Expanding rights for marginalized folks does not mean anyone is taking your rights away. It just levels the playing field.

That seems to be a big part of the problem here.

I was predicting a landslide for Kamala and I could not have been more wrong. I think that view was predicated on similar, if not increased, turnout. It was the opposite. The turnout was horrible.

So why was that?

Men are in a bad place in our society right now. They have been for some time. This goes beyond class or gender.

Many feel that they are going down the tubes, more substance abuse, fentanyl in all the street drugs, suicide rising like crazy. Our society is failing men. How can this be fixed?

Masculinity is now almost a dirty word. It’s a little crazy.

Look, I am an advocate for equal rights for all. Trans people, gay people, women, I want to live in a world where noone is abused or discriminated against. Just cause I may be smarter than you, doesn’t mean I get to take advantage of you.

I think a shit-ton of men see women making gains, see rights expanding for everyone, but them. I totally get this. They are not wrong. Toxic masculinity is not as prevalent as some may make it seem. Most guys are just regular guys. I am one of those.

I don’t really know where I am going with this. I’m sort of a confused mess right now, I’m grasping at straws, trying to figure it all out.

My tribe perhaps has gotten to strident, too self righteous; the Me-Too movement was a good thing of course, but it also cast men as the enemy when they are not. The huge mass of men out there are well, great guys. The problem is not with them, but with the subset who are dicks. But we all get lumped together. There are some things that happen now because of the internet that are just counterproductive.

PC culture has gotten out of hand. Noone should lose their jobs because they make some sexist statements, racist statements, what have you. Trans women in women’s sports is just ludicrous on the surface. But, if women athletes are on board with it, I guess I am too. Perhaps gender is fluid, I don’t get all the pronouns stuff, but hey, I’ll be polite about it.

No skin off of my back.

I also don’t get the current fashions, all the metal in people’s bodies, the tattooing of every inch of skin, the war against hair. It’s silly to me.

Do I get OFFENDED over it though? Um, no. Not my thing, don’t find it attractive personally, but it’s your body. Do what thou wilt. Up to you.

It is NOT ok though, for me to abuse people because they are different than me. By the same token though, people have gotten way too sensitive. Choose your battles. Yes, privilege is bad, again, the equal rights thing. But it doesn’t mean that all men are sexist. It doesn’t mean men, white men, are all The Enemy.

PEOPLE ARE ALL THE SAME. Immigrants are coming here, as they always have, because they want to be here! They want safety, they want food security. They are not likely to screw that up by breaking the rules. My forebears didn’t, though some yes joined the Mafia.

Does it mean that all Italians are gangsters?

Does Trump winning mean it’s the end of America? NO.

Does it mean that people are sick and tired of the status quo? YES.

The Dems kind of shot themselves in the foot by not recognizing this. The Liz Cheneys supporting Kamala might have seemed great on the surface, but it backfired. It turned out to be not a good thing. Because it just showed that Dems just want more of the same.

Bernie Sanders put it perfectly in his statement. I love Bernie. I voted for him twice, but I got in line behind Hillary and Biden and Kamala. He represents me. They really do not.

We need to figure this all out. The details in how to do this are frankly beyond me. I’m a big picture guy, not one to dig into the minutiae of exactly how to do it. I have no clue, I just know it needs to be done. People feel they are sinking, not rising. We can fix this. We can ALL prosper.

Hey I’m a double scorpio bipolar II empath. I take on the weight of the world because I feel other’s pain. It hurts me to see others struggle. I want to help. I like to make people happy, to brighten their day, to me this is the highest form of existence. It makes ME FEEL GOOD>

What the solutions are, well I’m a bit slow.