class who keeps getting more powerful.
It’s about the condition of the Earth itself. It’s about all the endangered species who are threatened by forces beyond their control. They have every right to life we do.
It’s about the fish in the seas and the rivers, the birds in the sky, the bugs on the ground, and the beasts of the land.
It’s about all the plants, from the smallest freckle of moss to the largest redwood tree. It’s about the fungi and the microorganisms.
It’s about the whales who swim in polluted oceans, the elephants and rhinos who continue to get poached, the turtles who fall victim to litter, the primates who suffer from the recklessness of their own cousins.
It’s about a baby giraffe out there somewhere who’s entered an uncertain world.
It’s about a baby gorilla who’s family is threatened by habitat loss and poaching.
It’s about a baby human who’s about to struggle with understanding their place on a mad planet.
It’s about everyone and everything in the past, who’s sacrificed so much for the world to get here. From animals of long forgotten ages, to soldiers from every side of every conflict who’ve died on the battlefield, to mothers who have lost it all trying to give their children a future.
Every white man who died fighting Indigenous Americans to every Indigenous American who died fighting white men. Warriors who died on both sides of the crusades. Soldiers who died in any war, be they American, Japanese, British, Confederate, Mexican, Spanish, even Nazis. Jews who were persecuted, African American slaves who toiled to their deaths, native peoples across the planet who suffered from disease and war.
They all died, be they “bad guy” or not, so we could possibly obtain a better world. Our society is built off of their mountain of corpses. We owe it to them to create the best world we can so they don’t die in vain. Their sacrifice has to have meaning. We owe it to them.
And we owe it to ourselves.
It’s about those in the present who are struggling and hurting. People we can help. People we can save. We can do our best to make the best reality we can have right now.
And of course, it’s about the future. It’s about every generation that comes after us. We owe it to them to try to make the best world for them to inherit. They will have their own problems. They will have their own challenges to overcome. Let’s do our best to not give them any of our challenges. Let’s set the best examples we can for them to follow.
It’s about everyone and everything of every time and place. Democracy gives us a chance to change the world for the better. We need to take advantage of that. We owe it to everyone. We owe it to ourselves.
In short, it’s not about me. It never should be about me. It should be about everyone else. It should be about this magnificent world we live in. We should honor the sacrifices of those who came before us rather than desecrate their memory. We should help each other right now rather than bully. We should set up the best future we can rather than doom it for those who come after us.
So when you vote, don’t vote for gas prices. The world is bigger than gas prices. When you vote, consider all of this. Consider the world you want to live in. Don’t vote selfishly, vote generously.
And right now, as much as I hate to say it, voting red will be voting selfishly this November. Trump has proven to be a threat to our democracy, our values, and our rights time and time again. Don’t vote for him just because he isn’t Biden.
And about that…
Oh, And Biden Dropped Out
Yeah, originally this post was going to end up there like I said with my last one…before Trump was shot at. And it seems like I’m continuing the trend of posting on politically active days because Biden just dropped out of the race today.
This comes as a huge shocker to me, and I have no idea if this was the right decision (especially this late in the race). But I call upon not only all Democrats but all Americans to make this the right decision.
We need to unify behind Kamala Harris.
If the Democratic Party plays it right, and they can, they can win with Harris. She is substantially younger than Trump, which turns the Republican argument against Biden’s age on its head. One of Republicans’ main strategies was bashing on Biden, making him seem like a terrible guy. Republicans didn’t need to be the best party, they just needed to be different than Biden.
Well, now the Democrats have someone who is different than Biden.
And Harris should take advantage of that. She’s much younger than Trump, which has turned yet another argument on its head. She hasn’t suffered the same smear campaign Biden has. But most importantly, Biden needs to continue to campaign with Harris to support her.
It would be great for Biden to make a case while campaigning that he stepped down because he’s doing what is best for this country, not himself. That’s a lot more than convicted criminal Trump can say, who helped insight a riot in the wake of his loss.
Either way, Democrats need to support Harris in ways they failed Biden. She is likely our last defense against a Republican nightmare. She is maybe our last hope for all these things I think are worth fighting for.
I want to save them. Do you?
Bravo K.L. !! Once again, very well put! And I’m right there with you. :/
Dear friend,
You are correct in saying Fear will garner clicks. In a social media world, fear will also offer power, status and prestige. We have seen fear gather mobs and call for chaos, even change elections.
Some of us choose to not live in fear. Some of us choose to not be a victim.
Could it be possible to write about your ideas without introducing fear as a leading edge? Re-read your favorite substack writers and keep an eye out for fear based content. When you see it, consider the deeper questions behind why they offer fear into an argument. My take is that fear lacks substance and humility. A bad combination for communicators.
On another note, democracy, or the fear of losing our democracy, seems to me to be an overused political focus usually aimed at one political party these days. Humor me by taking a closer look into the word and idea of democracy, particulary the democratic principle of majority rules.
Keep writing, I'll keep reading and attempting to offer helpful feedback. Great respect and love for you and your family.