No Matter Who Wins The Election — America Will Lose

America has lost its unity — and it may never come back

On the eve of election day, my social media is in chaos. Everyone is lining up and casting their vote for who should control the most powerful office in modern society. Everyone is drawing the line in the sand and attacking each other with hot fire due to political differences. There is no more listening and empathizing with each other.

Everyone is desperate to feel right in their choices…and ignoring the reality of everybody else. People have become so desperate to have their opinions become absolute facts, at the cost of the people around them.

This election cycle has fueled the greatest division of modern America thus far and it’s certainly going to get worst. This year has already gone to shit due to the onslaught of the pandemic. The health crisis it has created was already an extremely divisive issue for everyday people. However, as time goes by, it has become increasingly clear that’s there is an even greater pandemic at work here.

America has become more than divided — it’s broken. While the cracks have been there for years, it has become apparent to everyone involved that our society isn’t working. The inequalities of a country that was built on inequality have led us to its ultimate conclusion — we’re too divided to heal.

We are not in this together — and honestly, we never were.

Wealth inequality has gone too far

People are pissed off with the current state of this country — and for good reason. The pandemic revealed just how out-of-control inequality has become within this country. Like a runaway train, it just keeps on going with seemingly with no end in sight. For all of the talk of keeping America united, nothing could be further from the truth.

Immediately after the pandemic started, the shock to the American economy became unfathomable. The American economy was defeated by an enemy that it was grossly unprepared for. As a result, millions of people across the country are struggling to make ends meet and are in constant fear of their financial future.

Unless you’re in the upper echelon of a big name stock market company — then you’re just doing great. Ever since March, the economy has been in the midst of a K-shaped recovery. When the pandemic first broke out, Mr. Trump introduced the Cares Act as a rapid response to the crashing economy. This financial stimulus gave the markets exactly what it needed to persevere, however, it’s uneven distribution led to even greater problems. While many American households were given increased unemployment and a one-time $1200 check, it paled in comparison to the millions big-name companies received. This resulted in one of the greatest wealth inequality creations thus far. It’s mind boggling how so few people control so much of the country’s money.

At this point, you may be wondering…what the hell is a K-shaped recovery? Basically, if you created a line chart, it goes something like this:

• First, the economic markets spiral downwards — represented by a line that simply goes down.
• Then once the economic recovery begins, that line then splits into two different lines — one line that will trend upwards, and the other that will gradually trend downwards. Thus forming the aforementioned K-shape.
• The line that goes upwards is represented by those with the wealth and resources to outlast a global pandemic/recession. This means those that have access to cash, money-making assets, jobs that allow WFH (work from home), and other traits that allow the power of wealth building.
• The line that leads downwards is the vast majority of those without those resources. People that lack wealth, a steady job or employment, WFH access, and a host of other financially constraining factors. Unfortunately, this line encapsulates much of the middle and lower classes.

Long story short — the rich have become significantly wealthier while average, middle-class workers have become increasingly broke.

Wealth inequality has become so blatantly obvious, that it can no longer become hidden. The wealthy elite of this country has created a system where only they can win.

Regardless, of who wins the election, it’s highly unlikely this will change. In fact, it will most likely get worse. If President Trump wins, you can expect more of the same as he will now be free to enact whatever policies he wants without a care in the world. No more worrying about re-election due to being on his second term. Since Donald Trump is a natural capitalist, you can expect wealth inequality to become dramatically worse.

Meanwhile, if Biden wins, he intends to redistribute wealth by raising taxes on the rich and the companies that enable them. While this could become a boon for the middle class and America’s infrastructure, his opposition will no doubt use this as a way to blame him for America’s increasing budgetary issues and spin Trump’s supporters against him even further for the next election.

Racial tensions are getting worse

With the high-profile deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many more in the black community, racial tension has reached a fever-pitched. People are no longer content to wait for reform and hope for the best. Social activism is fired up and has taken to the streets to denounce police brutality and the systematic racism that has led us to this point.

Sadly, switching presidents won’t be an end-all, be-all to this issue. While the removal of Donald Trump may make a good start, there’s no guarantee that Democrats can — or will — keep their word to reform the system.

And even if they did, Trump supporters will simply fight back even harder than before. Donald Trump losing the election wouldn’t become a defeat — but a racist martyr. His downfall would most likely inspire new proponents to carry on in the vein of other domestic racist terror groups such as the Proud Boys. His political defeat could lead to the nightmare scenario of creating new racists — those that want to carry on his agenda long after his defeat.

The pandemic is definitely getting worse

Most importantly, the COVID-19 pandemic is the greatest issue we face as a country. Regardless of who is in charge, there’s no doubt that this virus needs to be controlled and stopped. However, while it may be easy to blame the president for his disastrous inaction towards the pandemic, some of that blame points back to the community as a whole.

As this health crisis carries onward, everyone is getting sick of this damn health epidemic stealing their joy. People are increasingly finding new ways to circumvent social distancing — or in many cases, outright disregarding it. In doing so, people are getting sick and are unable to work which then leads them unable to pay bills. Those unpaid bills then travel upwards and affect the very economy and companies trying to keep everything going.

It’s a terrible situation and one that isn’t ending anytime soon. Whether or not we switch presidents, it’s getting harder to ignore the bigger problem — there are not enough people taking this pandemic seriously!

At the time of this writing, there are over 9 million confirmed new cases and 231, 000 confirmed deaths. And there are many more on the way. We have reached meme-levels of not taking this seriously. Many are claiming that masks don’t work, the science is wrong, and it’s all a giant hoax.

Which sounds pretty funny until someone close to you dies from it. Like many around the world, I have lost people close to me due to this madness and it’s something that needs to end soon.

However, we’re far too divided for any effective solution to be implemented in a timely or efficient manner.

Conclusion

As the election approaches its inevitable conclusion, it’s important to keep in mind that this is not going to solve all of our problems. At the end of the day, we must be able to think for ourselves and find ways to stay above the chaos.

Relying on the actions of a few to come to our rescue is what got us in this mess.

(This is a very short, brief version of how wealth inequality is created in American society. For a more detailed explanation, comment below and I’ll write about it in greater depth later.)

Thanks for reading! For more of my writing, click here! Follow Me For More!

Dayon Cotton is Active Duty US Navy and Freelance Writer. I write dope articles about social issues, life lessons, and advice on how to live a better life.