Here’s my obligatory political post folks. I know this isn’t typically what you come here to read but it’s something I think needs to be said.
TL;DR Don’t be afraid to make your voice heard. Please, please, please educate yourself on the candidates running in your state and vote.
Ya know, getting political has become taboo. If you talk politics on Facebook, you get unfollowed usually. That’s true, at least, for my East Tennessee community. If the word “Trump” comes out of your mouth, there’s a collective sigh heard so clearly that you can be absolutely certain that everyone has stopped listening. Or they might say something along the lines of “Well you should’ve voted Hillary.” Well we did. Most of us did. But let’s not get into our flawed electoral college system.
Two years later and I’m still having trouble fathoming how, why, and when screaming until you get what you want started working. And shouting so loud that you can’t even hear the other party keeps working. I’m just speechless. Does not compute. How many movements have to pop up in this country until someone in Washington starts giving a damn? But see that’s the really shitty part. There are people in Washington who give a damn, but you can’t hear them. Because all three branches of our government are now unmistakably red.
I’m not deluded. I understand that there are, in fact, some Republicans with good morals, but where were they in Kavanaugh won the nomination? Upset, yeah. Surprised, no. When women step forward to accuse their rapist and men who’ve sexual assaulted them, it’s like everyone immediately thinks they’re lying. Which completely confounds me. “What perfect timing!” they say, but it’s like “That’s the whole fucking point.” Who wants their rapist to come into high political power more than they fear the consequences, shame, and hopelessness of coming forward? If there is ever a moment to shake away that fear and fight, that is the moment: when your rapist is about to have a lot more power (I’m not sure the italics are putting enough emphasize on “a lot”).
But I keep telling myself that there will be hope in November when Election Day comes around. Even though I had hope during the presidential election. I had hope during his secretary of education nominations. Rather than name all the times I’ve hoped for someone who has my best interests at heart, I’ll just say I’ve hoped a lot in the past two years. But most recently, I had hope when he was in fact found guilty of millions of dollars of tax fraud. And those times that hope didn’t matter, I just thought to myself that it was fine, because we have checks and balances. But do we in a Republican majority?
And there were times that hope really did pull through. I had hope when John McCain gave a lengthy speech on what it means to remain bipartisan in regards to that repugnant healthcare bill. And it never passed.
So let’s define hope. Hope in our political system is a large body of people standing up and saying they’re done getting stepping not and through being ignored. Hope is when we make our voices heard. So it’s not a question of whether I choose to hope come November. I have to hope, because this is something that we can control. Hope that we can get someone in Washington who fights for us. Someone who believes in and fights against global warming. Who fights for gender equality. Who doesn’t promote the systemic racism or unfair treatment of the LGBTQ community.
We. Have. To. Vote.
So to all my American readers, please educate yourself on your states’ candidates and vote not for your party but for who has your best interests in mind. It’s doubtful that you’ll agree 100% on every issue, but we have to vote. We have to have hope.
The deadline to register to vote in Tennessee is tomorrow. If that deadline is creeping up on you, whatever state you’re in, please just take a second and register online and then visit https://vote.gov come Election Day.
mack rogers writes 