Counterpoint: Lunch is still open, have a seat

“If Hillary was president, we would all be at brunch right now instead of protesting” is, or at least was, a sign you would see at marches at the beginning of the Trump presidency. This stems from a desire to avoid confrontation with the ugly realities of America that the Trump administration re-surfaced. However, this stuff existed before Trump, and it will long outlast him. Now we are getting a new president, one with functionally the same policies as Clinton, and people are hungry. But brunch is closed—all the hollandaise has gone rancid, the sausage gravy has congealed and the guy at the omelet station was arrested on embezzlement charges. (Honestly I don’t know why you were eating there in the first place, I could never stomach it myself.) Despite Biden’s win, there are, in fact, still things you should care about. You cannot delude yourself into thinking all is well, and you cannot excuse others for it either.

I have never been the most empathetic person, so perhaps my suggestions will be unappealing to some, but considering the state of, well, everything, I think action is required. It is okay to be dismissive of or disagree with apathetic status quo opinions. Perhaps the biggest problem with Bernie Sanders’ campaign was his inability, or rather unwillingness, to go negative against his opponents. That is to say, his unwillingness to take a direct negative stance against his opponent ideologies. Back then his actions were all politically calculated, at a time when people were more scared that Trump was cruising to re-election. Well, after this past week’s election results, we know that the chance of a second term for Trump is over. I compromised once for a more moderate political ideology, as it was all that was viable in opposition to Trump, and I will not make that compromise again. If I do not like your politics I will confront you, and I won’t be cowed by bad faith attacks about my disagreement being toxic, or harming unity or anything else.

The mindset behind “going to brunch” can manifest itself in different ways. As mentioned, you can protest and pursue activism, and likewise, you can speak on the ideologies that you disagree with. I am not telling you to be a jerk to people, but that doesn’t mean you have to forgive someone’s terrible opinions. Climate change is nigh irreversible, wealth inequality is only growing, huge portions of the country have no health insurance or employment and we are looking down the barrel of huge economic collapse and viral growth. When realizing that things as crucial as these are on the line, I think the time for politeness ended a long time ago.

That’s my concern with Biden as a leader, and part of why he did not win by as much as was hoped—he is too willing to compromise. We have always been told that the government is about compromise, that it is designed for consensus. This compromise mindset is the line of a losing ideology that needs to hold on to power. The way the United States is set up, both in government and in society, is not conducive to consensus. Our janky, ramshackle republic is not parliamentary—our political process is defined by constant struggle, not cooperation, and refusing to recognize that only gives power to the people who just lost.

I feel more free in political expression now that Trump is gone. No one is going to keep browbeating me about how important it is that I settle for Biden because of how existentially awful Trump is. That argument is never going to work again. If Biden doesn’t get anything done I won’t vote for him again. I will never vote again for a moderate in the hopes of pushing them left. I will not vote for Kamala’s inevitable run if her platform is not good enough. Like I said, brunch closed long ago, and I refuse to let the media, Democrats, centrists, Twitter or anyone else try to shove their watery scrambled eggs and rubbery sausage patties down my throat.