An open letter to our fellow politicos in a time of “what the fuck is the point?”

Colleagues, candidates, and fellow conspirators, 

When we woke up today we saw the federal government once again murdered one of its own citizens in broad daylight without fear of consequence. 

We’re heartbroken, but we’re not surprised.

Because we’ve been watching as Trump’s state-sponsored domestic terror tour that started in Los Angeles has cycled and scaled across the country. Chicago. Charlotte. Portland. Memphis. New Orleans. Minneapolis.

We’ve been watching as along the way they have overridden and burdened local and state governments and eviscerated civil rights. We’ve been working on borrowed time as our constitutional system of a federalist republic and guaranteed individual rights — which serves as the entire basis for the electoral work we do — is being destroyed in front of our eyes. 

As a San Diego founded company, we have witnessed the destruction of the border region and the terror Obama, Biden, and Trump brought down on immigrant communities and neighborhoods for over a decade. The 100 mile zone where ICE, CBP, and DHS can do whatever they want has been a testing ground.

It was easy for the rest of the country to ignore it while our friends, neighbors, and coworkers were separated from their families and locked in cages. It was heartbreaking to watch as political propaganda had so many people across the country filled with hate and stereotypes about the vibrant and beautiful people who make our region and our economy thrive. The tent city / open air jail between the border walls. The kids in cages. The raids on our businesses. The helicopters circling Latino neighborhoods at all hours. The checkpoints on the way to work. The surveillance cameras everywhere. It’s been hard in San Diego for a long time. 

But now, Trump and MAGA have taken the systems honed and perfected in San Diego, El Paso, Yuma, and other border cities and deployed them across an entire continent. Cities and states are being invaded. Not by China or Russia or Iran or Afghanistan or anyone else we have been taught to fear. But by Washington, D.C. By our own federal leaders.

This isn’t hyperbole. It’s reality. And it’s proving fatal for more and more people.

And for those of us not currently in harm’s way, but living and working every day inside the system that created this, it’s existential. 

Because Civil War might be coming. 
And we are talking about voting. 
Cutting turf. 
Calling donors. 
Sending emails. 
Staring at spreadsheets. 

What the fuck does it even matter?

The truth is that elections alone will not save us, just like elections alone did not get us here.

Elections do not stop violence in real time. 
Elections do not undo harm already done. 
Elections do not magically transform institutions built for a different era and a different moral purpose. 

The sad truth is that the Republican Party as we know it is gone. It’s been replaced by a cult of personality held together by a scaffolding of dystopian tech incels, white nationalists, and billionaires who don’t give a shit if we all burn because they have the resources to escape to Mars. 

For us, the even sadder truth is that the Democratic Party — which many of us have dedicated our entire adult lives to strengthening — is not built for this moment. 

It’s beholden where it needs to be resisting. 
Cautious where it needs to be bold. 
Fragmented where it needs to be unified. 

And so often, Democratic negotiations become a race to the bottom for the American people. Rather than leveraging any power or aiming for common ground in those rare cases it can be found, Democrats cry bipartisanship when compromise means letting Republicans take from those who have nothing more to give. 

So in a lot of ways we understand why people think it doesn’t matter who you vote for. 

After all, it was Democrats in most of these cities who voted and budgeted for the surveillance technology that is being used to disappear immigrants and resisters. Some Democrats just voted for more ICE funding even after Renee Good. And frankly, active destruction brought on by MAGA and managed atrophy settled for by Democrats feel the same when you can’t feed your family or afford your medication. 

But for any serious, urgent electoral resistance to the fast approaching authoritarian threat — the Democratic Party is what we have to work with. 

Elections in our current system are not the revolution, but they are harm mitigation. 

Opting out of politics does not weaken authoritarianism, it clears the field for it. It removes one of the few imperfect tools available to slow the damage, limit the reach, and buy time for organizing, resistance, and care.

Elections determine who holds power when the machinery of the state is turned on its people. They determine who commands law enforcement, and whether that enforcement is used to protect or to punish. They determine who controls the purse strings, and whether that money will be used to nourish or to starve. They determine whether abuses are investigated or ignored. Whether we are taught to think for ourselves or to believe them when they tell us our eyes are lying. Whether rights are defended, diluted, or erased. 

Elections have consequences, and we are watching some of the most dire ones unfold in real time. 

It matters who sits in the governor’s office when the National Guard comes calling.
It matters who controls a state legislature when there are attempts to steal elections and threats to end them all together.  
It matters who runs a city or a county when federal benefits stop flowing. 
It matters who is in the DA’s office when federal agents commit acts of terror. 
It matters who sits on a school board when MAGA wants fear taught as policy.

Elections are not enough. But they are a line of defense. 

And right now, we need every defense we can get.

So take a deep breath and keep going.
Not because the system deserves our faith, but because our communities deserve our effort.
Not because elections are enough, but because giving up guarantees failure.
Not because hope is easy, but because surrender is lethal. 

Stay in this messy, imperfect, necessary work. 

Because even though it feels pointless sometimes, it has never mattered more. 

We know you’re tired. So are we.
But there are people in real danger. And what you do can help prevent it.

And maybe — if we are determined, unified, and strategic enough — we can elect enough people who actually fucking get it. Maybe out of this moment of fear and despair comes the opportunity to replace the systems that created this mess with something a little less broken.

In solidarity, hope, determination, and absolute rage,
Your coconspirators at Evinco Strategies