What Are We Getting That's Worth What We're Losing?
Leiren · Lavender & Rage
Columbia, SC · Est. 2020
This is a personal reflection from the founder of Lavender & Rage. It isn't tied to a product launch or promotion. It exists because the values behind this brand were shaped by moments like this.
If you voted for this: what are you getting out of it that is worth what all of us are losing?
I love this question.
The shocking, terrifying part is that those who don't feel the fear and pain of what's happening quite literally do not feel the loss.
If you're white, straight, privately insured, food-secure, housed, English-fluent without an accent, and have never had to rely on healthcare.gov, Medicaid, free school lunch, or food stamps — you probably won't directly feel any loss.
Many of us still have empathy. We collectively feel loss and fear when we see innocent people suffering, dying, losing loved ones — people going hungry, unhoused, untreated.
However.
You are losing your right to speak up.
Protesting can now get you arrested, killed, or result in threats of your citizenship being stripped. If you don't agree with him or didn't vote for him, you deserve to have your citizenship stripped, deported, or shot — literally words he has said. You are now labeled a "domestic terrorist."
You've lost representation and balance of power.
It doesn't matter if you agree with the guy in power — you have lost your say. Even when laws are passed or the Supreme Court weighs in, he ignores it, and no one does a damn thing about it. If one day he does something you don't agree with (and he's working very hard to make sure you're brainwashed enough that you do agree), there is nothing you — or anyone — can do about it.
We've lost the ability to agree on what is real.
Falsehoods are repeated without consequence, and when they're challenged, the challenge itself is labeled untrustworthy. Misinformation is delivered confidently and without correction. Any attempt at accountability is dismissed as illegitimate. Facts are optional. Corrections don't exist. Scrutiny is treated as bias.
We've lost our sense of security because conflict is being cultivated on purpose.
Every opportunity to de-escalate is instead used to redirect anger and assign blame. When asked what could be said to bring Americans together, the answer isn't connection or accountability — it's "the media is crooked." When given the chance to speak about unity, the response is not reconciliation, but accusation.
Every issue is the liberals' fault. Biden's fault. Someone else's fault. There is no call to fix anything — just blame, deflection, and chaos.
That's what we've lost.
And if you don't see it or feel it, that doesn't mean you didn't lose it.
It means you're not looking.
This isn't about parties or personalities.
It's about what we're willing to give up and who we're willing to sacrifice, to feel temporarily comfortable.
Leiren
Founder — Lavender & Rage, Columbia SC