Everything is Awful: Lindsey, Tim, Nancy and the Exquisite Pain of Being a South Carolina Democrat

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You know how Everything is Awesome in The LEGO Movie? (If you clicked on that link, sorry not sorry.) Well, I think I speak for many of my fellow South Carolina Democrats when I say down here, everything is awful. I recognize that everything is awful pretty much everywhere in America right now. And I realize as a straight white woman (a non-pregnant one, at that), I sit in a place of relative privilege. But still, waking up every day knowing I am “represented” in Washington, D.C. by this particular trio of aimless capitulators is becoming really hard to bear.

I don’t want your pity (ok, maybe I want a little bit of your pity). But I do want to appeal to those of you in blue states, or even those of you in blue congressional districts in red states and ask you not to forget about us. Don’t forget there are folks out here waking up every day, in every corner (I mean EVERY corner) of this nation fighting for its soul. And I ask that you recognize that the pain of this moment is compounded for many of us who have been fighting losing battles for years and struggle to find beacons of hope in our hometowns. Keep in mind that if you zoom in far enough on those electoral maps you will find determined, relentless, fearless blue dots even amongst the reddest of seas.

Hello from the red sea.

And to my fellow red sea blue dots: we can do this. We were built for this. We show up at school board meetings, town council meetings, and our statehouses even when we know our voices will be drowned out. Even when we know we might get spit on (yes, this happened here). Even when we know the outcome is pre-determined. We call our representatives and our senators even though they haven’t taken a vote we agree with since we played with DUPLO LEGOs (you know, the ones for toddlers that aren’t choking hazards). We donate to local Democrats (thank you, by the way), we knock doors, we register voters and we vote, even when we know the races will be called the moment the polls close.

We don’t fight to win, we fight because it's right. And because our children are counting on us. It’s not easy. It's as hard as it is awful.

We lose ground. We lose votes. We lose elections. We lose rights.

But unlike Lindsey, Tim and Nancy, we don’t lose our dignity. We don’t lose our way. Because the thing about a moral compass is, if you have one, there is no off switch. It works, even from the depths of the red sea. And if you don’t have one, you are as aimless as Lara Trump in a recording booth. (So sorry about the Grammy snub, Lara. In retrospect you probably shouldn’t have released your incredible single the day Beyonce released Cowboy Carter.)

When you layer the terrifying actions of the Trump administration with the incessant inanity of aimless lawmakers like Lindsey, Tim and Nancy it sometimes feels a little unfair. I would love to have just one person fighting for me in Washington. Instead I wake up to news like “Graham says RFK Jr. ‘will implement a pro-life agenda’ as HHS secretary” and “Trumps Rival ICE Barbies go Head to Head in Vests and Lip Gloss” and “Tim Scott Calls Trump an 'American Lion'”.

Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty

Us blue dots are fighters, yes. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t exhausted and chronically embarrassed.

This is why it is critical for those of you in blue states to keep fighting from the front. To lead the way. To show us what’s possible. To remind us what we are fighting for. This applies to those of you on the ground, AND to your state’s electeds. You all keep leading the way and we will keep swimming against the current in our red seas. We just ask that you don’t leave us behind.

And if we all keep fighting, from wherever we are, maybe someday everything will be awesome.