Q&A: Trump's America
Q: What will you do now that Donald Trump has been elected president?
A: I’ll do my best to help the minority groups that are going to be worst affected-poor, disabled, Hispanic, African-American, LGBT. I’m already into volunteer work, but I’ll start looking carefully at what my priorities should be, where I as a single adult can do the most good. I’ll probably be going back to work at the food pantry again, since I’m pretty sure they’ll need the extra hands as food assistance becomes harder to get and the inevitable economic issues tip people from “working poor” to “hungry working poor who don’t get paid enough to eat on”. As a single adult, I have more free time than people who are caring for families. I'm limited in energy and ability because of my autism, but what I can do, I will do.
I’ll strengthen ties with the non-white people in my neighborhood. My LGBT friends know that I am there for them and I am not going to let anybody pick on them. I’ll continue my disability memorial research, so that those disabled Americans who die because of neglect, abuse, or murder are not forgotten. I’ll stay in touch with fellow disabled people and trade tips on survival. I have a free couch, and I have no problems with letting somebody sleep on it if they need it.
I’ll keep up with the news, and I won’t neglect the international news. I never have-I usually listen to the BBC news-but I’ll put special focus on it now that I can’t trust my government to have the best interests of the world in mind. I won’t ignore tragedies just because they are half a world away, and if my government does something I don’t like, I’ll protest against it.
As always, I’ll vote in every election, and I’ll research each candidate and issue carefully. I won’t ignore local elections, but I will ignore political ads and focus on the candidate’s abilities and track record.
For me, this means that I won’t be doing very much different-I’ll just be working harder at it. I’ve always been aware of how quickly and how badly a country can go wrong. I’m German-American, naturalized. My birth country went very, very wrong in the 1930s, even though most Germans are good people. Americans are good people, too, and I won’t let what happened in Germany happen to my adopted country.
So what's your plan?