The Great Awakening: Too Bad We Overslept
Last night, decent society went to sleep, if we did sleep at all, with an ache felt deep to the bone. Upset stomachs, headaches, anxiety, stress, depression. Some of us drank (raises hand). Some took to social media to rail against the travesty being played out in DC, and to find comfort in numbers.
For nearly four years, all of those feelings have been near constant. For nearly four years we have watched as our populace has availed itself of more visits to therapists, medications to help with all manner of emotional and mental distress and disturbance. For four years many of us have inhabited a cycle of Twitter insomnia so constant that we have developed actual friendships through the ether with those also up scrolling at 2am.
Four years ago we knew. We knew in the run up what would happen if Trump was unleashed on this country. We knew as we watched him foment hate, gin up fear, stoke the fires of racism, misogyny, bigotry, xenophobia. We knew as his cultists proudly wore Fuck Your Feelings tshirts and shirts encouraging him to Grab My Pussy Mr. Trump. We warned people. We begged people. We saw exactly what was on the line for this nation, for our system of governance, for our highest level of justice, for marginalized groups, for those discriminated against.
We knew.
And we were laughed at, mocked, pilloried as alarmists, extremists, crazy. Yet here we are.
Every check and balance we have held dear for centuries has been proven to be folly in the face of weak men and women who seek proximity to power over serving and protecting the public.
Group after group has been openly targeted by a fetid sack of sewage in an ill fitting suit and long tie, in turn encouraging his cultists to openly act out against Black people, brown people, LGBTQIA, DREAMers, Muslims, Jews, and on and on.
Our access to healthcare is in the crosshairs. If you have a pre-existing condition, the fear you feel is very real (and I would still argue that being a human being is a pre-existing condition). The Affordable Care Act made it impossible for insurance companies to deny you coverage — countless people are still alive today because of that one facet. Trump and his coven have been in the courts for years now to kill the entire program, throwing tens of millions off their coverage and endangering the lives of those whose insurance is their literal lifeline. With Barrett on the court, expect it to vaporize before Christmas. That millions of MAGAts benefit from this program won’t hit them until they are in pain, cannot afford little Bubba’s meds, or dying and cannot see a doctor.
Women’s dominion over their own bodies has never been more in danger. We all held our breath and hid behind a five foot tall jurist goddess, hoping against hope that she would survive to January 20, 2021. Cancer had other plans. And now we watched as Trump installed his third Supreme Court Justice — a squalid woman who believes we are meant to be doormats to men; who has a track record of open bigotry against the LGBTQIA; who was specifically chosen not for her experience (she has none), but for her willingness to be a pawn for Trump, a cudgel against entire groups of people; a key to keeping him in office or out of prison.
Think not? Her first act was to be party to a political event after her swearing in. Any judge, but especially a SCJ, is supposed to be apolitical. Their decisions and rulings to be based on the law, the Constitution, not on their loyalty pledge to a mobbed up game show host. Yet there she was, happy to be photographed alongside Trump on the balcony, surrounded by those GOPers gathered for Rose Garden Superspreader 2.0.
Last night was a death knell for true jurisprudence at our highest level. In a 3–6 country, we now have 6–3 bench. With a handmaid in residence ready to overturn Roe, take away protections for LGBTQIA citizens, to pull back their ability to marry, to adopt, to kill the dreams of DREAMers, to throw tens of millions off their insurance, and to potentially steal another election for this cabal of cons.
We knew all of this was on the table four years ago. Yet over 62 million people still voted for it. Countless people third party voted, wrote in Santa Claus, shit their pants because Bernie was not the nominee, or did not vote at all. Drenched in the privilege that made their antics possible, they helped deliver this country to the precipice where she now sways.
Yes, it is heartening to see that with the accumulation of outrage after outrage, horror after horror, abuse after abuse, there has been a great awakening. As of last night, over 63 million people had voted early. That is literally half the total of the 2016 election. Young people have been registering in droves and going to the polls — they are overwhelmingly voting Biden/Harris. The get out the vote drives have been in overdrive and working.
We are voting. We are awake. But the sad fact remains — we overslept. When it counted, we were still hitting the snooze button over and over, allowing others to make the decisions for us; allowing our disinterest in politics to keep us away from the polls; allowing our privilege to keep us “asleep.”
Having overslept, we are now in the very real position where this election has literally everything riding on it. We MUST win this or this country, every value, every law, every bright ideal, every inch of this great experiment called the United States of America will be over. Fascism will set like concrete, rights will be taken away, entire groups will be in deadly danger, abortions will be in back alleys, healthcare will be only for the wealthy.
So, yes, we are voting in never before seen numbers. Polls tease that states like Texas are actually in play. And that’s great. But Republicans are working around the clock to insure votes are hard to cast, and worse, may not be counted. Just last night another round of GOP successes as Wisconsin courts ruled ballots postmarked yet not received by election day 8pm will not be counted. Funny, considering I can walk my tax return to a post office by midnight on April 15 and it is considered on time, even though the IRS won’t receive and process it for days and days.
In his writing regarding the Wisconsin decision, Beergut McRapeydrunk Kavanaugh set in motion exactly what Trump wants — the inability of qualified (dated stamped) absentee ballots to affect the results past election night. “Those States want to avoid the chaos and suspicions of impropriety that can ensue if thousands of absentee ballots flow in after election day and potentially flip the results of an election.” I’m sure Squee agrees with you Brett. But the majority of the voting public does not.
I am concerned about stunts like those being set in motion in Texas by Governor Greg Abbott — unleashing 1,000 National Guard troops into Dem cities on election day/night. What are they spoiling for, expecting in terms of outcry?
I am worried about the whereabouts of William Barr. At this point, he is either hidden on a ventilator, dead, or working behind the scenes to set in motion the legal wranglings that will come to life on election night should Trump begin to see the states slipping away from him.
At this point, under no circumstances should anyone be dropping their ballot in a mailbox. The mail system has been compromised for months, and did not become uncompromised just because DeJoy and the dismantling faded from the headlines. Ask yourself how consistent your mail delivery and amounts have been of late? Ballots should be hand delivered to official registrars and ballot boxes. Early voting is underway and while you may have to bring a folding chair and a lunch, you can still cast your vote before November 3rd.
Quite frankly, there is precious little reason to delay casting your vote. Undecided? Fuck you. Harsh? FUCK YOU TWICE. At this point anyone who claims to be undecided is an attention whore who does not deserve to vote and certainly does not value their fellow citizens.
If you are one of the people still crying over your favorite primary candidate, pull up your big girl/boy pants and get on with it. Yang never stood a chance. Bernie was not to be and HE is urging you to vote for Biden.
If you are toying with the idea of writing in Kanye West? GTFO. Seriously, GET. THE. FUCK. OUT. If it was on the ballot to vote to make that mess take his meds and get the help he so obviously needs, then by all means, vote YES on Ye. But third party voting or writing in a bullshit candidate is the same as throwing away your vote, the same as voting for Trump. We need all hands on deck, not all hands acting like dicks.
And finally, if you are sitting there NOT voting? That’s some really nice privilege you’re wearing. Harmani? Dihorror? Offendi? I am begging you to cast off your designer ennui and open your eyes to just how many people need you to see them, to care about what happens to them, to give a damn.
Vote for the DREAMer who has never known any land but this one. Vote for the millions of COVID survivors who now have a pre-existing condition with their hearts, their lungs. Vote for millions of young girls growing up who deserve to have sole dominion over their bodies and decision making, and safety when they choose. Vote for the Black teen boys whose parents fear for their lives every time they leave the house, take the car to the store, walk down the street. Vote for the 231,308 people who have died needlessly at the hands of an inept and ignorant government who has ignored a deadly pandemic. Vote for the estimated 100,000 more who will not ring in the new year. Vote for Lesley Stahl who must now have 24 hour security protection because she dared to ask the supposed “most powerful man in the world” some “tough” questions. Vote for the 545 children who were kidnapped from their parents by this heinous horror of a government. Vote for the millions upon millions of people who are not Christians, who may believe or not believe at all, who deserve a justice system in which no “god” is anywhere in the rulings. Vote for my transgender son who was bereft on election night 2016 and now terrified at being targeted and erased by his own country. Vote like YOUR rights depend on it, even if they don’t.
Elections have consequences. We tried to warn you of this four years ago, but you blew us off. Look around at what has degraded, developed, been destroyed by these cretins since then. WAKE UP. We can no longer afford to hit the snooze button on our fellow citizens, on our nation, on our very humanity.
VOTE.
