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Days 227-231: Vote.

We are now less than a week from election day, although I am fairly sure we will be in an election month with how controversial the issues are right now. So here is the question:


Have you voted?



In the words of a man I respect more than I can adequately put into words:








Or if we want to really get into the spirit of the season...












This election, this vote, your vote means everything this year. It can feel so overwhelming to think of just how many votes there are to be counted, but the reason that is true is because each of those people believed that their individual vote counted. We must all see ourselves as a collective: the great melding pot that is The United States of America.


I don't think it is any secret that I do not stand behind the actions of our current president. on any issue that comes to mind as I type this. I do not condone the lies (let's stop using that "fake news" term, shall we?) to the people of America, the allies of America, nor the "enemies" of America. I do not condone the words our president uses to describe people in my gender category. I do not condone the words he uses to describe most populations. I thought about typing examples of the words I mean here, but it only gives them more traction, more staying power. And for those who have chosen not to listen to the primary source himself, I cannot imagine why my opinion on his words would sway your thinking.


I do not condone the hypocrisy at almost every level from grassroots organizations to the flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants nomination of a new justice to the highest court in the land when such a clear precedent has already been set on that issue.


I do not condone the hate speech, mockery, or tolerance of the intolerant words and behavior towards anyone. Watching a bully, our country's leader, make fun of disabled people, war heroes, and dead soldiers leaves a sick sinkhole in my stomach. Call it what you will--for those of us who have survived acts of domestic violence it is triggering and it is unrelenting.


I do not condone the utter decimation of our once-strong alliances with other nations crumbling even as the White House agenda took a jackhammer to foreign relationships from day one.


I do not condone the notion that climate change is just that-a notion. The complete dismantling of climate change policies, disease task forces, and other offices that shored up domestic security...it was unthinkable in terms of the potential scope of outcomes. This pandemic did not need to be this way for our country.


I do not condone this us vs. them model that the president has forced onto the citizens of America the Beautiful in stripping the integrity of an already great nation in the name of making it so once more for clearly inaccurate and selfish reasons.


I do not condone...so much. It is more than I can even begin to articulate in one sitting trying to write down how I feel. What I know is this:


I am ashamed.


I am ashamed of the role my nation is playing in global divisions on issues we cannot afford to disagree over anymore. I am ashamed of what living in this country has come to represent both at home and in other lands.


But.


I am proud of the American people. I am proud of myself. The number of people who have already voted early has surpassed the halfway mark of total votes cast during the last presidential election.



I am proud of my choice to continue on as an active, invested citizen of America the Beautiful to restore those things we have lost in the past four years; to change the policies dating back many more years that than which create barriers in access to resources for many in our nation; to be a part of the equation, if not the immediate solution.


Please, for the peace in your own soul that you have done all that you can do before the verdict comes back, vote. For the opportunity to be a positive force of light in this dimly lit situation, vote. For the right and responsibility to be able to vote in the next election, vote.


Vote.


Prepare, don't panic,

-Allison

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