Tag: get out and vote

I have to vote for Joe. So do you.

Joe Biden was not my first choice as the Democratic Presidential Nominee. He wasn’t even on the list to be honest. But I will vote for him and Kamala Harris on or before November 3rd with my last breath if necessary. Anyone who is a registered voter in the US who does otherwise is a fool.

There have been a lot of people writing think pieces both before and now after the DNC about how Joe is reaching the “middle of the party” and Kamala is reaching out to the “Black vote” and how that “will heal the party”. I’m also personally seeing a LOT of folks on twitter and elsewhere who are angry. They’re angry that out of a field of Democratic candidates that included LGBTQ and BIPOC candidates for the top of the ticket we ended up with yet another old white guy.

I get that. And yet I’m still going to do whatever I have to in order to make sure that my vote for Biden/Harris is counted for November 3rd. This isn’t quite a hold my nose a vote situation, but it isn’t far off.

Here’s the thing, our country is literally and figuratively on fire right now. We’ve got nearly 200,000 dead of COVID-19, a number that could have been So. Much. Smaller. had we a competent administration in office. And that number, which is likely wildly low thanks to intentional failures of reporting in lots of states, doesn’t including “unrelated” but absolutely caused by COVID deaths such as suicides, domestic violence, overdoses, and the like.

Millions are out of work, the rights of humans all across this country are being stripped away in myriad ways, people are marching in the streets to try and, as I saw someone say the other day, “Legalize Blackness” and yet actual Nazis walk free in this land that fought to bring down the Third Reich. We have white supremacists and Nazis in our highest offices in the government and they’re enriching themselves and their billionaire friends at unprecedented rates all at the cost of the rest of us.

And yet I hear people saying that they won’t vote for Biden/Harris because, “she’s a cop” “he’s a white man” “he wasn’t my top choice” “I would have preferred X” “I can’t vote for someone who put black people in jail” etc, etc.

Here’s the thing. Biden/Harris are not gonna save us, they’re not gonna fix it all. No administration in the history of ever has done that. Not in one term, not in two, not in three.

But another term with Trump will kill us. That’s a fact.

And sitting in a position where you put your personal distaste of Biden or Harris over the good of this nation is a position of extreme privilege. If we expect the Republicans to put country over party then we should expect the same of ourselves, especially right now.

I want ranked choice voting. I want more than 2 parties. I wish it wasn’t this way. But right now, this is how it is. Right now, is not the time to try and make those things happen. Right now we’re voting for our very survival. We’re voting for our lives.

People are dying. If you don’t know someone who has died of or been ill with COVID, just wait. You will. And another 4 years of looting the American public, deaths en mass, and a destroyed government infrastructure is going to be the least of our worries if Trump isn’t beaten in a landslide.

Trump and his cabal are the greatest danger to our country, to each of us individually, and to the world any of us has seen in our lifetime. Every vote for anyone other than Biden/Harris is a vote for Trump. Hold your nose and and do your job as a citizen of this Republic and vote to save it.

Then, let’s get to work on fixing it.

Kelly

 

More thoughts on this historic election day: part two

Bear with me, because this post is a LOT longer.  I just have too much of a need to vent.

After I picked Kelly up from work, we pahked the cah in our driveway and walked (in my case, limped/hobbled) down to our polling place here in Winthrop.  We had never been there before, but luckily it was even closer than we thought it was.  There was a line, but it wasn’t that bad, and we were fortunate in that we got through the line and voted pretty quickly.  I know other people around the greater Boston area (and around the country, for that matter) had to wait for hours.  So we walked home and I made some dinner so we could settle in for the evening and watch the returns.

Continue reading “More thoughts on this historic election day: part two”

Brexit, or when people vote to harm themselves

Frankly, I am just stunned that the voters of the United Kingdom decided to leave the EU.  Obviously I am not British, and I can’t pretend I understand all of the issues going on there that might motivate people to vote that way.  But I do know that many of the consequences predicted were not good. And I also know that many of the people who voted to leave are in the parts of the UK that depend on the EU the most, like Cornwall.  The government of Cornwall is now insisting that the UK government make up for the 60 million pounds a year of EU funding that will be lost by Brexit.  To quote from Cornwall directly:

Prior to the referendum we were reassured by the ‘leave’ campaign that a decision to leave the EU would not affect the EU funding which has already been allocated to Cornwall and that Cornwall would not be worse off in terms of the investment we receive. We are seeking urgent confirmation from Ministers that this is the case.

Suddenly Cornwall is like some teenage kid who seriously pisses off his parents, and then suddenly doesn’t understand why they aren’t going to pay his college tuition anymore. You guys really didn’t think this through, did you?  And you believed everything that the Leave Campaign told you?

Oh, dear.

You know, that would be comical if it wasn’t so damn tragic, because there are going to be real consequences now, which will affect a lot of people’s lives.

Continue reading “Brexit, or when people vote to harm themselves”

#BlackLivesMatter & #NoBoston2024 – The intersection of money, race & power

Anyone who isn’t a moneyed plutocrat in the very tiny ruling elite here in Boston – Marty Walsh, John Fish, Charlie Baker, and Shirley Leung, I’m looking at you – likely understands that yesterday’s announcement that Boston “won” the USOC nomination for the 2024 olympics is a Very Bad Thing.  The Boston 2024 group has existed for about a year and, chaired by Fish, has been trying to essentially shame the populace into believing that if we do not do this thing, invite the world to come here for a 3 week-long party 9 years from now, we’re provincial losers and that Boston isn’t fit for the world stage.

To put it bluntly, the people at Boston2024 are liars.

Continue reading “#BlackLivesMatter & #NoBoston2024 – The intersection of money, race & power”

Please vote today, everyone

I loved George Carlin,  and I thought he was a brilliant comic and social commentator.  But on one major point, I have always vehemently disagreed with him…

voting.

Your vote matters.  Because EVERY vote matters.

Continue reading “Please vote today, everyone”

It ends today… hopefully

The phone calls, the emails, the voice mails, the robo-calls, the text messages.  The door knocking, inevitably when I’m in the bathroom or sleeping. The door hangers or giant post it notes left when I’m not home or literature illegally stuffed through the mail slot. At 8:00pm tonight, for good or ill, it is done.

Election day is over.
Continue reading “It ends today… hopefully”

I voted, and so should you

Today is election day here in America.  If you have not yet voted the polls are open until 8:00pm local time.  I was heartened to see that my polls were not only busy, they were busy with people of every age, every color, and that the poll attendants had already run out of the “I Voted” stickers.  (I love those stickers.)

If you are voting in a swing state or a place where funny things sometimes happen at the polls (Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania come to mind) here is what you need to know about finding your polling place, necessary ID, reporting voting fraud, etc.

It is your duty as a citizen of this country to get out there and vote.  It is also, for some of us, a hard fought right.  Women got the right to vote in 1920, the year my grandmother was born.  For those of you paying attention, we’ll celebrate the centenary anniversary of that achievement 8 years from now.

Don’t sit this one out, get out there and make the most of that right.  VOTE.

The following was provided by Ultraviolet.org

What You Need to Know for Election Day, November 6, 2012

 How to find your polling place: 

Questions or problem at the polls?

  • Election Protection is a nonpartisan coalition of 150 organizations dedicated to making sure everyone can exercise their right to vote. If you have a problem at the polls on Election Day, or if you just need to find your polling place or have a question, you can call 1-866-OUR-VOTE, or download their smart phone app at the links above. 

What to bring to the polls:

Some states require specific forms a voter ID; some don’t. Here are a few resources to find out what you need to bring:

What’s on my ballot? 

  • Check out November6th.org to find out what’s on your ballot. Just enter your address, and you will be able to see what’s on your ballot, from ballot measures and local races to the national level. 

The resources above should answer most questions for most people. If you can’t find an answer online or with the apps provided, your best bet is to call 1-866-OUR-VOTE or your state election official.

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If you’re going to vote near closing time, bring a book and a bottle of water.  If you’re on the premises before they shut the doors then they have to let you vote.  Similarly, your employer has to allow you unpaid time to vote today.  Make time to do this.  It really is important, the future of our country is at stake.

Thank you in advance.

~Kelly