Election Day

Election Day

Election Day is Tuesday, November 5.

If you are not one of the nearly 60 million people who have already voted, then plan to vote.

But vote wisely. Vote like your life depends on it. Because it does.

Think about how you want your life and the lives of your loved ones to be for the next four years. Do you want to live in fear of losing your health insurance? Your social security? Your very freedom to choose reproductive care? Your very freedom to speak your mind? Do you want to live in fear of being pregnant and worrying about what will happen if you miscarry? Do you want to live in fear of being pregnant, not wanting to be pregnant, and not being able to do anything about it? Guys, do you want to live in fear of getting your partner (or one-night stand, whatever) pregnant and then being forced to support a child you do not want, simply because, although both you and the woman you impregnate want an abortion, you can’t get one. Because there won’t be any more birth control either. Do you want to be forced to give birth to a non-viable fetus, one you know is non-viable, and suffer the trauma that will come with it? Do you want to live in an unhealthy country that bans the use of vaccines to protect you from disease?

Do you want to see your neighbors and co-workers deported because of their religion, nationality or color of their skin? Do you want to see your children’s education interrupted because there is no Department of Education to support them?

Do you want to go to the store to buy a (insert any imported item, including food) and wonder how much more it’s going to cost because of a fucking tariff? Because the tariff isn’t going to affect the country the product is made in one bit. IT WILL AFFECT YOU! Do you want to go to the store to buy any locally produced item (including food) and wonder how much more it’s going to cost? Because there will be an extra cost to that as well. Because with the tariff thing, it will trickle down even to the locals.

Do you want to live in a country that will have no hurricane or tornado warnings? Because NOAA will not exist. Do you want to live in a country that will offer no assistance when there is a hurricane or tornado? Because FEMA won’t exist either.

Do you want to wake up every day and wonder what new shit SHITHOLE will be spewing about whatever. Take your pick: Hannibal, sharks, batteries, his hair, protecting women that don’t need protecting from a rapist felon.

Do you want a 34-charged (and counting) felon who is also a racist, sexist, fascist, demented, narcissist to represent you as an American?

Do you want someone who threatens people who don’t like him, including political opponents, everyday citizens (such as myself) and reporters? Do you want someone who berates other states or cities and refers to them as “garbage” and even refers to the entire country as a “garbage can for the world” then ironically rides around in a garbage truck like a fucking idiot?

Because he is one. Among many other things.

I could go on and on. But it’s your choice. And we should be glad there is a choice other than a SHITHOLE candidate who is clearly running to keep his ass out of prison and doesn’t give a sweet mighty fuck about anyone in this country (including his supporters).

We can choose Kamala Harris for President of the United States, who is for ALL Americans (even SHITHOLE, believe it or not because yeah, sadly, she’d be representing him too). We can choose hope over despair. Joy over misery. Freedom over imprisonment (which is something SHITHOLE wants to do to anyone he doesn’t like, including everyday citizens). Love over fear.

The decision is yours and something you have to live with. Choose wisely.

Pursuing Happiness

Pursuing Happiness

Although I have lived in America all my life, these past six months, particularly the past six weeks, have really made me think about where we’ve come from and where we’re headed.

To get where we are we fought hard for our independence.  Now I feel we are at a crossroads, still independent and yet timid in expressing our freedom.  I feel our democracy slowly slipping away from us and we can’t let that happen.  No matter who may want it to happen.  We fought too hard for it.  Many battles were won.  Many lives were lost.  To get where we are today fifty-six individuals signed a document stating that Americans were free to seek “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.

Today when I think of these three words it occurs to me that in order to pursue “happiness” we must first have “life” and  “liberty”.  The fact that a lot of money-grubbing politicians want to make access to healthcare unaffordable or even impossible for most puts a damper on the whole “life” thing.  It’s kind of difficult to lead a productive life if one has to worry about being able to afford medical care for themselves and their loved ones while trying to put food on the table as well.

The definition of “liberty” is:  “the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life, behavior, or political views”.  Apparently some people forgot this word was part of the Declaration of Independence when they decided to ban individuals from coming to America because their life was full of turmoil somewhere else in the world.  The meaning was forgotten when they decided to ban people of a certain religion, but only the ones of that religion from specific countries.  Nobody in North Carolina knew what “liberty” meant when they felt it necessary to create a “bathroom bill”.  Obviously the White House has no idea what “liberty” means as every day they oppress the very people who are America’s first eyes and ears:  journalists.  They should really pay attention to the key words in the definition of “liberty” that say “free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority”.  And apparently even people in Congress have no idea what “liberty” means.  If they did know they wouldn’t be seeking the voter details of American citizens.  You want my name, address, age, last four of my Social Security number, party affiliation?  Fuck you.  Because it’s my “liberty” to keep that private.  Especially from the likes of what is clearly appearing to be a very corrupt United States government.

Right now because of our rights to  “life” and “liberty” being tampered with, I don’t know how anyone can pursue happiness.  Who can be “happy” with all this shit going on?

America may have come a long way in 241 years but it still  has a very long way to go.  With luck the direction will be forward instead of backwards.