Show Up

It's Independence Day.  Every year, I read the declaration with the kids and then we discuss it.

I'm not feeling awfully independent, right now.  Right now, I have fewer rights than a corpse.  That's not hyperbole.  My body isn't my choice, any more, and things don't look to be improving any time soon.  Rights our grandmothers and mothers fought for and that we took for granted ("It's established law, don't worry, they won't overturn it...") our children will now have to fight to reestablish.  Lawmakers are gleefully seeking to curtail freedom of speech, freedom of movement, and bodily autonomy.

 Midterm elections are looming.

Midterms traditionally see the lowest voter turnouts. 

Why bother, who cares, so what?

Welp.

Because I HAVE FEWER RIGHTS THAN A DEAD BODY!!!  Your mothers, sisters, daughters, friends, cousins, lovers, neighbors, and women you haven't even met, yet, HAVE FEWER RIGHTS THAN A CORPSE!  Maybe that could be a reason to get off your ass and vote? 

Or maybe because we're being pillaged by our own government?  

Or maybe because corporations pay fewer taxes and have more rights than individuals?

Or maybe because the wealthiest few pay the least in taxes but have the most influence on government? 

Here's the deal - show up or shut up.

Right now I'm on a long, slow, simmering burn of anger and outrage, and I don't have patience for excuses.

Get fucking woke.  Yes, woke.  Wake the fuck up.  Your complacency is robbing us all of fundamental human rights.

I'm tired of playing nicely, of hand holding, of kindness and yes, even compassion, when it comes to this.  I'm tired of softening my words so as not to offend.  I'm fucking offended that you can't be bothered.

So show up or shut up.  If you don't vote, you don't have a voice.  Silence equals assent.  Get off your ass, get your family off their asses, get your friends off their asses, get your community off their asses, get the whole motherloving country off its ass and VOTE!

Show up or shut up.

I'm done being nice about it.

Once more for those in the back, SHOW UP OR SHUT UP.

See you at the polls.  

Life Goes On

It's just after 10:00 at night.

The presidential election is being decided as I type.  It'll be a few hours before it's all settled.  I'm surprised at how close it is right now.  My son is worried about the results.  He's 13 and everything is so immediate, so urgent, so impossible, so he's worried.

I'm not.

The thing is, as far back as I can remember doomsayers have proclaimed that if this candidate or that wins, our country will crumble.  Various fates have been predicted.

And yet...

And yet...

Life goes on.

In the morning, when I wake and am bombarded by glee, misery, gloating, wound licking, and general post-election hangovery...I will still look for the hungry and try to feed them.  I will still do laundry.  I will bake cookies and play Candyland with Sprout.  I will empty the catbox and probably say a few cuss words as I clean up a puddle of pee from whichever cat has decided that litter boxes are for chumps.

I will play games on Facebook.

I will worry about bills.

I will plan dinner.

I will pester my children to do their chores, please, now, hey, chores, hello, can you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?

I will ask how I can help people who need helping and strive to embody compassion, love, kindness, patience, and even occasionally wisdom.  Sometimes I will succeed and sometimes I will fail and always I will hope and work to do better.

I will ask the gods to send the rain we've not had but desperately need.

I will watch National Geographic on Netflix and be thankful that my ex-husband lets us use his account so we can see so many beautiful and amazing things on our television.

I will crochet.

I will strive to help Cygnus walk his rocky path, and I will strive to walk mine with all the grace I can muster (scant though it be sometimes).

I will continue to love, as I always have.  Hatred is  cage in which I refuse to be captured.  I will love openly and freely and fiercely and madly and absolutely.

Nothing about this election can possibly change who I am at my core.  Nothing about any of the candidates or what the winner proclaims or attempts to keep or change about our laws, our nation, will alter one iota of my fundamental ME.

I will try, as always, to keep my integrity intact, and there's not a law on earth that can force me to do otherwise.

So, yes, life will go on.

It doesn't matter, this political brouhaha.

Life.  Goes.  On.

I'm Voting Anyway

These days it's like trying to pick the nicest turd in a pile of shit.

Sigh.

VOTE!!!

Runoff elections today - vote, or I get to decide who runs the joint. Are you prepared for that???

Food for Thought

"...We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government...when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security..." - Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence

"The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them." -Patrick Henry

"The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities." [Ayn Rand]

PSA

Or shut up.

Seriously. Go read this if you need reasons to vote. It's not political, but I hope it's motivating.

Vote Or You'll Be Sorry

Hello, my name is K, and I'm a voter. I try never to miss a vote, although I was denied my right once when someone forgot to file the paperwork transferring my precinct and it wasn't until voting day that I learned of the snafu - one reason I am sometimes leery of paperless processes...how do I know it's really done if I have no proof?

I wish to remind you that you may have runoff elections in your area today.

Big deal, you say. Who cares? I'm busy.

Ahem.

I vote. Every time. If necessary, I pack the Evil Genius into the car and bring him along to charm the ladies (and occasional gentleman) who run the precinct. They are, for the most part grandmotherly sorts who love it when kids come along. I let him push the occasional button, and he is thrilled to be part of the process. It does not matter if it's raining, freezing, or hailing felines, canines, assorted rodents and aliens. I vote.

I am a pagan, well read, political Buddhist (middle-grounder, no party affiliation because I'm all about the cause, not the propaganda or the dogma)(yes, I said dogma)(and I meant it). I am half hippy, half redneck, somewhat politically conservative and fairly socially liberal. I give great thought to the issues that concern me, and slightly (but only slightly) less thought to the ones that aren't as pressing in my opinion.

I am clinically depressed, agoraphobic, a touch paranoid and a dash OCD.

And I vote. Every time.

Let me reiterate - I am not always happy about the fact I'm still kicking, often deeply miserable, don't like leaving my house, think you're all out to get me, and everything has to be just the way I think it needs to be or the world will come to an end. I am nuttier than squirrel poo! And I'm voting!!

So you can either take that as an inspiration - Gee, she makes it to vote, why can't I? or a goad - Oh dear god above, she votes and if I sit on my butt and don't do the same, she'll be making all the decisions about who runs what!! I don't much care why you vote as long as you get the hell out there and take part in the process.

Yes, even the runoffs, even if it's for some local position like Chicken Inspector and you don't care.

People died to secure this right. Don't waste it.

Remember - silence equals assent, and a failure to vote equals silence. If you don't vote when you can, you don't get to complain and I will tell you to shut up.

Get to it.

Now why would I be frustrated?

This morning wasn't at all frustrating. The ridiculous bed came, the ridiculous bed was assembled, Bird played on the ridiculous bed, all was well. The same cannot be said for the rest of the day. Oh, nothing went wrong, per se. No. Just...annoying. You may have noticed there's an election on? Well, here in Georgia, today was the day to go and vote. Apparently this means that it was the day for the candidates to crank up the evil charm and let the voters know how terribly important we are to them, how much they love us and need us and how they know we are an integral part of the political system and their future.

How do they go about this? I'm so glad you asked.

They could pound the pavement, shake hands, meet and greet, hold town-hall style meetings, or even go door to door. They could. Of course, that would mean actually coming face to face with voters, some of whom may not like them. The horror. No, best not risk it.

Instead, they call. Well, how lovely, to have a chance to chat with a candidate, hear their views on the issues that mean the most to...what?...wait...oh, I see. It's a recording.

Yes, that's how much we mean to them...we mean exactly enough to annoy the crap out of us by making the phone ring every fifteen to twenty minutes all day long and playing a recorded message about how important our votes are to them.

I feel so loved, really. How could I not? Several of the people running for president of this nation took time out of their busy day to dial my number and...what?..they didn't dial my number themselves so they could let me know how much I mean to them? It was a random auto-dialer? They don't even know I exist, don't really care about my thoughts on things like taxes, immigration, education, human rights and freedom? Oh. I'm crushed.

If they are wooing me by computer, how on earth am I supposed to believe that they give a rat's ass?

Truth is, they don't. Not about me, or my son, or what I think about any of them and their annoying computer calls every fifteen to twenty minutes all day long. They may care when they find out that I won't vote for anyone who has a computer call me and do their dirty work (at the last minute, no less). I am OK with my place as a nobody in the political machine - after all, I don't give them my money, don't sport anyone's bumper stickers, pins, hats, tattoos, or other signs of support. I'm just a voter. What good are we?

Ah, ahem. Perhaps they'd like to think about that a little. Meanwhile, perhaps you'd like to join me? Tell your candidate you won't vote for them if their computer calls you. This isn't a party thing...it's not about who you prefer or why. It's about respecting us enough to make a little effort, to appear in person and give access to the people they need to win this whole silly game. I know it's a lot of work, it's a lot of travel, it's a lot of walking, schmoozing, time on the trail. So what? We, the people, aren't worth it? They're asking us to give them our nation's top position so is it really too much to ask that they let us say hello, shake a hand, offer 'em a hotdog or something? Nah...most of us aren't lobbyists, special interests, or millionaires with money to offer, so we don't count.

I guess they think it's enough to have a computer randomly dial us up and kiss our ass.

I wonder if they break up with people's answering machines, too?