28 October 2022

The Irreducible Necessity of Voting ... a plea for everyone to do all they can

Here it is less than two weeks before the election, and, farflung correspondents, I am worried. We're hosting a music club that's been around since the 1950s in our house next Friday evening. It's hard for me to shake the fear that our music making on that particular weekend may turn out to be a dirge for democracy. Please don't let's let that happen. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell everyone you know it's vital that they vote this time, for democracy, not for the forces of darkness. I really do see the dichotomy as that serious the way things have gone down in our country. 

And don't forget, if you know people who may not know it, not only do the Right Wing Republicans (i.e., all of them) want to do absolutely nothing for ordinary people, but they do intend to end reproductive rights, cut Social Security and Medicare, and grow the debt with even more tax cuts for the very, very rich, and they want to end fair elections to ensure that they remain in power permanently. We used to have no difficulty calling such politics what it is: fascism. 

You have to finesse the message talking to some people. It does no good to alienate people. But even many folks who aren't "political," and who often don't vote, don't want the government telling them a teenage relative raped by her uncle can't get an abortion, and they don't want a governent that does absolutely nothing for them but restrict their rights and tank the economy with unstable and nutty economic theories and tax cuts for the rich. They don't want politicians to cut and disable Social Security and Medicare, which ordinary folks have paid for, and they sure as hell don't want anyone to end fair elections and rig the system so all elections they win are called "fair," but if they don't win, then they're "rigged" and their candidates have to take office anyway. This is the legacy of Trump, and it's unAmerican. Most people still believe in fundamental fairness, and if you can get them to realize that Republicans really do stand for ending fair elections permanently, and that the only thing they can do about it is vote... well, maybe they just will. The reality is, almost everywhere in America, that if we Democrats could get the same margin of our voters to actually vote as the Right Wing Party does, we would win almost every election. So, getting casual voters and nonvoters to actually vote is the key. And every single vote counts. 

Thank you. 

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