It is impossible to fully predict all the possible consequences of any particular action we take. This world is far too complicated and our lives too interconnected. While we usually act in pursuit of a perceived good, we often draw in the net to discover undesired outcomes. Our end result can include a wide variety of consequences—some intended, some unintended, and sometimes even the opposite of what we were intending. Quite frequently the catch is a messy combination. That’s how it is to be human. That’s why wise people stay open to negative feedback and course correction.
Perhaps one of our most popular stories of unintended consequences is the film It’s A Wonderful Life. Overwhelmed by financial and other stressors, George Bailey sets out to take his own life in a misguided attempt to protect his family. He’s intercepted by the angel Clarence and given a miraculous preview into that chosen future with all its unintended consequences—the famous miracle that saves his life.
Of course, most of our human unintended consequences do not get prevented by angelic visits. And I am keenly aware that sometimes harmful impact is very much intended, at least by some actors. For reasons incomprehensible to me, God often allows humanity’s struggle with itself to unfold without preventing our tragedies, preferring instead to meet us in them.
People say that elections have consequences, and we are seeing that at warp speed. The pace, excesses, and illegality of the current administration appears to be catching more than a few people off guard. I can only assume these voters did not intend all the consequences we are witnessing unfold, but that hardly makes the repercussions less real. As a mom of three school age children, one of the main lenses through which I am watching all this play out is public education. The domino effects of taking a chainsaw to the Department of Education are far reaching and daunting to catalogue. My stomach clenches anticipating children going hungry, students with disabilities losing essential educational support, and teachers in under-resourced urban and rural schools forced to do more with drastically less. I remember my coworker whose grade school family member experienced an ICE raid at her school and saw things children should never have to see. I think about the desks that sit empty from children who are too afraid to come to school and the anxiety their peers feel noticing their absence.
While some people may be happy with the results we are seeing, there are many who are not. Election regret is a thing, and not everyone who voted this administration in is happy with all the consequences walking down the ramp now that it has docked. In a democracy we have the responsibility and power to hold our elected leaders to account. And when they neglect their constitutional duty to serve as checks and balances against abuse of power—when they allow an unelected billionaire free reign to take a chainsaw to institutions that defend our most vulnerable members of society, they should hear from us.
So regardless of how you voted or didn’t vote in November, if you’ve been feeling a little queasy watching what for you have been some unintended consequences disembarking the ship of this administration, please don’t stick your head in the sand. If you never intended for disabled children to lose medical benefits or school supports, please write your representative and let them know. If it bothers you for your law-abiding, hardworking but undocumented neighbors to live in terror or be disappeared and imprisoned without due process, it’s still a good time to make a phone call or even show up in person—to a march, a town hall, or an office.
I’ll post some resources below to help you make your voice heard, but one last thing: please prepare yourself to vote them out if they persist in failing their constitutional duty to be the checks and balances our Founding Fathers designed them to be.
Resources:
- To find your US Representative/Senator: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member
- Check out the 5 Calls App: https://5calls.org/
- To find your MO State Representative/Senator: https://www.senate.mo.gov/legislookup/default
- To find your KY State Representative/Senator: https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/findyourlegislator/findyourlegislator.html
- To find your IL State Representative/Senator: https://www.elections.il.gov/electionoperations/districtlocator/districtofficialsearchbyaddress.aspx
- The above are just the states I’ve lived/voted in. Live somewhere else? Google: “Find my representative in ***”