Vote!

I tend to keep politics out of my blog. This is my place to talk about books and bookish things. I’ll start off by saying, if you’re in the United States, exercise your rights and go vote today if you haven’t already. (I’ll post some links to help you out in a bit.) Also, I’m sure that this post will probably dive into politics as I’m just writing this as a stream of consciousness type thing. I’m not here to offend anyone, but I’m sick and tired of being offended. If you don’t like what I have to say, I guess you can close this window or even unfollow me. And that’s okay. I feel like, for my own mental health, I have to purge some thoughts.

Here’s the thing, if you haven’t voted yet and still want to you can! (Unless you’re reading this late at night or after voting day.) I believe all states are required to allow a person to vote as long as they’re in line by the times the polls close. So there’s a 2 hour wait and the polls close in one hour? You can still vote, just get in line. One of the simplest ways to figure out where, how, when, etc. when it comes to voting is at the website Vote 411. On the main page you fill out your address and it tells you your polling location, hours, if you can still register to vote. In Michigan, you can now register to vote the day of the election! You just go to your clerk’s office and register, they hand you an absentee ballot you can fill out right there and hand back to them. There! You voted!

My husband and I had opted to do mail-in voting due to the pandemic. When we signed up we weren’t sure what the conditions would be in November and I’m high risk for Covid and complications. If you’ve done the same yet haven’t mailed your ballot back, I urge you to fill it out and drop it in a ballot box. DO NOT MAIL THE BALLOT! With the rules changing on a daily basis in all states, the safest way to know your vote will count is to drop it in a ballot box or at your clerk’s office. Again, use the Vote 411 site to find your drop box locations. Even though we had plenty of time when we filled our ballots out, we felt safer dropping them in our city’s drop box a few weeks ago.

Four years ago I posted about the election and expressed hope for our country to turn around for the better after a bitter year of fighting between the two main parties.

What has happened to us?  I can only hope that when tomorrow dawns, whoever comes out the victor, we can go back to being friends.  That the hatred and vitriol and lies will not continue.  That the last  year has not irrevocably changed us for the worse.

I have to say, I’m glad I didn’t know then how bad it would get. I woke the day after the election with the news of the winner and burst into tears. I am not exaggerating here. I was devastated and knew things would get worse. I just didn’t realize how bad they’d get. People I used to respect and admire have let me down. And while I’m sure they’d say I’ve let them down, too, I can’t give much better arguments for my side than they can for theirs. I have facts on my side. Almost without fail, when they share something derogatory about Joe Biden it can be proven false, but the same can’t be said for their guy. And for every bad thing they say about Biden or Harris, the same can be said tenfold for the other side. It seems to me like a case of what’s good for the goose isn’t good for the gander.

What troubles me the most is the feeling that these loved ones of mine don’t want to see the truth. Whether it has to do with their terrible candidate and the hate he spews and the terrible way he treats anyone who doesn’t agree with him, or them turning their back on the systemic racism in America, or wanting so badly to stop abortion that they ignore the lives that are out of the uterus that are being caged and treated like animals. I’ve told more than one person the so-called pro-life people are actually pro-fetus. They don’t seem to care what happens to that life once it leaves the womb.

If you’re still reading this and are backing the current president in this election, I would sincerely love a well thought out response as to why. Excuses I don’t accept are as follows: age (they’re only 2 years apart), mental capacity (for every faux pas or gaffe Biden has made that people blame on mental decline, I can find a hundred that the other guy has made that gets chalked up to him having real talk), religion (Biden actually goes to church regularly and has for his whole life while the other guy talks about going to church and supporting that community but does a lot of telling and no showing), military (neither candidate has served, but Biden has known the military life through his son and has always shown respect to the military…the other guy keeps trying to take money from the military budget to build a wall he said Americans weren’t going to have to pay for, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg with him and the military), civil unrest (love all the pictures spouting “this will be Biden’s American” that show current unrest, the current president let things get to this point, not Biden), police (defunding the police doesn’t mean what you think it means if this is your argument, actually look into the amount of money that goes into a police department compared to other vital services in a community, and look at how that money is being spent), Covid-19 (the previous administration left behind a pandemic playbook as well as some very bright people who knew how to react in these situations, the current administration threw out that playbook and fired many of those people and then downplayed the virus until we are in the current position), taxes (have your taxes actually went down? Good for you! You must make a lot of money. Any raise in taxes under Biden will be going to those making over $400,000 annually. I don’t think I personally know anyone making that much so I’m good and you probably are, too), 2nd Amendment (have the democrats taken away your guns yet like the republicans threaten every election cycle? We are gun owners and I can tell you this, I want smart gun laws that will protect our citizens. If you’re against getting a background check or a waiting period, you most likely shouldn’t have access to a firearm.)

Obviously I can go on and on. But seriously, if you have a legit argument for your choice of the current guy, I’d love to hear it. Because so far nobody has given me one. The standard response is to point out something bad about Biden or, worse yet, Hillary Clinton or Barak Obama. Ridiculous.

I warned you guys this would be a stream of consciousness post. Sorry not sorry. But I do want to leave you with one last thought. Every major election takes weeks to get a final count. Don’t be fooled into believing otherwise. And if one candidate declares himself the winner without an actual official statement to back it up, do not spread that around. That will only incite more problems and worry that aren’t needed, as well as feed into any conspiracy theories if the official tally says otherwise. Hold onto your hats because it’ll be days, if not weeks, before we have the official decision on who won the election. And no matter who wins, I don’t feel things will go smoothly.

I love this country, but I weep for what it has been turned into. I’m a proud military mom, wife, and sister. I believe we all should have equal rights and could have equal rights if we’d stop thinking about ourselves and actually open our eyes to those around us. It’s always been easy for me to vote because I’m a middle class white woman. What harm does it do me to admit that? None. Unlike plenty of other middle class white women I can’t close my eyes to how difficult it is for many to vote due to transportation, health, hours of operation, etc. We have to work toward the greater good and stop being greedy.

Wear a damn mask! Keep your distance and only go out when needed. Most people can make do with one trip to the store a week. You don’t have to go every day. The longer Americans stay greedy, the longer we’ll be in this mess, and the longer it will take for the economy to truly recover.