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Using Despair for Good [1]

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Date: 2024-12-02  

While painful, depressing, and even debilitating, the despair we feel over the 2024 election is unavoidable. How could we not despair in the face of this catastrophe? Our despair isn’t just about the election results; it’s about the terrible things we anticipate that Trump and his allies—Musk, Johnson, RFK Jr., Bannon, the Supreme Court, and so many others—will pursue in their quest to remake America into a fascist state.

Of course, those on the right dismiss our fears as baseless. Nicole Russell, a USA Today columnist, recently wrote an article titled “Virtue Signaling About Fascism Shows Liberals’ Ignorance.” But let’s consider the facts: The president-elect has praised Putin and other dictators, coveting their absolute power. He has already declared that he would be “a dictator on day one.” The Supreme Court has granted him complete immunity, placing him above the rule of law. And he demands absolute loyalty—not to the Constitution, democracy, or America, but to him personally, undermining the very ideals our country has strived to represent, however imperfectly.

So, no, Nicole, we are not crying wolf. The wolf is in the henhouse, and a would-be dictator will be in the Whitehouse. That is why we despair. But we will not let our despair be our last word.

If we sit with our despair, we will likely confront fear, dread about the future, and loss—loss of control, meaning, hope, and the dreams that define us. But despair is not the end. We must not allow ourselves to get stuck in it. Instead, let it fuel our moral courage, constructive anger, sense of power, solidarity with the over 70 million Americans who voted as we did, and the urgency of now. Let us also remember that the other side of the coin of despair is hope. Let us flip the coin, turn the page, and commit ourselves to a pro-democracy movement as we resist the erosion of our core values.

Trump’s rise is not an isolated incident. It is the culmination of decades of erosion of democracy and decency. It goes back to Barry Goldwater’s failed presidential campaign in 1964 and his book, “The Conscience of a Conservative,” which has been a blueprint for much of what has unfolded since. It certainly informed the Speakership (1995-1999) of Newt Gingrich, who turned partisan battles into bloodsport, wrecked Congress, and paved the way for Trump’s rise. (See https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/newt-gingrich-says-youre-welcome/570832/). It also informed the Republican Tea Party movement that began in 2009 in response to the election of the first Black president. Ironically, Goldwater’s political philosophy is unrelated to Donald Trump’s lust for power; it simply helped him achieve his goal.

Yes, we despair—but that despair can lead to righteous action rooted in our values and our vision for America. This is how we can use our despair for good.

Kirk

PS: We must feel our despair and then use it constructively because, in the next four years, we will have more reasons for despair.

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