2016 has presented us with a loathsome display of political discourse. It has left us to face the nightmarish reality that, for as far as we have come as a nation, we still have at least that much farther to go.
It is a bitter pill to swallow, and there is nothing that can make it go down any easier. But maybe that's a good thing - maybe it's time we stop reaching for sugar every time we're met with bitter pills. Perhaps that bad taste in our mouths will agitate us just enough to do something about it. It certainly has in the world of art. Throughout the country, artists have been rising to action, and taking to arms with pen and brush in an all out visual assault on our common enemy: American Politics. Much of the great art we have seen throughout history has been born of necessity amidst tumultuous times of social and political unrest; now is no different. Thankfully, the Huffington Post has provided artists with an open platform from which they can be seen, as citizens, as artists, as human beings desperate for change. Their project, "If This Art Could Vote," can be viewed here.
To say that this year's campaign trail has been an insult not only to our nation's intelligence, but also to our worth as citizens in desperate need of action, would be a gross understatement. As flagrant as this campaign has been with its disregard for anything of real, genuine substance, it pales in comparison to the atrocities clandestinely committed on a daily basis against our basic rights as voting citizens of a democratic republic. If one thing has been made clear in this election season, it is this: nobody knows the score; and that, my friends, is no accident.
Our political landscape has been reduced to mere rubble, and we are left to wade through the ruin with no real end in sight. With hope, one can suppose that the detritus with which we have been left are the perfect grounds from which we can build anew. Such could be the case; however, these things require more than hope. The American Dream itself has been debased to a wholly unrecognizable version of its former self. A shell of what it once was, it has been systemically subverted by the very body by which it should have been upheld and protected.
As hopeless as it may seem, take solace in the fact that we still have the freedom to speak out, to speak up, and to stand up against that which we know and feel to be wrong. We are facing an election, to the likes of which have never been seen, and in a time where technology helps to insure that nothing ever goes unseen - so long as it doesn't infringe on the end goal of the powers that be.
Although we are a mere one month from the election, that does not mean all of the problems will magically disappear come November 9th. The road ahead is a long one, regardless of who makes it to the Oval Office. I can only hope that artists across the nation will continue to be vigilant and outspoken. The problems we face occur far more often than every four years; rather, they happen every single day.
