Why Do I Do This?
I hope you have been enjoying the college football musings this season, but the most important matchup of the year is coming on November 5th. I encourage you to exercise your civic duty to vote by whatever means is available to you, be it absentee, early, or on election day in-person this year. This will likely be my last political post before the election, and I want to provide my reasoning for the vote I cast and why you should join me in voting for Kamala Harris.
Kamala first caught my attention when she was displaying her prosecutorial skills in the senate and I was a fan of her subsequent run for the democratic nomination in 2020. Then, she was competing with Bernie for my leftist heart, now she has pivoted to the center so hard as to be unrecognizable from her 2020 counterpart. I still have hope for her presidency, but if you are wary of her being a, ‘radical leftist’ my disappointment should serve as soothing menthol-eucalyptus to a centrist, stand-for-nothing throat.
Because I have women in my life that I love, and respect the women of this country, choice is the number one issue. In 2020, I would have told you that the environment was my first issue of priority, however that was before the Supreme Court tore rights away from 51% of American citizens. Project 2025 calls for a national abortion ban, and while Kamala will not have a filibuster proof majority in congress, a vote for her is preventative in this regard.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats, they’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.” This quote falls under: ‘Hitler Open Mic Night’ to borrow from a Bill Burr comedy bit. I have a republican friend who when I say that Trump is a racist, will ask for examples, once stating, “he never said Mexicans were rapists.” He never called Chris Christie a fat pig either, apparently. A staffer for Vance called a Springfield official to check on the validity of these claims before Trump said this at the debate, calling the allegations, “baseless” but he said it anyway.
I hate it, but I feel the need to emphasize pragmatism over idealism yet again. As we exited the polls yesterday, Emily and I were reflecting on how great it felt to have our first presidential ballots cast for Barack Obama in 2008 and how it has been a series of ‘eat your vegetables’ candidates since. Kamala saved us from a landslide Trump victory over Biden, and for that reason I am once again pleading with America to eat its vegetables. If Obama rapping Eminem’s, ‘Lose Yourself’ on stage this week wasn’t enough, I guess you might take no joy in humanity, or worse, are an evangelical.
I’m no flag-waving patriot, but the post apocalyptic portrait of America that Trump paints is just not the current state of the nation. Our economy has recovered better from Covid 19 than any other nation most Americans would consider habitable, and western democracy still means something. Vote for today, vote for yourself, vote so that you will have another chance to in 4 years.
Fascism: Noun. A governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc. and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.
If You Can Keep It
December 7, 1941. September 11, 2001. January 6, 2021. Three times that the United States has been attacked. Japan, Al-Qaeda, MAGA. Make no mistake, these are trying dates in our history: an entrance to a world war, a war on terrorism, and most recently a war on our democracy. Here we are three years after the most recent attack, and in this year we may finally see a trial and conviction of Donald Trump for the attack on the capitol.
I wasn’t alive in 1941, but I was glued to a television from about 15 minutes after the towers were attacked, and I watched Trump’s speech at the ellipse that day and the ensuing attack on the capital afterward. As far as January 6th is concerned, I don’t need pundits and talking heads to tell me anything; I saw it live. I called my dad that day in absolute disbelief, and told him to turn on the news, as there was an attack taking place to stop the certification of a lawfully elected president.
This country is ripe for criticism, and thus hopefully continual growth. The feather in our cap as a country is the fact that we elect our leaders, and have a peaceful transfer of power between administrations. There is no crown, no religious figurehead descended from heaven to rule over us, we cast votes and still have a right to self-determination of our leaders. We have this beautiful, fragile democratic system, and we need to keep it.
It cannot be understated how close that system was to buckling on January 6th 2021 as thousands of MAGA supporters carried out a planned and intentional attack on the capitol. This was not a tourist visit, as is evidenced by the bashing in of bulletproof glass in the locked doors of congress and rapid evacuation of our elected officials. This was an attack with intent, and the attackers among the most despicable people in this country who were chanting to hang the vice president they voted for a few years earlier.
On a day of great importance, one should take time to reflect on who we are as a people and where we go from here. It’s now 2024 and we are unfortunately staring down the barrel of another lesser of two evils choice at the ballot box. Just keep in mind that one of those choices is a too-old, gaffing, life long politician, and the other is a narcissistic fascist who tried to overthrow the government. Donald Trump cannot be the end of this country’s democracy.
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