Eight years ago, I wrote an election-eve article telling my fellow Americans that they need to not only vote in 2012, but to vote their conscience. Sadly, I knew it would never really convince anyone, because a lot of us back then had already early-voted, and the rest of us pretty much made up our minds as to who we were voting for.
This article is being posted one month prior to the 2020 Presidential Election and/or Coup, with millions of Americans already early-voting either in-person or by mail in numbers unheard of before. But there is still time for my words to get into the heads of my fellow American voters before they cast their vote between this article’s posting and Election Day.
First and foremost, I am asking those of you who are registered to vote to please do that between now and Election Day. Whether it is by early voting, vote-by-mail, absentee vote, or showing up on Election Day and waiting in line to cast your vote, please do. I know that it’s difficult because of the global pandemic still going on, that that’s primarily on us and those who failed to do their jobs at all levels of government. But if you are an American and you are registered to vote, then it is your responsibility as an American citizen to vote.
Second, I am asking again that you vote according to your conscience. I know that is difficult given the options before us. I know there are people who are firmly in the cult of Narcissist President Donald Trump. And, yes, it is a cult, even and especially if they themselves don’t see it as such. And there are those who do not like former Vice President Joe Biden and/or his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris. The so-called “Bernie Bros” have once again reared their ugly heads and have it in their minds that anyone except Senator Bernie Sanders will not do.
Look, Bernie Bros, I get it. You want your guy in. You want his ideas enacted. The problem is that there was a time when that was possible. But that time is over. Bernie didn’t get the nomination. Even he has said that it’s time to vote for the one that is on the ballot, and, yes, he is stumping for Biden in a way that he never could do four years ago.
And that brings me to the third thing... Yes, vote. Yes, vote according to your conscience. But also ask yourself this question that I asked eight years ago:
Are you willing to live with the consequences of your vote?
I have come across a few folks who knew what kind of person Narcissist Trump was even in 2016 and still actively voted for him because they did not like Hillary Clinton. If you are one of them, then you share a portion of the blame for what followed. The ineptitude, the broken treaties, the ego-wall that was supposed to be paid for by Mexico but instead is being paid for through our tax money, the broken families, the ineptitude concerning the global pandemic, the economic collapse still going on today... that is on you just as much as it is on Narcissist Trump and his Trump Party.
Voting has consequences. Not voting also has consequences. A majority of registered voters failed in their responsibilities as Americans back in 2016. It was not a horserace as the media has always proclaimed it to be. Half of the registered Americans did not vote at all. They defaulted their choice to those that did vote, and that included the ones that voted for third-party or independent candidates.
Imagine what would happen if even half of the non-voters from 2016 actually voted. If they did, then it is entirely possible that there would have been someone different in the White House four years ago and I don’t necessarily mean Hillary Clinton.
But, of course, they didn’t vote. So they had to endure the horrors and travesties of Narcissist Trump and his army of enablers and sycophants along with the rest of us. Something for them to think about this time around.
Let’s get brutally honest here... each of us as registered voters have a chance in these next few weeks to do something about Narcissist Trump and his criminal operation. Something that the courts have not been able to do. Something that Congress has not been able to do. We are the only ones that can. If we do not like what Narcissist Trump and his cohorts have been doing, we can and we must vote them all out of office. That is our responsibility as Americans.
Yes, Narcissist Trump and his gang of thugs and terrorists can try to rig the elections. They’ve been trying to stop voting by mail, even though it’s been going on since the Civil War without any problems. There are threats of voter intimidation by self-appointed “poll watchers” determined to prevent votes for anyone other than Narcissist Trump. But they only win if we let them. They are not the majority in America. They never have been. They are a very active and very vocal minority who have figured out that if we don’t vote and they do, they win.
That’s the secret to their dominance. If we don’t vote and they do, they win.
Can you live with that? I can’t. I haven’t. That’s why I vote every time.
In all the years that I’ve been able to vote, this commentator only made the mistake of voting party over principle once. Ever since then, I have voted according to my conscience and I have not regretted it even the slightest. They may not have won, but I never lost sleep over my choices. And the same can be said about my choices this year.
I will not tell you who I will be voting for, but you can guess who I will certainly not vote for, and my choices will leave no doubt as to who will not get my vote. And I know that, win or lose, my conscience will be clear.
What about the rest of you?
No comments:
Post a Comment