Your Gloomy Midterm Election Reminder

It has been an interesting two years hasn't it? Maybe more for my generation than any other, we get an up close and personal lesson in why it is not enough to pull the lever for a Democratic President and then go back to our own busy lives. The Children of Darkness simply do not quit, ever. They are more tenacious than the hardest-core social justice activist because "God" tells them to fuck the poor, the immigrants, women, working people, minorities, the environment, and civil rights. So this is my feeble attempt to persuade you to get out and vote this year.

I have had quite enough of the more punk then thou, emo-prog, hipster bullshit attitude of  "Democrats are just as bad" or any other sentimental nonsense that voting doesn't matter thank you. That kind of duck-face whining is nothing more than an excuse for being lazy. As any historian will tell you, America is an experiment. The first modern attempt to allow "the people" to govern themselves, so shut up and pitch in. Or you will probably find yourself in debtor's prison one day soon stitching soccer balls together with your teeth for one or another wall street bankster.

Look, to put it quite simply, republicans will make your life harder. Democrats may make bad calls, support bad policies from time to time, get persuaded of the wrong initiative, or succumb to corruption but that is not part of their platform. On the other hand, when republicans do those things it is by design. The GOP does not continue to clamor for more wars, lie reflexively about even the most trivial things, deregulate business, take kickbacks, privatize anything they get their hands on, or display stunning incompetence and fundamentalist ignorance in office because they are bad conservatives, but because they are good conservatives. This is what they want to do, and what they will keep doing every time we stay home. See The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Ruined Government, Enriched Themselves, and Beggared the Nation by Thomas Frank for more info.

Do you have kids in school, even college? Have you ever had a major illness or need health care? Do you have student loans? Is there even the slightest chance you might find yourself unemployed? Not voting will allow republicans to sneak in and do what they do best: harm you and the people you care about. Am I laying it on thick here? Too bad. It is the truth. Republicans are a clear and present danger to the republic and your individual well-being. Let's ask some more rhetorical questions. Do you think life would be improved by giving more control over your life to your boss? Republicans do. Would life be better if fundamentalist churches had more power over society? Republicans will vote yes every time, in fact they trip all over themselves to make outrageous proposals for who can bring us closest to the Dark Ages. Is there never a bad time to outsource jobs? Cut taxes for people who make fortunes rigging the economy? Pollute the land, air, and water where you live? Take away your right to vote, plan your family, be safe from gun maniacs? "More, more, more!" says the GOP. Heck, a former dictator of what we laughingly call the People's House (of Represent-atives) during Bush Hell once said with a straight face that there is nothing more important during a time of war than to cut taxes.

Republican voters cannot be reasoned with, I've tried. You've probably tried too, that angry uncle or grandfather that simply won't shut up about "all the taxes they pay" to support "those lazy people on welfare," nothing gets through does it? Or the, "you're too young to understand what's good for you, so quit trying to change the world" from the same crowd. You can be sure he will vote, and vote against you or your children having a future. Of course, "it will be for your own good." So if this is the case, there is nothing to do but show up to vote and bring as many friends as you can, at least the ones with a conscience. Rule of thumb, if your friend reads Ayn Rand, let him be. Unless you want to sit through another two years of frivolous investigations into the attacks on our consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Or endure another thirty or forty votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act that is probably already helping your health, take the relatively small investment of time to register and show up to vote. This well-informed, conscientious person certainly will be. Don't let her decide which rights and how much money you will have to give up this time around.

Ignorant and proudly displaying your gullibility is no way to go through life lady.