Get Up and Vote

Some people’s favorite holiday is Christmas.  My sister’s is Halloween, because that’s also her birthday, which I feel is a holiday in its own right.  I like both of these, but I also really love Election Day.

The midterms are the second-best version of this holiday. I don’t get to make my maps and do electoral math, but I do listen to my Election Day playlist on Spotify and hang out on the sofa with my local and national news anchors all night.  Some people think my love of Election Day is strange, but there’s something about all of us getting together to do a thing that really gets to me.  It makes me feel like community really is global, or at least national, and even if we are disagreeing, we are coming together for a moment to make a decision.

There is a lot of disagreement these days.  A fraction of the country has embraced hate and violence, and some of us find that unacceptable.  I have always, ALWAYS told people to vote no matter what, to cast your ballot whether it’s red or blue.  These days, however, I want to tell Republican voters to stay home.  More so, I want to ask them why?  Why are you so afraid to face the truth?  Why are you sticking to your guns?  Why are you so ashamed?  I have so many questions and the answers I’ve been given just don’t add up.

But I can’t lump all Republicans into one group, because every group has a normal faction and a crazy one.  There are regular Republicans and crazy Republicans, and they are two vastly different breeds.  I want regular Republicans to vote.  They, however, are less likely to get out there than the crazies are.  But no one is more of a sleeper on Election Day than the Democrat.

C’mon guys!  Republicans ALWAYS vote, and we only pick and choose our elections.  We didn’t show up for Hillary the way we showed up for Obama, and if we had we wouldn’t be in this godawful mess right now.  Get off your ass and vote!

You too, Republican.  I mean it’s your duty.  I may disagree but I can’t tell you not to do your job.

(Actually, the GOP in WNY has done me a great service with their attack ads this year.  I had no idea who some of these people were until you started telling me to hate them and their socialized healthcare.  Now I know who I’m rooting for.  Thanks Chris Collins!)

I am really hopeful that the Dems sweep the whole thing though I am also prepared for the possibility that they won’t, because I refuse to be caught off guard by an election ever again.  I am a liberal democrat, and I don’t shy away from that title like some would expect, because right now the Democratic party is the only one that isn’t locking children in cages or colluding with Russia.  I disliked Dubya, but I tolerated him and still respected the office of the President, as well as most Republicans.  These days, it’s really hard.  These days I see grown men throwing temper tantrums, which is something I absolutely abhor.

So please vote.  Do it for yourself, you family, the kid down the street.  Do it to save a life, because that’s what this one is about.  I’m voting blue because I lost my Medicaid this year.  I have thousands of dollars of medical bills and prescriptions a month.  I’m voting like my life depends on it, because it does.

I hope you do, too.

person dropping paper on box
Photo by Element5 Digital on Pexels.com
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