TLDR: I have a lot of anxious energy and feel powerless. Any suggestions for what to do about the election?

(also this is a bit of a rant, so I’m sorry. I know a lot of you guys are probably very tired of it.)

So I live in Utah, and I’m… gonna be honest I’ve had a massive pit in the bottom of my stomach since the election. It’s a bit long cause I’ve been very stressed and also just wanna put out my thoughts.

I am a cis, white, male, home owner, who looks like the perfect Mormon boy who never swears and never even got a parking ticket . I will be fine (For awhile at least depending on things. )

But there are people I care about very very much that will not be okay very fast, on top of how much I worry about the poor people of Ukraine because I can’t imagine what a nightmare it is to live in Ukraine where Russia is allowed to do whatever they want and your allies are following some weird set of rules that no one can clarify.

I did what I could prior to election I think.

I voted and got all my friends and family that I could to vote

Donated to Kamala campaign

Did a bit of phone banking where I called people in swing states (Sorry swing state people, I know you probably got overwhelmed.) Maybe I should have just taken a bus to Nevada and put in work on the ground. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to do it differently in 2 years.

Since the election I’ve sent emails to DNC/white house asking that they do the recount and investigate, since Trump tried to cheat last election it feels insane not to investigate.

I have sent (many) emails to my (very conservative) senators with a variety of concerns including:

Please just stop this mad man criminal rapist who said he’ll use the army on US states and refuse to certify the election

Tariffs will bankrupt us here in Utah please don’t allow it

Please don’t allow insane people to be given high ranking government stations. I didn’t think Trump could find people crazier than him, but he now has a televangelist scam artist and Alex Jones saddling up. So I was wrong.

Trump sent fake electors, and is on recording begging people to “find” votes in 2020. Please support a thorough investigation to dismiss all doubt about the validity of the elections.

Main thought being only a handful of senators need to help the Democrats and we suddenly have “something” to slow things down.

But I honestly, don’t know what else to do at the moment. It seems very minor what I can do.

The current thought is wait and see if anything crazy happens on the day it’s time to certify the election while still pestering my senators as much as possible. But the amount of pressure my senators are getting is probably very small given the state, so I’m no more than an email/phone call that an underpaid intern can dismiss (I’ve received many copy and pastes from those interns that start with “Hi I’m x replying on behalf of Mitt Romney.”) I could go protest outside their houses, but they aren’t there I don’t think. Their phones are pretty much locked up as well.

Then assuming Trump is put in, reach out to my local DNC and get to work trying to help influence good candidate choice to try and take the house and senate away from Trump in 2022. Which will most likely be lots of phone banking to a state with a snowball chance in hell of electing a non republican and being a source of encouragement to whoever runs.

But of course there is non 0% chance we don’t get another even close to fair election. So we’ll see!

Other idea is maybe just donate to causes that help people relocate that need to get out of the state they are currently in very quickly?

But yeah I’m just stressed.

So with all that useless context, here is the question:

“Hey guys I’m really stressed out about Trump winning the election. Any suggestions on what actions I can take to help make the situation better and feel less powerless?”

  • Nougat@fedia.io
    0·
    4 days ago

    Prepare to resist.

    I’ll repeat here some of the things I’ve come up with, and add others.

    • Get healthy, be physically active. You will be more effective resisting if you have health and stamina.
    • Learn some basic bushcraft/camping skills. Be capable of sleeping rough for a few days. Learn how to tie knots.
    • Grow herbs and vegetables.
    • Make a place in your home where an unexpected short or long term guest could stay.
    • Pay attention, be observant, and be patient.
    • Own and carry pepper spray. You may also choose to add a knife or a firearm, but pepper spray is the bare minimum.
    • There is likely to be some overlap of “people who want to actively resist” and “people who want to be active politically or in their community.” Join a local group that seems to suit you, and make connections (slowly and carefully).
    • This one is unfortunate, but you may need to close ranks and focus your efforts on those who are close to you. Yes, Ukraine’s situation sucks. Yes, Gaza is fucked. But you need to focus on what you need to do, right where you are.
    • ericbomb@lemmy.worldOP
      0·
      4 days ago

      Owning a gun scares me since it’s been decided that if a cop sees you touch a gun they can kill you and it’ll almost certainly be ruled fine. Maybe I’ll get something for home that stays here and just keep taking my pepper spray around.

      2A so important right?

      But, good points… I ahh, may or may not already be housing some friends that were kicked out of their houses for life style differences. Such as you know, not being Mormon.

      But wonderful points!

      • Nougat@fedia.io
        0·
        4 days ago

        With regard to firearms - I get that that’s not for everyone. And I get that carrying might not be the right thing for someone.

        However. The right time to acquire a gun is not “when you need it.” It’s well before that. It will take time to find something that works for what you want, and you should also practice with it at a range. In Utah, the only time you would need to have a permit would be to conceal carry a handgun. You would need to pass a background check at a dealer.

        Think about situations where you would need to have a firearm. How likely is such a situation? How far off into the future is such a situation?

        It’s absolutely your choice, but it should be a considered choice.

        • ericbomb@lemmy.worldOP
          0·
          4 days ago

          That is very reasonable take. I mean I don’t have kids so a rifle in a gun safe probably is harmless. If it never gets used, it’ll just be a funny story of that time Ericbomb got paranoid and bought a gun because of encouragement from some weirdos off fake Reddit.

    • SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      0·
      4 days ago

      It sounds a lot like what many conservative people have been doing for a while. See the YT channel Dirty Civilian. They might not align with you politically but the info they present is free