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America, American Politics, Hope, Voting, Washington DC

“Small Potatoes”

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In case you haven’t seen or heard this, the current resident of the White House recently commented that the damage to the U.S. in the war he chose to embark on with Iran, was “small potatoes”.

Can you imagine? The 18 families grieving their loved ones who died in this debacle certainly don’t think this is “small potatoes”. What an insult. What an abhorrent thing to say or even to think. The man has no respect for anyone.

It is astonishing to me that his fat orange ass is still in his job. That in spite of all the damage he’s caused since he glided down that escalator, he gets to keep his job. It’s like, America, are you for real right now?

I believe that this issue, this war with Iran and his casual dismissal of the damage it’s caused and lives it’s taken, will be the last straw that will get people to the polls in November. You would have thought the last straw might have been the Epstein files, his tarrifs, or his insistence on desecrating the White House and the Kennedy Center. But disrespecting our troops and not having a plan to get them out of there…it’s gotta be the beginning of the end for this evil White House mafia’s reign, right?

The mid-terms are right around the corner-a mere 39 days away now, my fellow American friends. This is our chance to use the power we have and get these bums out of office and welcome in new, progressive energy. After we vote in people who can right this ship, just imagine what America can begin to look like. I believe the pendulum is going to swing harder than ever to the other side at this point. History is on our side.

Our job now is to get through to the mid-terms. Knowing there will be shenanigans, as the MAGA coalition is going to do all it can, legal or not, to thwart the will of the people. I don’t know about you, but I can’t not do anything at all to try to push things in the right direction between now and then. I recently found a company that you can puchase postcards from, which provides you with a list of names and addresses of people who tend to vote progessively, but do not have a history of voting in mid-term elections. I spent about an hour a few weeks back writing out 20 postcards and sending them out to American voters in about 4 different states, encouraging them to vote and signing with “Rhonda, from Osceola, WI”. The theory is that people are more likely to take action on something if they receive a handwritten note from another person. I encourage you all to do this. It’ll be a small way for you to stand up for a better America.

Here’s the website: https://www.signsofjustice.com

And let me leave you with a song with an important message from badass American musical icon, Sheryl Crow:

American Politics, Anxiety, Climate Change, MidTermElections2022, Voting

Vote, Vote, Vote!

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I’m just one vote.

Each one of us, here in America, are but just one vote.

Let’s get over that, shall we? Because if there’s justenough of those with the “I’m just one vote” mindset who uses that as their free pass to sit one out this week here in the U.S., we are doomed.

In my opinion, anyway. Not that you asked for it, but you know I’m going to give it regardless. This is my blog and the mid-term elections are going to be consequential.

What is your plan to vote this election season? Before work, after work, on your lunch break? After you drop the kids off at school or first thing in the morning? Or maybe you’re ahead of me and have already voted absentee or via mail in ballot. If you don’t have a plan, please, for the love of American democracy, make one now. One that will work for you, whatever your circumstances may be.

Time is of the damn essence here, friends. Our future, and more importantly, the future of generations under us (for me, that’s Milennials and Gen Z) is on the fucking line.

Anyway, that’s how I see it.

I am voting straight blue, so that:

  • Roe v. Wade can (finally) be codified into law. It just blows my mind that SCOTUS took women’s bodily autonomy away from them after 50 years.
  • More will be done legislatively to address gun violence in this nation.
  • Climate change can be comprehensively addressed, providing scores of American workers with jobs in the clean energy field and protecting Mother Earth against further destruction.
  • We have a shot at leveling the playing field when it comes to taxes; the rich paying their fair share and the not-so-rich getting fair tax breaks.
  • Social Security, not an entitlement program, but one we all pay into as workers, will remain in place.
  • Our LGBTQ+ citizens can retain their right to marry and adopt children.
  • American educational institutions will be supported and not become further eroded.
  • Access to health care can expand and costs can be reined in so our seniors and others with health issues can afford their prescription meds and co-pays. No one in this country should have to choose between paying their utility bill or getting their health care needs met.

I’m nervous as hell about these mid-term elections. I suspect some of you are as well.

Let’s all do our part and get to the polls on Tuesday!

2020 Presidential Race, American Politics, Climate Change, Education, Hope, Voting

Dear Undecided And Non-Voting Americans

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I know some of you personally. That is why I’m writing this letter. Because I care about you. I want good things for you. Sometimes it helps to hear the advice of someone in your life that you didn’t know you needed to hear. The unsolicited variety.

I’m going to cut to the chase here. You need to vote in this election. I know you say you’re not “political”. You tell me that you’re confused. Your ears and eyes pick up bits and pieces of what the candidates are doing and saying but your life so busy you haven’t had time to process it all. You brain is full of other things that feel more important to you. Your kids. Your job (or lack thereof). Your spouse. Trying to follow all the Covid-19 restrictions and maybe worrying about the health of those who are not.

You’re doing the best you can to get through each day. You’ve got a good heart. And you are smart. And you can think for yourself.

But. The man who is elected President in another couple of weeks is going to impact your life. Whether you like it or not.

I know you care about education, for example. You want your kids and your friends kids, and your kids friends and all the kids you don’t even know to have access to a great education.

I also know you care about health care. That’s the number 1 concern in American voters minds right now. You may have have health insurance. Maybe you don’t. If you do, you might think you’re paying too much for your premiums. Or you think your prescriptions or your co-pays are too high. Or maybe, God forbid, you or a loved one were surprised by an astronomically high medical bill because insurance only paid so much. And you have no idea how you’re going to pay that bill. Or you don’t have health insurance at all. So you are not getting the routine care you need. So you have to get yourself to an emergency room and hope it isn’t too late to get the care you need to get better.

I also know you, like the rest of us, want our country’s leaders to do all they can to combat Covid-19. You’re troubled by seeing the cases and the deaths from this monster climb each day. You want to get back to a time where masks are not required everywhere you go. You want this to be dealt with so you and your loved ones can get back to “normal”. You’re just plain sick and tired of it all.

I suspect you also care about our climate. You may not see yourself as educated in scientific matters but maybe you don’t like seeing news coverage of whales dead on the beach from pollution in our waters. You don’t like that this summer was oppressively hot where you live. You don’t think it’s right that big companies pollute our waters to the point where in some places in this country the water is not safe to drink.

I am certain that you worry about how Americans are treating each other these days too. The hatred, the violence, the injustices. The self-righteousness that gets spewed on the daily by extremists on both sides of the political aisle. Everyone thinks they are right but none of us actually are. Everyone seems to be distracted by their own opinions.

I urge each of you to give some serious thought to what you see around you and in this country as a whole and decide what it is you think ought to change for the better. Maybe it’s the topics I mentioned already: education, health care, climate change, violence. Or maybe it’s that and more.

Give yourself the courtesy of thinking about which Presidential candidate is more likely to bring about the changes you believe need to happen going forward. Or the one who you believe will attempt to do so to the best of their ability.

Make a plan. If you’re lucky like I am and live in a state where your ballot is mailed to you, sit down and fill that thing out. Bring it to your nearest drop off place. If you don’t, find out where your nearest polling place is and if and when they are open for early voting. Or look at your calendar and think through what 11/3/20 will look like. When can you get there to vote? After work, before work? Or maybe in the middle of the day, because you are unemployed because of Covid-19?

Then follow through. Don’t let yourself be that person who didn’t exercise their right as an American to vote.

Because I know that you know America is messed up right now. And I hope that you also know, as I do, that the only way to expect anything to change at this point is to vote.

***Header image courtesy of https://www.pine.edu/current-students/student-life/student-senate/get-out-the-vote