Ryan Daniel Moran delivers a first-person monologue reacting to Donald Trump’s election. He encourages political opponents—particularly on the left—to engage more outside of government (volunteering, local action) rather than relying on future elections, and issues a personal call for allies (as a white, straight, successful man) to publicly defend and stand with groups subject to discrimination. He frames change as arising from personal responsibility and community action, while expressing conditional support for certain Trump policy goals.
Questions this video answers
Ryan Daniel Moran
January 10, 2017
Chapters
Thank God, the election is finally over. I've been asked my opinion on how this affects entrepreneurs, but really what this means on a grander scale. I've been mostly quiet about this because honestly, I just don't want to add to the noise of it all. But there are a couple things that I don't think are being addressed in the wake of the election of Donald Trump that I think we need to start talking about. The first is a piece of good news that I see out of the riots or the protests that, that are happening in the response to the election of Donald Trump. I hope and I think it appears that there is a now a responsibility of those, particularly on the left and those who disagree with Donald Trump to be more active apart from government. It should be the case that we take matters into our own hands when we want to see change in the world. And then if we're waiting for the right politician, the right guy or the right girl, four years to get elected, that's a really bad strategy for creating the world that we want. So I feel very encouraged by the response of those who disagree with the election of Trump in their ability or their desire now to become more involved outside of influencing government by volunteering more, by sharing their opinions, by getting more involved in that's the way it should be. Because we create change in this world not through government, but by you taking responsibility for the things that you want to change, especially in the case of defending those who you want to be a champion to those that you know. A lot of this election was talked about, those who didn't have a shot, those at the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder, those who were minorities, and the fear of what would happen if people felt emboldened to discriminate against those individuals. And that leads me to the second piece of good news that I hope comes out of this crazy, combative election season. And that's this. And this is coming from a white, successful straight male that has no idea what, what it's like to be discriminated against. I have no idea what it is like to be bullied for anything else than being a dork. A 29 year old dork. I know what that's like, but I don't. That does not compare to being discriminated against because of race or sexual preference or ethnicity or whatever it is. So it's my job. First of all, I had the luxury of looking at the election based on policy, so I, I preferred the policies of Donald Trump versus his opponent. But it's my responsibility and it's people like me who have the responsibility to say, yes, I hope we have a flatter tax system, I hope we have less regulation. I hope we get rid of a terrible healthcare bill that was passed a few years ago. But it is also my responsibility to say if there are individuals who are, who are disenfranchised or if there are people who are discriminated against because of any reason, it's my job to say, I will stand with you. If there are individuals who feel emboldened to discriminate against my neighbor, my friends, whoever, it's my job to stand with that person. So I hope that Donald Trump is a successful president in a lot of the things that he set out until or up to the point. If people feel emboldened to discriminate, it's my job and it's your job to stand up for that person, to speak for those who can't speak for themselves. That is our responsibility to do something about it. And my hope is that we all take more personal responsibility out of it, rather than just hoping that whoever you elect, four years from now, we'll create a healing environment. It's your job and my job to stand up for those who are discriminated against. That's how we'll create change in this world.
