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Posts Tagged ‘Election’

Ain’t Sitting on No Blisters

Posted in Current Events, Quote, tagged , , , , on October 28, 2020| 2 Comments »

Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.

― Abraham Lincoln

The US Elections Project anticipates that this year’s election could see a turnout of 65% of eligible voters casting ballots. That would be the highest turnout in well over a hundred years, going back to 1908.

That’s great news. 

But it raises a burning question: Who are those 35% who won’t cast a vote?

Think about that. We’re having a crucial election that could well dictate our whole way of life in the coming years. The pandemic has shown that who leads this country can make a crucial difference in our everyday life, in how we react and recover from adversity. Or how we avoid it altogether.

Yet a third of the citizens of the nation don’t care enough who heads our government and won’t vote. They are willing to let others make that choice for them, willing to go with whatever the others want.

Do these people live their whole lives this way? 

Voting is literally the least a citizen can do to participate in the affairs of the nation. It can make the difference between leading a nice, quiet life or furiously fighting an out of control fire for years to come. 

Heed old Honest Abe’s words: Don’t turn your back to the fire.  

Do your duty.

Vote.

Oh, and my personal suggestion is that you VOTE BLUE.

Note the blue waves in the painting at the top. 

But do what you will and just vote.

 

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Shock the World

Posted in Current Events, Opinion, tagged , on November 6, 2018| Leave a Comment »

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“I don’t look to the teachings of Jesus for what my political beliefs should be.”

–Jerry Falwell, Jr., NY Times Interview

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I think the quote above from Jerry Falwell, Jr. pretty much sums up the importance of this election. If a man who has based his whole life and persona on the teachings of Jesus is willing to set them aside for political expediency, there is a lot at stake. Not being able to adhere to those teachings– concepts like compassion, charity and truth– to uphold his political preferences says even more about what we are facing.

Today’s election is, above all else, a referendum on whether we continue to follow our worst inclinations into the ditch of history or whether we can steer ourselves back to the road we have long followed, one that marks us as a generous, compassionate and welcoming people.

We cannot survive long as a nation that is based on policies that reward greed, hate, fear, corruption, victimization, and deceit.

A lot of people say, “Sure, all of these bad things are taking place but look at the economy, look at the numbers!”

Myself, I knew that when this president* came into office that he would be able to ride the strength of the then percolating economy for maybe two  more years before it began cycling downward. The GOP made a calculated risk in enacting a massive tax break that was designed solely for the wealthiest among us, believing that supercharging the economy for the short term would blow them past this election before the consequences of such an irresponsible action would begin to appear.

But the bill will soon come due. The economic signs are appearing now. Tax revenues are down. Deficits are ballooning. Job growth, while still fairly strong, has lessened in the past two years and will continue to do so, partly because with decreased immigration, there is not the available population to sustain continued job growth.

To think that an economy at the apex of its cycle is enough to overlook the damage being done to our nation’s citizens along with its reputation and honor is a massive mistake.

Today is an opportunity to begin to set things right. It is a chance to shock the world and forcefully tell the other strongman autocrats out there that we reject their worldview.

To show that we deserve to be the beacon of hope once again.

To say that we can be better than this.

Vote.

Vote blue.

Shock the world awake.

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Vote Progress

Posted in Current Events, Opinion, tagged , , on November 2, 2018| Leave a Comment »

We are coming up on the final weekend of what promises to be a pivotal election in the history of our country. It is ugly right now with a president* spinning out of control, spewing a constant and wide river of lies, fear mongering and racial slurs, both of the dog-whistle and overt variety. It is a campaign based only on fear, division, and threats, one that needs to create enemies to fear and despise. Instead of of offering a unifying vision, one party looks to aggressively suppress the vote. There is not a positive vision or an iota of hope involved. It is a tremendously dangerous onslaught and it is positively un-American and un-democratic.

It made me think about my own beliefs and how I was viewing this election. I found that while there is fear and anger driving my response to this election cycle, it is my liberal beliefs that still inform my actions. They are overwhelmingly positive positions that aim for greater equality and an even playing field for all people in this country. They are positions that are looking ahead to a better country and a better world for everyone, not just the wealthiest and the privileged.

Positions that say how we treat the least among us says the most about us.

It reminded me of a post from back around this time in 2012. It lists how liberal thought has created most of the benefits of modern life that many of us now take for granted. These are things that were accomplished through brutal, and sometimes lethal, battles fought by those with progressive ideals.

This country’s greatness is based on the idea of the idea of America and that is a product of progressive thought.

You must vote in this election. To not be involved is to cede your future to others who may have a darker future in mind. I can’t tell you how to vote. You vote for the future you want. I will tell you that I am voting for a more hopeful and inclusive future. Progressive and looking forward.

Here’s my post from 2012:

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Republicans have been accused of abandoning the poor. It’s the other way around. They never vote for us.

–Dan Quayle

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I don’t know why I used the quote above from Dan Quayle except that it made me laugh when I stumbled across it. This has been a particularly long and tough political season and Quayle’s clueless words made me step back from it a bit to give a chuckle. As though the poor owed the GOP something!

Though I consider myself an independent, I am definitely liberal in my political leanings and always have been. There have been points in my life, especially now in the time of the ideologues, when liberalism has been portrayed as some sort of anarchistic/atheistic/communistic movement with the word liberal being thrown about  as an insult. That bothers me because I have always been proud of the accomplishments of those people who came before me who carried the banner of progressive thought with honor.

Early Suffrage Poster

They were extraordinarily brave people who spoke out against the outrages of the day that stood in direct contradiction to the liberal belief in equality and liberty for all. They were the abolitionists of the 1800’s fighting the heavily moneyed institution of slavery. They were the suffragettes  who fought so that women might have voting equality and the union organizers of the early 1900’s who fought for safer working conditions and fair pay and  against child labor. They were the people, the anti-Fascists, who stood against the authoritarian movements of Europe in  the 1930’s and 1940’s. They were the civil rights activists who marched and died so that civil rights were for everyone. They were the environmentalists who brought back the clean water and air we now enjoy. There was a time not too long ago when clean water and air was not a sure thing.

They were the people who sought to clean the stains of these inequalities from our flag and in every case they came up against conservative opposition. There was always a group who tried to maintain the status quo, to protect against what they felt was an attack on their America, even though their America was one based on injustice and inequality. Can you imagine an America without these ideals that Liberalism has championed, a world where the conservative thought of the day had somehow persevered? Sure, it’s easy to say that slavery would have ended or that women would have received the vote anyhow on their own but there was no guarantee. Just the fact that it took until the 1960’s that a hard won Civil Rights Act was enacted is proof of that.

Think how your own life might be different without liberal thought and action. I can guarantee you that it would not be a better life or a better world.

Damn right, I’m a Liberal.

Vote for a positive future. Vote Progress.

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