~krummivisur

I have just woken up in the United States, and it is election day. My state is one where mail-in voting is made easy, so my ballot arrived and was submitted over two weeks ago. I try not to voice my opinion about political matters, as I know just how little I know and that I am in my own particular echo chamber, surrounded by many people who have similar opinions to my own. I cannot afford the luxury of silence now.

During this political cycle, I have felt/ween aware of tones of violence in the air. The rhetoric from Donald Trump can no longer be hand-waved away. Less than four years ago, there was an act of treason on American soil, an attempted coup by those who believed that the election had been stolen. I don't have time or space to try debunking those myths. Also, as my father said, "Faith trumps science every time." By this, he meant that if someone believes something, truly believes it, no amount of alternative information or data will be able to convince them otherwise. I am afraid not only for myself (as a gay man), but for my trans friends, for people I have come to know at my place of work who will likely be deported, and for anyone who is not white, hetero-sexual, or a very particular form of Christian. I am afraid my female friends will lose access to necessary care and the ability to determine what is done with their body. I can easily envision my country becoming "Gilead" from Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. I am afraid that the greed of a few will doom not only the United States, but perhaps the world to a planet where climate change does ever more damage and ever more people live with the devastation.

For everyone who is voting in person today, I wish you luck. For everyone voting in person today, I ask you to vote for a future that if not your political ideal will allow for more than a very narrow group to remain in power. Harris has her issues, but I believe she is committed at least to the rule of law and the Constitution in a way Donal Trump is not. I ask for you to make yourself heard, and heard loudly by your vote, even if you think you live in a state where your vote doesn't matter. My father said many time throughout his life that "If you don't vote, you lose your right to complain." In this election cycle, this might be truer than it ever was before. While this sounds dramatic, when someone shows you who they are, believe them. Trump has repeatedly shown that he is not someone that he would gladly strip the rights of millions if it meant that he had a chance to remain in power.

For everyone voting today, go out there, hold your head high, but most importantly of all, please, be safe.