The creativity and outrage I’m seeing about Palestine is very encouraging: it gives me hope to see that many Americans are empathetic and decent and will not accept their country behaving poorly in 2024. The American government disappoints, though. I know that Joe Biden wasn’t exactly ever that much of a left-leaning politician, but I could point to some of his mildly progressive actions as evidence that something better might be on the timeline for America. I wonder now if I will ever see that better outcome in my lifetime, especially with so many of the regressive actions happening in the Supreme Court and throughout state and local governments. If enough people choose to not vote for Biden because of his stances on Israel and Palestine and therefore allow Trump to be elected, I worry if we will be able to steer away from the dictatorship that appears to be looming. Come on though, there has to be someone better out there looking to run for President, right? Or are we going to continue to be disappointed time after time by potential future change-makers?

Every Presidential election is claimed to be the biggest decision of our lives, but the claim feels more accurate with each one in which I vote. We can and should do better.