Tag: vote

Fasten Your Seatbelts

As I write this there are 122 days 12 hours and 34 minutes until the Presidential election.
If you think the headlines are crazy now, fasten your seat belts.
The President who hates losers and is always the best
Is down in the polls
Or close in the polls
Depending on what poll you might look at
Or what pundit you pay attention to.
But, as the summer passes and November 3 gets closer
The acting out
The name calling
The racial dog whistles
The rumors tweeted and retweeted
Which I am sick and tired of already
Will only get worse.

The temptation,
At least for me and maybe for you as well
Will be to say “Enough is enough.”
And to turn away.
And to turn it off.
And to quit paying attention.
Which is exactly the wrong thing to do.
Maybe what they hope I will do.

Now more ever
At least in my lifetime
At least since the the Civil Rights struggles and the the Vietnam War protests
Now more than ever is the time to pay attention.
And, to see clearly what is happening and what is at stake.
And what we value.
And who we are and want to be as a nation.
Now is the time to fasten our seatbelts
And to hold on tight.

Update:
122 days 11 hours and 50 minutes until the Presidential election.

The Day After Tomorrow

While tomorrow’s election is important, with some saying the most important in their lifetime, it is the day after tomorrow I find myself thinking about. That I find myself worrying about. I don’t know what to do about or how to speak to those on the far edges of the political spectrum. Those who shout “Never.”

My fear is that which was once considered fringe has pushed its way much closer to the center.
This segment last night on 60 Minutes didn’t do much to calm my fear.
And, my hope is that the center holds.
Maybe center is not the right label because we will still be Republican and Democrat, progressive and conservative, right and left. We will still disagree about policy and taxes and the role of government. But, my hope is there are enough of us who, beyond labels and staked out positions, continue to believe the best dream for the United States is still possible. That there are enough of us who still believe “liberty and justice for all” is still a ideal worth pursuing. That there are still enough of us who are willing to step in the complicated and messy work of building community rather than pointing fingers and drawing lines in the sand.

In many ways, this election has brought out the worst in us.
Now it is time to remember the best in us.
Tomorrow we will elect a President.
The day after we will decide who we are as a nation.

P.S. If you have not already seen it, I commend to you this post written by Ben Perry.

New York Primary Day

Because we are the only building which has the space and is handicapped accessible, for a number of years now our Fellowship Hall has been used as a polling location for the community. Several times a year, we move around the other groups who usually use that space so the community has a place to vote.

My office is directly across from one of the outside doors.
All day I have watched people come and go.
FAR more than people than for any previous election.
And, many of the people who are arriving to vote have not voted in many years.
I know because more than half the people who come in the door turn the wrong way in the hallway before realizing where the voting booths are located.

I am not sure what it means.
People feeling the Bern.
People voting for Hillary.
People who want to make America great again.
People who vote for #nevertrump.
People who are voting because for the first time in many years that the New York primary means something.
Who knows.
It will be interesting to see if what I observe from my office window is replicated in other locations across the state.

What I do know is that today people voted.
More than in most elections.
For whatever reason they showed up.
And, no matter what the results
That is a good thing.

Tags

Several things I believe: