Go Vote!

Let me tell you a story...

Once upon a time, a young mother didn't have the ability to drive, no ride, and her polling place was so far away, and along a dangerous highway that she didn't risk walking there with her 1 year old son. This difficulty made it so she couldn't vote. That year a horrible sexist, homophobic, lying, maniacal maniac was voted into office. At first she was happy to be able to say she didn't vote, but she learned slowly but surely that her vote mattered. Fast forward to now: Here she is writing this article.

Yeah, that was me. I was the young mother. I didn't have a license. I didn't have a car, and all the people I would have asked for rides were tied up at work during the hours that my polling place was open. I lived in a small town -yes, but my polling place was along a very busy and very dangerous highway just on the outside of town, and I had a 1 year old, who is now five. I didn't want to risk his life to do my civic duty. I could always vote in the next election, but if he got hurt - or worse killed, I wouldn't be able to replace him.

I know that my vote makes a difference. Do you know that your vote makes a difference? It makes so much of a difference! A good third of the population didn't vote, so the three largest states, who had the most swing on the election helped Trump win the presidency. It didn't help that the electoral college completely ignored the popular vote either. This is how much swing that we have if we work together. If we all overwhelmingly vote, the electoral college will have a harder time ignoring the popular vote.

As much as I don't like Trump, and I don't want him to win again, it doesn't matter to me who you vote for as long as you vote. If you're a big fan of "Hamilton: An American Musical" you know how hard Lin-Manuel Miranda has been working to get us fans to vote. I have to say it worked for me. Lin's Dad is a politician, so he knows from seeing his Dad's work that voting and civic service is important. He and his Dad have been working to reach out to Lin's audience to motivate them to vote. They have had multiple online events, a couple I have attended. They were very educational, especially the last one I attended.

The last event that Luis and Lin-Manuel held it was with a woman named Stacey Abrams. Stacey is a politician who ran for the governors seat in Georgia. During that race she found that people were having a hard time voting. Some people were completely knocked off the registration list. They were told they already had voted when they hadn't. Many had to get write in ballots. We first, to learn about these events watched her documentary called "All In: The Fight for Democracy."This documentary was a sobering reality that something like this could happen to me. It opened my eyes big time. I enjoyed the conversation Stacey, and Lin-Manuel had about the importance of voting, making sure that you're registered, and voting the day of the election or earlier.

I have always been civically minded. I have always known by my parents how important it is to vote. My parents weren't politicians, but they pressed that the best way to help your country and to see the change you want to see is to vote. Lin and Stacey's event just opened my eyes further, so that very night after the event I checked online that my registration was still valid. I had registered when I got my drivers license last year, and re-registered when Jason Alexander (George Costanza in Seinfeld) had been talking about how important it was to make sure you were registered. I checked, and phew... still registered. I will be periodically checking leading up to November.

National Voter Registration day just passed 3 days ago. That's why we saw it on every social media web page we visited that day. This presidential election is very important. We have (as a nation) never been this divided, even when the conservatives and republicans wanted Obama's birth certificate! If we are much more divided we are going to boarder on a second civil war, in my opinion. I have seen neighbors against neighbors, brother against brother, sister against sister. It gets worse and worse with every year that Trump is in office. I admit it - I wasn't a big Obama fan myself through the second half of his first term and all through his second, but he was WAY better than Trump! We weren't nearly as divided as we are now! We were more united, even when there were divided over the issues 4 years ago than we are now. It makes me sick and mad to see how much he has divided us.

Abraham Lincoln said, "A house divided among itself can not stand." Trump knows this. Our enemies know this, that's why we are being divided. We need to be united again, and why not during this historical vote? That's why I've been seeing people on either side of the isle being so active to get people to vote. Rett and Link of "Good Mythical Morning" have their webpage "Vote Like a Beast" at https://www.votelikeabeast.com/ . Misha Collins of "Supernatural" fame has been very vocal about voting. Jennifer Lopez started "Vote like a Madre" which is "Vote like a mother" so that you can vow to vote for your children's future in connection to climate change. Lin, of course, has been very vocal and very active on all things voting. Our social medias has been very vocal about voting, and even celebrities and YouTubers have been getting in on it. I decided it was my turn to throw my hat in the ring.

If you've been on the fence that's okay. I know that there are so many places where the "facts" and issues have been contradictory on where you go. I know that one place says one thing and the other well... a whole other thing. I've been watching the "Philip Defranco Show" for my news. Phil has a team of fact checkers, lets you know when what he is saying is his opinion and gives the most unbiased point of view I've found in any news outlet. When I was younger, in my early 20's "Fox News" was actually pretty unbiased, but as time has gone on, it has become more and more biased. It has become more and more exclusive instead of inclusive. Many news outlets have been that way.

I know there are many people - especially in my generation who don't vote. I don't specifically know why you don't, but I want to let you know, you CAN make a difference. I know millennials are the most disenchanted, disenfranchised generation, because we were promised greatness and then it was snatched from us when the U.S. hit the great recession. I remember when I was in college and saw the great recession hit, and realizing that my dreams were going to go down the drain. Well, the dream I had at the time. I know though, that many of us have a working spirit. We're working a million jobs (this is an over exaggeration.) just to make ends meet. I know many of us have never lived alone. I know a majority of us were promised better futures if we went to college, ended up in crippling debt, and having to take jobs where we are under employed. It's very frustrating, and so because we feel betrayed by the economy, those who told us our dreams were with in our reach, and the bright future it looked like we had. We can't let that stop us from voting for a better future. We deserve a better future, for not only us, but (if we have them) our kids.

One of my favorite video's I've watched during this entire presidential election year is this video:

If you love "Hamilton: An American Musical" like I do, or like Lin-Manuel Miranda you are going to LOVE this song, and it makes some wonderful points. Its educational on the idea of voting, has some wonderful "Hamilton" references, and as you can see from the thumbnail, the man, the myth, the legend himself Lin-Manuel Miranda even sings some lines near the end. Speaking of educating, Rett and Link's vote like a beast webpage not only helps you find out if you can register online in your state, it helps you register if you can online in your state, educates you about the issues and the candidates. Its a well rounded web page.

We must become a united front in our country, from young to old. Boomers to Zoomers. We can't be fighting with each other as badly as we are. I haven't even mentioned the fighting we have done over COVID-19 and all that has came with it. That's a whole can of worms I rather leave for another time, or direct you to Doctor Mike and Anthony Fauci. At this time in our nations history we should be better united, we need to be better united. We've lost to 200 million people in our country since all of this started. It makes me sad that we've lost so many people. Trump has not been a leader. He has been a force for division during this time. This is another 9-11 situation if you ask me. We should be pulling together, not pushing apart. I'm not only referring to the coronavirus being the "9-11 situation," I'm talking about BLM, Human Trafficking, LGBTQ+ rights, education, public health and even support for Puerto Rico. All of these issues are important, not just our economy. We need to take a more holistic approach to our governing.

We need to do the research. Conservative and liberal alike to learn how well certain things work for other countries. If they work, why do they work. So many other countries scratch their heads at our health system. They know theirs which is cheaper and more universal works for them. Well, my questions are... why does it work? How does it work? What are the structures that were put in place by their government and health system to make it successful? Get those answers and see how we could implement them in the United States. I don't know the facts about how our health system is working, but I know it is hurting more than helping. This is just one example of things we could research. Ignorance isn't bliss. Ignorance is dangerous. Refusing to learn because of not wanting to change or wanting to embrace "uniqueness." That is more and more now a days is starting to look like narcissism and entitlement. Hurts us as a country, not only on an individual level.

There is a balance to what we can do so we don't topple into Fascism, Socialism, or even (which is a scary thought) dictatorship. I don't know what that balance is, there are much smarter people than me that might know. There has to be a balance, so we can have healthy happy citizens. I just don't think anyone has found it yet. I think that there are certain things that each country has right, and a lot they have wrong. We can't find that balance or start to if we ignore the system and not vote. Someday we may lose the right to vote period. It sounds like Trump wants to take it away so he can sever another term or multiple terms without having the peoples input. Which is VERY unconstitutional since the first words in the declaration of independence is "we the people." Though as we have learned from "Hamilton: An American Musical" and the research we may have done to learn more, these are the same arguments they were having back then.

We will find a path forward to better things, but we need to vote to get there. Our voices matter, when we use them together. We can move mountains if we work together. Lets get out there and vote in spite of corona this fall! Vote by mail, vote early, or vote in person.

Very Important: The mail in votes will take longer to count, so we will NOT have the final count of votes and the results until AFTER election day! If either of our candidates say they won that night, they could be wrong, because those mail in votes could tip the scales in either direction.

With that said...

LET'S DO THIS! VOTE THIS NOVEMBER!

"History has its eyes on you."

Thank you for reading my article! If you liked it, please leave me a tip, or re-read a million times, either way works.

Have a nice day.