The future is no longer American
2016 will be a year to remember for the Electoral College. All I can say is that my fellow peers and I are shocked about the surprise outcome and are ashamed to call ourselves American citizens.
Thinking about what may possibly happen in the next few years leading up to 2020, I realize that things are going to pass without opposition or face blockage in Congress and dissention from the judicial branch. Trump’s proposed policies for the first 100 days send people out that normally the American values would embrace.
Looking through a transcript of what Trump has in store for the first 100 days on NPR’s webpage, there is a lot to take in. On the same day he is inaugurated, he wants to cancel a trade deal that helps the economies of Mexico and Canada, revoke President Obama’s executive orders that protect millions of LGBTQ+ Americans, and block Middle Eastern refugees from entering the United States among other acts. For the rest of the 100 days, he plans to cancel Obamacare, which has spread access to medical care, end common core curriculum, build his much-mentioned wall along the Mexican-U.S. border, and decrease taxes on the middle class.
After seeing all the acts he wishes to implement in just 100 days – which seems impossible – I am disgusted.
Building a wall that divides the United States from Latin American countries is contrary to the American values of welcoming people from all over the world and giving opportunities to those who desperately need them. Without the laws that protect LGBTQ+ people from losing their jobs based on their identity, many jobs would be lost in a country of opportunity on the grounds of discrimination. Blocking Muslims from settling in the States only cites the retrogression of progress this country has made over a countless amount of years.
People who look to the United States in other countries for hope and for opportunity now look at potentially what America could be under Donald Trump’s regime. Many people I know and interacted with on social media have felt the panic, as have I. It is hard to know what is going to happen after changing over from the liberalism that has embraced us all over the past eight years to the conservatism that has got into office based on extreme comments made by the president-elect.
Right now we Americans have the power to voice our opposition to the hate rising up out of the hollows of this election. For our generation’s sake, we must do so for survival.