I Guess I Just Expected a Little More from This Country: “How could a people that had to be explicitly told not to eat Tide Pods be so short-sighted? Or are some things simply beyond explanation?”
Politics
I’m pretty strongly liberal — about as far left as one can go without falling into libertarianism. Posts collected under this tag will likely reflect that viewpoint.
Toolkit for Supporting GA US Senate Races – Jan 2021 (FEEL FREE TO SHARE!): “This doc is a volunteer-generated effort by Ana Diaz-Hernandez. Follow her on Twitter at @anadzhz. Ana is originally from South GA and wants to help folks from out of state plug in to help.”
U.S. election maps are wildly misleading, so this designer fixed them: A nice background piece on the viral “land doesn’t vote, people do” animation switching between a standard county-by-county electoral map and one with points sized by population.
Black People Repudiated Trump Like He Was a Piece of Used Gum: It’s time for centrist Democrats to stop whining about Black Lives Matters protests and start recognizing that Black voters literally saved the election.
2020 Should Be the Last Time We Vote Like This: “For decades, limiting who gets to vote has been a key strategy of the Republican Party — though usually people on the right have not been quite so proud of this fact. This year, as has happened often with Donald Trump, subtext became text.”
Post-Election Day Blues
Having a hard time this morning.
My usual optimism and hope is extremely shaky.
I keep reminding myself that several important states are still in play and that there’s still a decent (maybe even good) chance that Biden will win.
But even if he does, it’s far too close.
I keep reminding myself that many of the races are being heavily affected by gerrymandered districts, limited opportunities to vote, restrictions on when and how votes can be accepted, and other voter suppression tactics primarily concentrated in minority and Democract-leaning areas.
But even so, it’s far too close.
There are so many people in this country who are willingly voting for hate. For fear. For oppression. For racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, transphobia, and every other -ism and -phobia out there. Against science. Against compassion. Against care for others. Against their own best interests.
McConnell, who has made a career of doing nothing, has been elected for another six-year term. We don’t know if we’ll even be able to hold the Senate to an even split, let alone take control; if the Republicans keep control, then even if Biden wins, McConnell will continue to make sure that nothing of import makes it through. The confirmation of Barrett made it clear how fast things can move when allowed to proceed, even while hundreds of bills aimed at actually helping the American people sit ignored, because they were passed by a Democrat-controlled House, and so they aren’t worthy of consideration in McConnell’s eyes.
I just, on a very fundamental, moral, and ethical level, do not understand why so many are so willing to actively support harming themselves and others.
And it’s really hard to hold on to my usual hopeful nature right now.
A New American Manifesto
From the People of the United States of America: From time to time in human societies, things get so bad with the governments that we set up that we have to take a step back, stop being citizens of that government and just be basic humans again, loyal only to the primary needs of humanity. This is one of those times and it’s only fair if we are going to take such a drastic step, that we first explain why. We owe everybody that.
This is good. And just in case it sounds a little familiar….
Biden/Harris 2020
Two posts from Facebook about the just-confirmed Biden/Harris ticket that I’m mirroring over here:
Copied from a friend, except for these remarks. I’m perfectly aware there are good arguments as to why neither Biden nor Harris are who someone might want to be on the ticket. Neither of them were my first choice. But the alternative — either four more years of Trump, or “burn it all down”, which, come on, are basically the same damn thing — is so, so much worse that I honestly haven’t yet seen a convincing argument to not vote for Biden/Harris.
If nothing else, assume that you’re gearing up for a fight to improve things over the next four years. If the goal is five miles away, doesn’t it make sense to try to influence an administration that’s currently sitting one mile beyond the starting line, instead of one that’s spent the past four years running the wrong direction?
And for those grousing about this being “just another choice between the ‘lesser of two evils'”? Oh, come on. That’s like complaining that a choice between Cthulhu and Sid the bully from Toy Story is just too difficult because they’re so similar and really, probably exactly the same when you get right down to it, and it’s just so sad that we can’t have a unicorn sparkle pony on the ticket instead.
Now, on to the copy-paste part:
Now that the Democratic Biden-Harris President-Vice President ticket is set, it’s a good time for the following reminders:
- You’re not just voting for President.
- You’re voting to prevent a 7-2 dangerous conservative majority on the Supreme Court. Note: 87 year old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is single-handedly fighting off multiple plagues and cancers so she can hang on until we get rid of 45. This alone should be enough for historic turnout!
- You’re voting for the next Secretary of Education, Housing Secretary, and Attorney General.
- You are voting for the “down” ballot as well, in order to keep the House and to gain majority of the Senate in Congress.
- You’re voting for federal judges.
- You’re voting for the rule of law.
- You’re voting for saving national parks.
- You’re voting for getting kids out of cages.
- You’re voting for clean air and clean water.
- You’re voting for scientists to be allowed to speak and do something to help protect us from climate change and pandemics.
- You’re voting for greater transparency and confidence that the President isn’t using your tax dollars as a slush fund for his family and friends.
- You’re voting for housing rights.
- You’re voting for justice reform and for formerly incarcerated persons to be treated with dignity, so that they can be productive members of society when they return.
- You’re voting for everyone to be able to adopt a child without a lot of red tape.
- You’re voting for Dreamers.
- You’re voting so that there will be Social Security and Medicare when you retire… and for generations to come.
- You’re voting for veterans to get the care they deserve.
- You’re voting for rural hospitals.
- You’re voting so that everyone can have access to affordable health insurance, and good health care.
- You’re voting for education to be treated like the noble profession that it is and for teachers to be paid appropriately.
- You’re voting to have a President who doesn’t embarrass this country every time he attends an international meeting.
- You’re voting against allowing the USA to become yet another authoritarian regime.
- You’re voting for sensible gun laws.
- You’re voting for children born to military troops overseas to still be counted as US citizens.
- You’re voting to curb homelessness and find solutions to affordable housing.
- You’re voting to take measures to end the racial asset and wealth disparities.
- You’re voting to defend women’s reproductive rights and a woman’s right to make all health related decisions regarding her body.
- You’re voting to acknowledge the humanity and protect the safety of our family and friends in the LGBTQ+ community.
- You’re voting to stop the normalization of white supremacy and dangerous bigotry in the mainstream.
- You’re voting to rebuild a functional CDC to help prevent or eradicate dangerous pandemics like the coronavirus.
I know we can’t all agree on everything. Now, this is a two candidate race between Vice President Biden and 45. Those are our only choices. One of them will be our President as a result of this election.
The Biden-Harris ticket isn’t perfect. No ticket ever was and no ticket ever will be. Perhaps, for whatever reason, Vice President Biden and/or Senator Harris don’t pass your purity test. Just know this, they will be much better than four more years of 45. We must do all we can to ensure that the Biden-Harris ticket wins.
No, Harris isn’t perfect; yes, there are decisions in her background that I’d prefer weren’t there. But that can be said of literally any other candidate, and when you compare her record to other recent big-name candidates, she’s very much in line with them, and actually scores (by at least one site’s metrics) as more progressive than any of them.
I think she’ll do just fine. And when she doesn’t, or appears like she might not, it’s our responsibility to make our voices known. And as I noted in my earlier post, it’s going to be a lot easier and more likely to move towards more progressive policies under Biden/Harris than it would be with more Trump/Pence.
Progressive Punch rates Harris at the fourth most progressive Senator, above Warren, Gillibrand, Booker, and Sanders.
Harris and Warren vote in agreement 96% of the time.
Harris and Gillibrand vote in agreement 98% of the time.
Harris and Booker vote in agreement 97% of the time.
Harris and Sanders vote in agreement 92% of the time.
Political Compass (the fourth)
This is the fourth time I’ve taken this test, though it’s been a few years — the first time was in 2002, the second in 2003, the third time was in 2012, and now, exactly eight years later, comes the fourth time. I continue to move ever further towards that bottom left corner…
2002 (age 29): -6.12/-5.90
2003 (age 30): -6.62/-6.41
2012 (age 39): -7.12/-7.33
2020 (age 47): -8.00/-8.26
