I was thinking I should write something about the election
tomorrow. My thoughts are coming and going at a hundred miles per hour.
Sometimes I feel worried and very anxious, and then I think about the huge
number of people—especially young people and women—who have already come out
and cast their ballots. Early in-person
voting ended or will be ending and those who haven’t voted yet or mailed/deposited
in a designated drop box will have to vote in person.
In some states, that can be a scary experience. There’s already been reports of vigilantes
geared up and carrying weapons showing up at drop boxes in Arizona to “make
sure everything is done right.” The first response was to restrict these
vigilantes from carrying their weapons etc., which was appealed and then a
seniors group filed for a restraining order. A federal judge, Michael T.
Liburdi denied the request. He
didn’t think armed vigilantes constituted a threat to voters dropping their
ballots into drop boxes. Great decision.
Every day, someone in the Rethuglican party says or does
something that is increasingly disgusting, misleading, deflecting, inciting, or
outright declaring the fascist policies they want to institute if they regain
control of Congress. Important swing states are Pennsylvania, Florida, Georgia,
Wisconsin, and Nevada. Michigan could go
either way. Even our own representative, Andy Kim, has gone from basically
no-contest to toss-up. A lot of it is
because of Rethuglican gerrymandering. How they got away with that is a puzzle
to me.
Rethuglicans have been very clever at placing their
followers into positions of authority on school boards, as election agents and
secretaries of state. Red governors and
red secretaries of state could throw out or contest votes that go against them.
Then there’s the violence that just sickens me. A twisted
tRumper broke into Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s house. He didn’t find her there and, instead,
brutally attacked her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer. Instead of condemning the act or sympathizing
with the Pelosis, Rethuglican legislators chose to mock and joke at what
happened. I only saw messages condemning
the violence from Senator McConnell and Rep. Kinzinger. There were just crickets from everyone
else. Where is the morality? Have these MAGAs flat out sold their souls to
tRumpism?
I knew that members of the January 6th committee
had to have protection and also needed protection for their families. I knew that other people were being
threatened either because they wouldn’t fall in line with tRumpism or to scare
them to the point they wouldn’t speak out against what MAGAs were doing. Now MAGAs target the families.
When Paul Pelosi was attacked so brutally and Rethug legislators
chose to either mock or keep lips zipped tight, I felt like my mind was
blown. I remember a time when the R’s
and D’s would work together to find common ground in spite of their
differences. What’s happening now is
absolutely horrifying. How do you begin
to connect with soulless people like that?
The ones who object but are too afraid to speak up are complicit too. By not condemning what MAGAs are doing, these
cowards are supporting the violence, the outright lies, manipulation, and
terror tactics employed by their party.
Some of them claim to be “Christian” nationalists but they
aren’t at all. It makes me so mad to see
them proclaiming to follow the teachings of Christ…but are doing the exact
opposite. The awful policies they want
to instate are anti-Christian. Jesus
wouldn’t approve. Obviously, these “Christian”
nationalists aren’t reading the New Testament.
And what is this nonsense about the United States being a
Christian country? It’s not and never was intended to be. Obviously these MAGAs also haven’t read any
of the quotes by John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, or even Ronald Reagan.
John Adams said: “As the Government of the United States of
America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,—as it has in
itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of
Mussulmen [Muslims],—and as the said States never entered into any war or act
of hostility against any Mahometan [Mohammedan] nation, it is declared by the
parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an
interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.”
Thomas Jefferson said: ““If, therefore, from the settlement
of the Saxons, to the introduction of Christianity among them, that system of
religion could not be a part of the common law, because they were not yet
Christians; and if, having their laws from that period to the close of the
common law, we are able to find among them no such act of adoption; we may
safely affirm (though contradicted by all the judges and writers on earth) that
Christianity neither is, nor ever was, a part of the common law.”
And this from former President Ronald Reagan, a Repub hero: “We establish no religion in this country, church and state are, and
must remain separate.”
In this country, people practice many
different religions. How dare the MAGAs
think they can force us all into one?
That’s really scary.
MAGAs are against anything that would serve
people, including social security, Medicare, Medicaid, reproductive rights, the
right to love and marry whomever you want, and to blatantly discriminate
against people of color, different religions, and different sexuality and
gender identity. What they propose to do
is absolutely brutal to the already badly damaged middle class.
Why do people vote against their own best
interests? It continues to boggle my
mind.
I don’t even know what point I’m trying to make.
That’s how frazzled I feel and how fired up my brain continues to be,
protesting against all this evil. I
write and post and tweet but it doesn’t seem like I’m heard. I do feel engaged and positive when I phone
or text bank. I am connecting directly with voters and I feel as if I’m doing
something useful and helpful.
Tomorrow is Election Day. If we voters really
love the US and the Constitution, then we’ll all make sure to vote blue. I already did. I’m praying for good news when all the
results are counted.
Here are newsletters where I get trustworthy
information:
Voter
Intimidation by Dan Rather
Political
Violence by Dan Rather
Dispatches
From A Collapsing Nation
An
Unsettled Time by Dan Rather
Musk,
Trump, and the Demeaning of America by Robert Reich
Tsunami
of Truth by Michael Moore, the latest in an ongoing series