What now?

I was hoping that it would be some while before I would have to write this, if at all. But the time has come.

Look, nothing has changed. The country is still divided, and faces many issues that the career politicians and the wealthy dark horses are far from understanding. I’ve seen many comments despairing and giving up in the moments after the news broke. People saying they will never be this involved in politics again. And I get that. I have felt it before. But I’ve come to realize that that’s just wrong. In spite of how much you want to resist the idea tonight, if you cared this much once, you’ll care again.

Did you really want this to be easy? Did you expect this field mixed with power-hungry lunatics and well-wishers with poor ideas to really greet the future when it first comes calling? This was always going to be hard. It will continue to be hard. Even if Yang wins the presidency some day, it will still be hard then, and after.

But there’s something liberating in that. When something really matters, you need not despair at failure. Hard or not, what you have to try to do is the same either way. You’ll fail again, if your first concern is trying for the best thing. You’ll fall over and over. And what are you going to do when you fail next time?

I’m done despairing just because I failed. All I’m concerned with is the next play. I don’t have time to despair—it’s a painful feeling, and it serves nothing good.

I’m ready to try for the next insanely difficult moonshot. I refuse to be the kind of person who only did easy things in their brief time on this planet. I encourage all of you to do the same, sooner rather than later.

And a final note here to this community: Because Yang had such bipartisan appeal, people reading this will pull in different directions after tonight. I beg you all to remain Humanity First, and to listen to your allies on the other side of the aisle. The solutions rest in all of us, not one side or the other.