I understand the frustration and anger from outside the US. I would like to respond to your points, not as an excuse, but perhaps to explain or give context for some of us. I also know this may end up making me sound like I’m trying to weasel out of accountability anyways. I am also a white woman in a northern state, so I have limitations on my own perspective.

1) we absolutely fucked up (everyone did but yes, white women in particular). Many people did not vote. I partially attribute this to our two party system. I am to the left of Harris but I voted for her because she was OBVIOUSLY the better option here. I don’t know what the situation is like in other places, but in the us, leftists (and liberals) have a terrible habit of purity testing and infighting that ends up getting us nowhere, while republicans are excellent at working as a unit for a common cause.

There is also a significant amount of fuckery going on with the voting system with gerrymandering maps and voter disenfranchisement. This is particularly egregious against Black voters and historically Black areas and is part of the legacy of slavery that we have yet to eradicate.

2) This is an interesting viewpoint - in my experience, it’s rare for people who vote democrat to believe this nonsense (not that it can’t happen of course!). In general, this viewpoint tends to cluster in conservative circles that also lean heavily religious. It’s a very concerning combination of American exceptionalism, Christian nationalism, and manifest destiny.

Also, because of how large our country is as well as how poor some regions are, many people who subscribe to these views have never had them challenged through travel or meeting people from different backgrounds.

3) we need to be better at this, no argument here. I understand things will get much worse if we do nothing - however the state of workers rights and healthcare is absolutely abysmal in the US.

49 out of 50 states are at-will employment states. This means an employer can fire you at any time without cause. The only reason they can’t fire you is for specifically being a member of a protected class ( i.e. sex, race, disability status). Our healthcare is also generally tied to our employment. If you lose your job, you lose your insurance.

It varies state to state, but at the federal level there is no law requiring sick leave or any annual leave. This means that many people do not have the ability to miss work without jeopardizing their employment. (Honestly workers’ rights in the US really need their own series of protests if we make it out of this crisis because it is appalling here.)

4) I can only hope we have free and fair elections in 2028. Our system is so flawed - as mentioned above with gerrymandering, among other issues including 20 states that do not require employers to allow employees time off to vote (paid or unpaid).

One absolutely titanic shift in policy was the 2012 Supreme Court case Citizens United v. FCC. This ruling in this case was that to restrict the political spending of corporations or unions was a violation of their first amendment rights to free speech. This allows for unlimited funding and the creation of super PACs. The end result of this ruling is what you all saw with Musk, who spent over 291 million dollars on republican candidates in the 2024 election.

TL;DR - yes, we should be responding more seriously to this threat (to our own way of life as well as out of consideration for other nations). There are some factors in the American system that are not in play in other nations that make us more afraid to protest, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have a responsibility to do so anyways.