Tomorrow is a day that should be fantastic - it is my grandmother’s birthday! This year, it is overshadowed by the election. An election that is scaring the shit out of me and many of my friends as well as family. This election season has divided us as a country but it has also made us look at the people around us differently, re-evaluating the ties to those nearest and dearest. Social media has been an amazing platform not only to learn and interact with candidates but to also spread their ideas, getting information out to all corners but it has also been a mechanism to widen the divide between us.
If you have read anything on here before, you can probably accurately guess where I land on the political spectrum (if you guessed left, congrats! If you guess liberal left, congrats as well! Give yourself a rainbow colored star, friend). I gotta tell you, I was truly feeling the Bern. I liked what Bernie had to say, what he wanted to accomplish… But my candidate did not win the party nomination. What my candidate did do was push issues and rev people up. Much of Bernie’s platform was adopted by Hillary. That is immense. Yes, he was wronged. No, she is not perfect. However, we have to look at what the Sanders movement accomplished. The #BernieOrBust movement, the #BernieBros that refuse to vote blue need to see that keeping Bernie in office with a candidate that has adopted his platform is more useful to us than voting Third Party or for Trump. We (and by we I mean the supporters of Sanders) started something beautiful. We saw the rise of a candidate that shook up the political world by giving people, especially young people, what they want and need. The only way to keep that momentum is to #votebluenomatterwho.
I don’t want totake up your time with talking about how terrible Trump is or how Hillary is better or all of the unnecessary drama that surrounds them.
I want to ask you, if you have not voted early, to think not only about yourself and your feelings before voting. Before you fill out that ballot ask yourself how does this affect us as a nation? We were a nation built to get away from religious persecution. We are a melting pot of culture and religion, race, creed, sexuality, and gender. When you cast that ballot consider how it will affect the safety of your countrymen. Yes, we make mistakes and misstep but there are issues simmering that need to be addressed. There are lives at stake. Our progress as a nation is at stake.
Tomorrow is not the day to vote Third Party. Tomorrow is not the day to cast your vote in “defiance” or “rebellion”. It is not the day to claim your vote is part of a movement. Elections are a numbers game - it is a hard truth. We are a two party system right now and we do not have the luxury to change that now. You want a revolution? You want a movement? Start it on November 9th. Let it gain momentum until the next election cycle and see what can be done. Until then, save yourself and your friends, coworkers, family, classmates… Save your nation. Look to the past to see what people like Trump have done around the world. I am afraid for myself. I am afraid for my friends and family.
Tomorrow, I hope you remember America has always been great and it takes all of us working toward the goal of freedom for everyone to keep it that way.
Sorry this got heavy, ya’ll. It has been weighing me down for a while.
#NastyWoman out.
