1.

No country for (anyone but angry) old men

I am male, Indian and have lived in the USA for over 15 years. Somewhere between
the recent past (in my minds recollection at least) and the present, I also became
legally a permanent resident in the US. Without conscious recognition, I was moving
somewhere on the spectrum between a visitor/alien and an American citizen.

On November 8 (or election day), I realized that while I had lived in the US for such
an extended length of time, there were several important truths that had just
become clearly apparent to me. The US has always billed itself as beacon on a hill
and as a land open to immigrants which in itself in my mind has always been an
oversimplification. As every culture does, so too does this country have its own
founding myths and if it sweeps aside emotionally charged questions of the fate of
Native Americans, the role of slavery, the immigration welcome historically being
accorded only to European descendants this could be overcome (or overlooked)
under the comforting illusion (with some basis in reality to be sure) that steady
progress was being made towards a bright and tolerant future. Weve heard terms
like the post-racial and post-gender society that we are already supposedly
living in.

As we were reminded on election evening, those who do not learn from history are
condemned to repeat it. The candidate that won has made it explicitly, repeatedly
clear that he respects no group except Caucasian men and has perfected the
trifecta of insults based on race, gender, and religion. History shows that
demagoguery and blaming the outsider (based on any of the group factors
identified above) has won many a time by appealing to peoples baser instincts
and so it has proved to be the case this time around too.

Sure, there is actively being discriminatory and then theres the majority of people
who think they are not discriminatory themselves but are willing and ready to
overlook anything by convincing themselves that its just a challenge to political
correctness and that in reality, these things need to be said. I personally prefer
people who are openly dismissive (such as our new president) to those that are
unwilling to even acknowledge what they think.

The clear message from the outcome of the election is that the majority of the
electorate thought that the USA was only great when it was great purely for the one
demographic, and that perhaps multiculturalism and integration have failed no
longer the beacon on a hill, but an insular, exclusionary neighborhood.

2. The skeletons in the closet and the slipping of the mask

As an immigrant to this country, upon reflection the reasons why I came here were
to further my education, better my skills, enjoy the numerous freedoms that
individuals here have been fortunate enough to enjoy, interact with and gain
exposure to the cultures of the world (for they can all be found here) and to be

productive in my chosen area of expertise. Also, as the worlds superpower, it was

clear that they had to be doing a lot of things right infrastructure, education, health
care, policy making, fore-planning etc.

While I believe many of those strengths were real and have contributed to what has
been achieved, it behooves all of us to think if history is the best guide to the future.
Investments in any public infrastructure (transportation, housing, community
funding) are likely to go down. Good education I believe should not be offered only
in exclusive private schools or schools in affluent suburbs only but my guess is
thats the direction I expect the system to move. As for health care, I am currently
fortunate enough to have good coverage through my employer and already the
very first cry is to revoke or limit the Affordable Care Act. If tens of millions of
people lose health insurance, hey, this election apparently empowered politicians to
openly discount any need for empathy. Policy making the less said the better
because even most of the voters who voted for the winning candidate will openly
admit they have no idea what he stands for. As for fore-planning this first requires
acknowledging realities and working with experts to mitigate future risks and
suffice it to say a denial of science and a refusal to acknowledge even that humans
might have a role in climate change doesnt inspire a great deal of confidence in
any forward looking decisions that are going to be made. Prime exhibit for this
cause: the nomination of Myron Ebell to head up the EPA, one of the seven climate
criminals already identified for destroying the future. All this adds up to a
depressing chronicle of a planetary death foretold and the macabre spectacle of a
coterie of rich men reveling in accelerating this catastrophe if only they had to
drink dirty water, struggle for breath and eat something contaminated even if just
for a week!

All in all, my opinion is that the mask has slipped, revealing what lies beneath. And it
isnt pretty its all rage at the moment and nostalgia for a simpler past. While these
are understandable and even necessary, they arent going to be the agents of change
to face anything in the future. And so if the skeletons have now come out from the
closet and revealed themselves, I find myself asking what comes next. And whether I
really want to know.

3. The audacity of nope

Over the past 8 years, the opposition had made it clear that their only definition of
success has been to consistently block any policy, and even openly made the claim
that their main aim was for the president to fail. Far for being punished for this by
the electorate, this has been rewarded with the presidency, as well as control of
both the Senate and the House. Perhaps the previous administration had it all
wrong it really should be called the audacity of nope!

Destruction is always much easier than construction and the new administration
may yet take a great deal of satisfaction from destroying accomplishments including
the ACA, the policies of the Environmental Protection Agency, LGBT freedoms,

womens rights etc. And what comes next? Will this administration actually have a
policy to address the concerns of the country? And, no, China isnt going to agree to a
40% tariff and no, Mexico isnt going to fund a wall.

4. Self-interest and self-loathing

Let me acknowledge that this election appears to have been won fair and square
within the demands of the current Electoral college system. How did the new
President fare among various groups?

42% of women voters - 53% of Caucasian women voters, 6% of African
American women, 32% of Latina women
72% among Caucasian males without a college degree, 62% among
Caucasian females without a college degree
13% of African American men

A possible conclusion to be drawn is that for a significant number of women
especially, Trumps public remarks and being accused of sexual assault didnt
have an impact on how they voted. And that not having a college education made
a voter more likely to vote for the inherited millionaire with a record of alleged
discrimination going back decades.

I dont know the answer to this question but are there are significant numbers
of people who have voted against their own self interest? Whether thats a loss
in government benefits, healthcare coverage or even less access to infrastructure
remains to be seen but it would seem like theres a possibility that many
people have cut off their noses to spite their faces.

5. The (Midwestern) red army

I used to live in Chicago for many years and I always knew it was something of
an anomaly in the Midwest, being large, cosmopolitan and relatively progressive
and friendly to labor interests. The current voting map essentially shows that its
Chicago vs. the Red army not that we need to stretch too much to make Russian
metaphors now.

6. Tribalism, exclusionism and the need to follow

Is politics a zero sum game? Yes, there are winners and losers in every election.
And clearly, in the long run, there are segments of people who are favored more
by the outcomes than others. Especially in the American electoral system, which
is more or less a winner takes all setup (especially for example at each states
level for the electoral college votes), there is a winner and there is a clearly
delineated loser. The divide possibly wouldnt be quite as stark in a proportional
representation system, but thats a theoretical discussion for now.

The system therefore encourages group identity and groupthink you are either
part of the happy winning group, a sore but still supported part of the losing
group, or a virtually alone third party. Given that, its almost surprising that the
third-party candidates accounted for about 5% of the national popular vote. It
always seemed to me that Democrats who expected Republicans to not vote for
their candidate were engaging in meaningless wishful thinking and for me, this

election reiterates that the democratic process unfortunately penalizes those

that dont strongly energize their base (a good thing overall) but also even more
strongly penalizes those that are perceived as compromising with the other
side. And the logical conclusion therefore is that what wins elections makes any
actual policy making and consensus building a huge challenge and essentially
pivots on the ability of politicians to sell a different story to their public after an
election, while also relying on short-term memories for the vast majority of
voters.

I am curious though that with American culture being so strongly oriented
towards the needs and desires of the individual on a day to day basis, that
elections require such a strong sense of group identity and unwillingness to
challenge the norm. Is the expressed tribalism merely a return to human nature
of course with massive amounts of encouragement from media and money
spent by lobby groups or does this speak to a deeper need for people to follow
authority figures and not embark on the lonely and tedious process of
questioning facts and beliefs? What makes people want to follow like sheep even
though deep down they probably know that they are deluding themselves? This
obviously is not a new phenomenon in new history the periodical rise of
authoritarian figures goes to prove that but it is highly demotivating that
education sophistication or technological advancement dont seem to do
anything to encourage humans as a group to advance beyond the easy narrative
of trying to fit in with an oversimplified group identity.

7. Big (humbug) data
Weve all received advance notice of the coming of the brave new world big
data was going to eliminate human biases, provide a rock solid foundation for
prognosticating the future, be objective, and demonstrate the need for
technology to take over even more of our lives. This in combination with the
intense focus over the past two years (or more) on preparing for the 2016
election would likely ensure no surprises on the day of.

Or so we were told.

Never mind that the pollsters had been wrong on Brexit just a few short months
earlier. Or attempts to predict the future of human behavior have historically
been way off the mark.

Here I am not interested in picking apart the causes of this stunning disconnect
between expectation and reality whether it was sampling method, people not
wanting to reveal closet racism and preference for the Republican message of
alienation, bandwagon effect of people changing their minds as they got closer to
the election, the nicely timed FBI leaks etc.

The real tragedy is that this has two very likely impacts in the future:

A distrust of real science (based on physical principles and modeling)

for example that underpins climate change. All the easier to discredit
and launch smear campaigns in the future to serve venal needs
A constant focus on polling numbers (Has the approval rating gone
down from 47% to 45%) and the short term without any view to
making sensible, forward-looking long term decisions

Add this to the proven human inability to understand and make good long term
choices and what we have is a toxic cocktail of serious challenges and a system
that completely dis-incentivizes people to address these, and in fact rewards
them for making the wrong decision but which appears better in the extremely
short-term.

It has also conclusively now been shown that predicting human behavior is a
hazardous task, and that algorithms and data clearly reflect the human hand that
designed these. Whither big data in a post-factual world?

8. Words matter (but only sometimes)

I dont need to reproduce all the statements our new President has made here
constantly insulting almost every group (except Caucasian men) suffice it to
say hes made his mark on Mexicans, Muslims, women, service veterans,
children, disabled people, inner-city communities (in his words) among many
others.

His rhetoric has been consistently and calculatedly divisive, incendiary and
crude. And yet he has only given voice to what his base really thinks. What is
worse being upfront about what one thinks for example about women or
putting lipstick on a pig by paying verbal respects to family values, but
consistently espousing policies that codify the very opposite on parental
support, healthcare, access to abortion etc.? I for one prefer my bigots to be open
and unapologetic because at least one can call them out to their face.

However, a leopard doesnt change it spots and just because he is now likely to
have media minders who try and soften certain edges doesnt mean that
anything of substance will change. It is imperative that people keep in mind ALL
his statements dating back to the election, and not just fall for the latest PR
statement. And be prepared to oppose and fight divisive policies, no matter how
smoothly they are packaged and sold.
9. World-weariness
The march of civilization into the golden future seems to have stalled, at least for
now. The US election of Trump is merely the continuation of a trend that has

recently brought us Brexit, strengthening of Erdogans position in Turkey after a

convenient coup provided him with the cover he needs, Modis personality based
tenure in India and a weakening of forces of integration in Europe and a revived
appeal of far right, nationalist parties.

When one surveys the world map today, it is clear that forces of separation are
gathering steam, and that there are few if any havens left that are committed to
the causes of social advancement, cooperation among nations and have an
appetite to tackle the pressing global issues of our time. It is indeed an irony as
that technology has advanced, human attitudes have regressed and just as we
have the ability to prevent wars (by freely spreading information and addressing
the perpetrators) or make progress against climate change (by increasing
awareness of people and utilizing renewable energy) these possibilities may be
slipping away in the face of human recalcitrance.

A great lassitude seems to have gripped vast swathes of the global population,
and it is incumbent upon us to understand and address urgently the causes for
these.
10. What now?
The US has a new President, exceeding his very own wildest expectations. A
crumb of comfort can be found in that the popular vote did not (just about)
support his viewpoints, but that is of little practical impact in the Electoral
college system. And with a minority in the House as well as the Senate, the
Democrats hands are tied.

Will all that said, we would do well to acknowledge these realities, and be
prepared to be vigilant on policy, fight to defend rights, and continue to advance
urgent causes that will not wait. It is imperative that we have a clear idea of what
is important, and not be fooled by pronouncements, compromise on true ideals
or allow power to be exercised unfettered.

This is my personal wish list of what we need to be most focused on Each of
these topics could easily warrant a separate article on its own

Climate change is not going away and is accelerating even today there
was an article that the past 3 years have been the hottest on record. Let
us understand that there will be attempts to discredit science, to convince
people to focus only on their selfish interests no one as blind as one
that does not want to see. We must fight tooth and nail to save the Paris
accord, lobby your legislators, commit to personally consuming less and
undertaking activities to restore the environment. What is the heroism in
mindlessly consuming more and more and what is wrong in being
mindful of the environment, of wildlife conservation, of the need for clean
air and water?

Be vigilant about open divisiveness and hateful rhetoric and mobilize

to counter it when it happens in a peaceful manner
Go out of your way to show support to groups that feel threatened or
marginalized whether these are low-income immigrants who provide
services to you, or cook in your favorite restaurant for example,
appreciate what they do. Consider volunteering for support or advocacy
groups.
While we have little ability to influence the next Supreme Court judge
nomination and confirmation, the impact will be profound and felt for
generations. Do whatever your local lobbying process and outreach to
your representative allows you to do
Protect womens rights and family rights anyone would think
abortion is the only issue that matters. For a party that claims
government should not be involved with most things, they sure dont
have a problem legislating what should be allowable in the bedroom. And
family rights matter only until conception god forbid the federal
government mandates decent parental and infant benefits on par with the
rest of the developed world. Support Planned Parenthood and like
minded causes access to womens health, meaningful sex education,
availability of contraception etc.
Healthcare and education this is likely to be local I believe that
everyone should have access to good healthcare and a good education.
While many of these policies are enacted at the local level, be informed
and get involved.
Be personally inspired ultimately politics is important only as a tool to
make decisions and make a difference. If todays politics isnt serving
these needs, think about what you care about and directly get involved
with those causes.

Never let a crisis go to waste And make no bones about it, this is a crisis. Now is
the time more than ever to be clear on what is important, defend it tooth and nail
and demonstrate with your behaviors and attitude that you will do what it takes to
advance the cause of peace, social equity and justice, progress on healthcare and
education and stewardship of the only planet that we will ever know.