Midterm Madness

Look, I’m not kidding – I feel a definite twinge of PTSD when I scroll through my camera roll and the pictures from the days before Nov. 8, 2016 come up. I was so sure she would win. I was so sure we would win. I just couldn’t imagine a world where Donald Fucking Trump could possibly be elected president. We weren’t really that stupid/bigoted/ridiculous were we? Yes, yes, and yes. But, you know, with a big assist from gerrymandering and voter suppression and Russia – of course. So here we are, on the eve of another election. Possibly – and I say this without an ounce of hyperbole – the most important midterm elections of our generation.

Will these midterms finally be the check the racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic and all-around garbage human being inhabiting the White House so desperately needs? Or will the party of white supremacy actually win and double, triple, quadruple down on the hate? Will they feel even more emboldened to slash society’s safety net? Will they finally repeal the Affordable Care Act and protections for pre-existing conditions? Will finally cut Medicare and Social Security to keep paying for more tax cuts for corporations, millionaires and billionares? Well, we’ll see in one day, won’t we?

Look, if you have any friends or family (or you yourself) who is fond of saying, “I don’t get involved in politics,” what that really means is no matter what happens I am rich, white, protected, healthy, comfortable, privileged enough to do just fine. And I really don’t care about all the marginalized people – the people of color, the LGBTQ people, the immigrants, the people with disabilities, the women, the immigrants, the poor people – who will continue to be hurt by this administration. That’s what it means, period.

And not voting, or voting third party, sorry – that’s just as bad. The only realistic check on Trump is to vote for Democrats. Are they perfect? No, of course they’re not perfect. But this is no time for purity politics. The damage is real and escalating and soon possibly irreversible. To our federal courts, to our public lands, to our environment. Only Democrats can realistically start to slam on the brakes. End of discussion. I have no idea whether we’ll prevail. I’ve given up looking at polls and reading prognostications. I just know we all have to vote for Democrats, because it’s the only way any of this will stop.

Until then, I’ll be over here flop sweating, mainlining coffee and screaming into the void. Vote for Democrats tomorrow. For the love of all that is good and kind, please, vote for Democrats tomorrow.

p.s. A vote for the Green Party in this election is a vote for Donald Trump. Also if you think Green Party candidates aren't corrupt may I introduce you to Jill Stein who happily sat at the same table as Putin with Trump's convicted felon ex-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and took $7 million in donations for a recount that never happened. Sure, Jan.

p.p.s. OK, third party voters, let’s talk about your votes. Voting is your personal right and choice. But voting does not happen in a vacuum. Your vote has consequences. It has consequences for you. It has consequences for me. It has magnified consequence for marginalized and vulnerable people.

When you make the conscious decision to vote for someone with no chance of winning instead of someone who could win but might not be perfect, you tell all those marginalized people who will be hurt by the other person who will now end up winning instead you’re OK with that trade off. It’s just that simple.

Would I love to vote only for candidates who want Medicare For All and free college tuition and to abolish ICE? Sure. But I’d rather protect immigrant children from being put in concentrations camps, stop the next Brett Kavanaugh from ascending to the Supreme Court and save health care for people with pre-existing conditions.

If you live in a state where the Democratic candidate is absolutely assured an easy-peasy win, sure – swing for what you perceive to be your fences. (I mean, Hillary was given a 90 percent likelihood of winning on election morning – so there’s kind of no such thing as a sure thing…) But, yeah, go crazy.

But if you’re not, and you live in a state where a Democratic candidate is trying very hard to flip a Red seat to Blue (or defend a Blue seat), please reconsider your power. You have the power, with one single vote, to help those who will feel the most negative impact of this administration or say your pristine ideals are more important than an imperfect shield.

My other qualm with third party candidates – particularly in presidential elections – is their run/walk problem. They tend to run into national races before they do the long, hard walking of becoming viable candidates. Where is the grassroots, entry-level , unglamorous work for the Green Party? Run for school board. Run for city council. Run for state assembly. Start small, and build a real movement. Otherwise your only role will always be that of spoiler.

In times like these voting isn’t just about dreaming about utopian future society. It’s about protecting the most vulnerable in our current society. It’s about making sure kids aren’t in cages and Muslims aren’t banned and trans people’s lives aren’t erased.

And, yes – of course, we have to go after non-voters. No one is saying we don’t and shouldn’t and the unprecedented grassroots GOTV efforts we have seen these midterms should be a testament to that. But those people headed to the polling place already, but planning to vote for a candidate who cannot in any realistic universe win are just as important.

Let’s never forget that in 2016, the presidential election was decided by essentially three states – Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Those votes swung the Electoral College to Trump and gave us the nightmare we have today. In Michigan, Trump beat Hillary by 11,612 votes. Jill Stein got 50,700 votes. In Wisconsin, Trump beat Hillary by 27,257 votes. Jill Stein got 30,980 votes. In Pennsylvania, Trump beat Hillary by 68,236 votes. Jill Stein plus some yahoo I’ve never even heard of called Darrell Castle got a combined 69,808 votes. And I’m not even counting that monumental dumb-dumb Gary Johnson’s third party votes into those tallies. But, as you can see, if all those people who went to the polls and threw their support behind losing third party candidates voted for the viable Democratic candidate instead Trump would have won 258 and Hillary 273 (with 270 needed to become POTUS). And the world would look very different right now. Plus, we wouldn’t have to see Donald Fucking Trump’s horrid orange face every single day.