This ad interrupted a youtube video I was watching, and instead of being upset, I immediately tried to figure out how to share it with everyone I know. Although it initially made me chuckle at the genius of it, I came to really ponder the message behind it. My pondering transported me back to a time when I was just starting to understand what the concept of politics encompassed, and what any of it means.
When I was in the eighth grade, I was a part of a club called "Young Democrats". I didn't know much about politics at the time, but my friends were in charge of the club so you best believe I was there before school every month, trying to be invisible and pretending to follow what they were saying. Although I didn't stay in the group for long-- I realized that I valued sleep more than doing the work of googling furiously at 7:30 am-- I stayed long enough to hear something that has stuck with me my entire life.
One morning, our club sponsor was away-- we were all sure she was a US spy-- so the Young Republican club sponsor let us hold the meeting in her classroom. Somehow, it was revealed that she was actually Republican, which my cheeky 12 year old friends figured was the perfect time to debate with her about her morals as a human being. I, of course, was silent. After going back and forth with them for a few minutes, she finally reached the end of her patience, opting out of the discussion with "I'm not going to debate with you children about my personal politics. Just know, that I was a Democrat too when I was young and naive. But I became a Republican when I grew up and realized how the world works."
As you can imagine, our young minds were reeling, stuck in between the shock of knowledge that people change their political affiliation, the question of how exactly the world works, and the fact that she slyly roasted all of us in one swoop. After a few silent moments, our president finally erupted with the question of the hour: "What does that even mean? The world works how you make it work, that's what politics is about. Making the world work how you want." I still don't know whether his response further supported her claims by showing how naive we were nor if it was a valid criticism of a defeatist mindset.
That moment has stuck with me my entire life as I've studied 'how the world works' in college, pondered the question with every election, and tried to figure out what my answer to the President's question would be. I've seen former democrats become rich and suddenly don the republican red. I've watched minorities acknowledge that they disagree with all of Trumps social positions, yet still wear the 'Make America Great Again' hat because "its about my money at the end of the day." I've studied the cycle of liberalism and conservatism in America. I have yet to define myself along party lines, though I wouldn't say I've remained 'apolitical', as my sociology teacher (Shoutout Dr. Shannon) made a great point when he pointed out that, as a lower class black female, my entire existence is political.
As I sit at school and read headlines about Trump, every day I wonder if this is what she meant when she said that this is the way the world works; that in our capitalist driven global economy, the rich hold an increasing amount of power and it is in every adult's best interest to align themselves with them. Or if maybe Trump has destabilized her belief in what she thought she knew about political organization; maybe Trump has actually informed the 'liberal' masses that its time they make the world work how they want. Or maybe, its just an anomaly in the established system and his term will come and go and the rich will continue getting richer.
As the time to vote rapidly approaches, I ask you to ponder whether you want to be compliant with 'the way things work' or if you wish to help define the way things work. Even further, I ask you to question your concept of democracy and what it means if where we are and where we are headed is exactly the way American democracy was designed to work. And if so, what does 'voting' and 'compliance' mean then?
