So forget all the annoying ads, campaign rallies, and political bitching. Time’s Up!
I have never used this forum to tell people to vote, let alone how to. But I never want to experience the feeling I had the morning after the 2016 presidential election ever again.
It was an utterly gutted feeling of anomie, which compelled me to write “WTF! President-Elect Donald J. Trump?! America. What. Have. You. Done.” November 9, 2016. But a profound feeling of regret soon replaced that. I suspect this was so not only because I took Hillary’ victory for granted but also because I did so little to ensure it.
That’s why I’ve been doing all I can in the real world this time to get people to vote – and to vote early! It is also why I am using this forum for the first time to urge any reader who is eligible to get to the polls on Tuesday.
You need only know that, if only a few people in a few key states had bothered to vote in 2016, we would have been spared the black-swan political nightmare that has been the Trump presidency.
So get out and vote if you want politicians who will
- Reclaim the character of this nation — so that truth and facts still matter.
- Ensure that healthcare is a right for all, not just a privilege for a few.
- Support the global effort to fight climate change.
- Tame and check the dictatorial predilections of President Donald J. Trump.
- Oppose all efforts (foreign and domestic) to foment divisions between Republicans and Democrats, which could have their politics ape that which have Sunnis and Shiites still waging a 1000-year schism.
- Reestablish the political, economic, and military alliances that gave rise after WWII to an unprecedented period of global peace and prosperity.
- Advance gender equality — like granting pay equity, preserving abortion rights, and supporting the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment.
- Treat LGBTQ Americans like heterosexual Americans … in every respect.
- Inspire hope not incite fear (or use gerrymandering and Jim Crow-style voter suppression to hold onto power).
- Oppose the NRA and outlaw the assault weapons that have turned this country into a veritable war zone.
- Notify the world that America is still the greatest bastion and defender of democratic values; and that it is still that shining city on a hill for refugees yearning to breathe free (i.e., not a tent city built for their internment and deportation).
For added effect, I arranged the first letter of those bullet points to spell out RESTORATION.
But this should not diminish the importance of other issues related to things like race relations, Medicare, and drug (opioid) addiction. And I could go on, but you get the idea.
Therefore, I shall end by respectfully submitting that you should want all of these things. But even if you want only one of them, you’d be well-advised to simply vote Democrat!
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WTF!…