Olive Branch

“Abolish the borders!”,

“Abolish ICE!”,

“Abolish police!”,

“Freedom of choice!”,

“Free Palestine!”,

“No justice, no peace!”

We hear the chants, see the posts and the protests, but do we hear the messages?

Some people will immediately shut down, no longer willing to hear what's being said. It doesn't apply to me, in fact, I support these institutions; the police have never mistreated me because I follow the law. Borders keep criminals out, right? This is how it's always been. Why are these snowflakes trying to change that? What is everyone so upset about when my day to day is the same as it's always been? Why does everyone have to make everything political? And if you've felt that way before, I'm speaking explicitly to you.

Have you taken a real moment to consider why these words are so wrong to you? Why you feel such a visceral reaction when you hear them? Have you thought about why the government and the media want us to turn against each other? Why are we angry at queer people for existing differently? Why are we more upset at the unhoused than at the systems that force us into homelessness? Why do we consistently vote and cheer for politicians that are stealing our healthcare, our families, our labor, our safety, our future, our compassion?

They tell us that our gay neighbors, our Latino neighbors, that our friends or family members that have gotten abortions are evil. They tell us that everyone is trying to convert you and your children into a life of drugs, queerness, and crime. They tell us that every single person that's different than us is trying to cause us harm. I don't think that's true, and I don't think you believe that's true. I know that the majority of people in this country care about the people of this country and I genuinely believe that people are inherently good and compassionate.

So, how have we let ourselves continuously be so divided? We're human and we're bound to disagree on so many different things, but what common ground can we find?

1. I think that most people can agree that no one should be living on the street; not our veterans, not our teenagers, not our children, no one should be left to sleep on the street in our country.

   • Whether you just don't like the sight of the unhoused, are concerned about the effect on property value, or because you're compassionate to those suffering, I think most everyone can agree that we need to deal with our housing crisis.

   • The idea that we don't have enough homes for everyone just isn't true, there is enough for everyone to be sheltered, but we are letting corporations tell us that, instead, we need to charge insane amounts for people to deserve to be housed, and we're not going to help people get a leg up, because of greed. Is that what we stand behind?

2. Another thing that I think that most people can agree on is that children deserve food. Whether their parents are drug users, can't afford food, or have an overdue lunch balance, all children deserve food.

   • Personally, I believe all people deserve food, regardless of anything, but that can be a further jump to make at first. So, I think we can, at bare minimum, agree that no child should be starving.

   • I think that when we take the propaganda and the lies out of the equation, most people would rather their taxes going to feeding children, than into the pockets of politicians and billionaires.

3. I think that most people want the police to solve crimes and to help victims of crimes.

   • I also think that most people would agree that doctors and specialists are both important, but a specialist can help with specific health issues. And so many crimes are different and call for specific resolution measures. So, the proposition is that replacing policing as an institution with specialists depending on each situation would help to prevent escalation and reduce recidivism.

   • Imagine if someone was raped and there was a trauma specialist and medics on scene to help the victim, rather than police hounding the victim on what they did to deserve it?

   • What if when domestic violence calls came in, instead of the police showing up, listening to the perpetrator, saying to keep it down and leaving, a de-escalation team would come out, a therapist could help the victim to process the trauma and grief, and we could help to relocate the victim until they were able to get back on their feet?

   • What if we actually went after the right people? And had specialized help when we need it?

   • We don't need our police to have the military grade equipment that they are using our tax dollars on. We deserve people without guns to help save people, people with guns for other situations, but using police with six months of training for every situation has not been working and I think most of us would be willing to find better solutions.

4. People who pay for something deserve to have that fulfilled.

   • People who pay their health insurance premiums should, at the very least, be covered for their medical expenses.

   • People who pay taxes should be receiving the benefits of those taxes: better roads, improved schools in all districts, for their children to eat, and to be able survive in this country. I have been told my entire life that's what taxes are for so, why don't we have any of those things?

     • Another point I believe is worth bringing up that immigrants pay their taxes and are not eligible to receive SNAP or other government benefits and I think that's not only frustrating and unfair and completely ruins that argument for making cuts to these programs.

5. People who have not committed a crime should not be punished.

   • So many people have been detained by ICE for simply looking like they might be criminals (AKA have different color skin), are being sent to countries they've never been to, forced into conditions that mirror those of concentration camps during the Holocaust, and are disappearing from their families.

   • A lot of these people are American citizens, migrants, non-criminals, here legally, and even children. People are actually being kidnapped, taken from immigration courts, and are not given due process. Without due process, our systems fall apart, and this is not the American Dream that anyone has been sold their entire life.

6. A lot of people have an opinion to the extent that people should be able to do what they want, as long as they aren't hurting anyone, including themselves.

   • In that same understanding, do gay people affect you? Do immigrants? Do different religious beliefs, or clothing? How do those things affect you negatively?

   • If we're truly the land of the free, how can we restrict some people's freedoms, but not all? If we're limiting the right to something for one person (i.e. marriage, marijuana) then wouldn't we need to limit that for everyone? Or maybe we could just allow more freedoms for everyone and impose the same regulations on everyone.

   • Why should one person get preferential treatment? Is it because they've been getting it for so long, without ever proving that they deserved it? Have we become so numb that we don't mind the upper-class taking advantage of us and using us for their own personal gain?

7. The government does not have our best interests at heart. Whether you lean to the left of the aisle or right, I think most people agree that neither democrats or republicans are actually looking out for or listening to their constituents.

   • When was the last time you felt heard by your representative? Do you trust them with your life? Because they essentially have our lives in their hands.

   • They took away the healthcare of millions of people, food stamps, won't release the Epstein files like they explicitly said they would, and have let so many hard-working Americans go from their jobs.

   • Whose interests do they really have in mind? Why are republicans taking away funding for rural hospitals in their own states when that hurts so many of their voters? You'd think that they would at least look out for their demographic, right? So why do so many of their policies keep harming southerners and red states?

   • The tobacco and alcohol industry are notorious for killing their most loyal customers and I think that same thing applies to both the Republican and Democratic parties.

8. No child should be bombed, regardless of where they're born or where their parents live. I think a lot of people would decidedly say that children deserve a chance to live.

   • We shouldn't be bombing children; we should be lifting them up, educating them, feeding them, loving them. So, we need to take that attitude and work to save the children of Gaza, actually save them. Ceasefire immediately, send those babies aid; we can't keep killing babies and saying that we're pro-life, we'd need to be pro-life in every aspect. If you really want to protect all the babies, this is much more of a dire issue for babies than stopping abortions in America.

So, I believe that those are some of the first few things that most of us can agree on and I think that can be our starting point: Finding common ground. You don't have to agree with every part of what I've said, and I've watered down my opinions to be easier to swallow, but I think there's parts that we can agree on. Of fucking course, there are going to be nutter butters, racists, bigots, and genuinely un-likable people on any side of the political spectrum, and those people will only stand in the way, and we don't negotiate with losers.

But, to the people who are still listening: we aren't as different as the corporate elite want us to believe. We are people! Fighting with one another isn't going to get any of us anywhere; queer people, BIPOC, and immigrants will always exist, and so will people who dislike them solely for those reasons. We all have hardships, we have different experiences and beliefs, but we are all in this together and are wanting a better life for our children and grandchildren. And together we can at least try to work towards our shared goal.

I would love to hear more thoughts from those that do disagree with any of my points brought up. I understand that our reasoning may differ, but let me hear the counter arguments.

Let me also just get this out of the way: I am an ugly, fat, faggot, liberal, dyke, snowflake and I can't take jokes, whatever. You got me.

Now everyone else, workshop actual ideas with me on how to improve things.