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Posts Tagged ‘presidential campaign’

Living Within the Margin of Error

Posted in Politics, tagged , , , , , , , on 17 Oct 2024| Leave a Comment »

We are living within the margin of error, that mind-bending pseudo-Schrödingerian space where two things are simultaneously true: Trump is leading in the polls and Harris is leading in the polls. In a normal general election year, by this time—with fewer than 500 hours between now and election day—we passed through this phase a while back and are now in the mad dash to the finish line; the trailing candidate is doing everything possible to gain on the leader, and the much ballyhooed “October surprise” waits in the wings, preparing to strike. (Or not.)

This is not a normal general election year.

As baffled as I am that, with these two candidates and at this late point in the contest, the race is still so close, I have to understand that supporters of the opposition are most likely just as baffled. How could I possibly support a communist-fascist-socialist-Marxist radical-left-liberal who welcomes foreign murderers and rapists into our country and hands them cash and a ballot? How can I possibly want to elect such a person to the presidency?

I have similar questions about those who support the opposition.

One thing I try to remember, though, is this: supporters of the opposition do not hate this nation. They don’t. (Okay, a few probably do, but not many.) So their support of the opposition must come from a desire to better the nation that they love. Given that, we should be able to sit down and discuss our differing views on what in this nation can be improved, and how.

But we can’t, and we can’t because the discussion space has become so polluted with falsehoods that our two sides cannot even agree on what is true, what is factual, what is real.

“All politicians lie,” is the old adage, and to an extent it is true. Politicians may fudge the numbers to support their argument or leave out a salient fact that weakens their case, but there’s a big difference between picking the rosiest statistical outcome to support an economic agenda and telling outright (and completely disprovable) lies about conditions and populations in the country, fabrications designed not to bolster a policy stance but to sow division. distrust, and fear of “the other” among supporters. Sadly, once these emotionally manipulative lies have taken hold, it is not possible to counter them with the truth, as the truth, facts, and expertise have become irrelevant.

I don’t have solutions to this problem, and certainly nothing that could make a difference before Nov 5, but what I can do is assure you that if you’re feeling anxious, nervous, or desperate about the outcome of this election, you are definitely not alone. Many, many people are feeling the same, and we’re all probably getting a bit snippy because of it.

So let’s try to be patient and kind with each other, and if we discuss politics, let’s approach the discussions with the knowledge that we’re all on edge and emotions are riding high.

And vote. Vote early if you can, and if you can’t, make a plan as to how to cast your ballot and when.

It’s important.

 

 

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Time to Get Serious

Posted in Culture, Politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on 21 Sep 2024| Leave a Comment »

Early voting began yesterday in three U.S. states, which means we are in the final stretch of America’s 2024 presidential election. (Finally!) It also means that for the next six weeks we’re going to be inundated with adverts, texts, mailers, flyers, and door-knockers.

By now, most people have made up their mind, and frankly, if you’ve already decided on voting for Trump, I’ve got nothing for you; thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you next time. However, about 5–6% of Americans are still on the fence, trying to decide either between the candidates, or between voting and staying home.

First, please please please commit to voting on November 5. It is so important that you exercise this power. You can go to Vote.gov to find out if your voter registration is current and/or how to register if you’ve been purged from the rolls. Even if you do not live in one of the critical “swing” states, you still have Senate, House, and state races that are critical to the success of your candidate and the agenda you support.

One of the most common concerns folks express about Harris is that they don’t know enough about her, and don’t know where she stands on the issues. With her having been thrust into the race so late in the game, this is a legitimate concern. We didn’t have a year-long primary to learn these things, and she’s been playing catch-up. However, the information has been coming out, and I encourage anyone still unsure about Harris to explore her positions on the issues—such as the economy, taxes, health care, education, reproductive freedom, climate crisis, civil rights, immigration, gun violence, and foreign policy—and compare them to Trump’s†.

Last point: There has been a lot of activity in state election boards (and in campaign rhetoric from the GOP) that has laid the groundwork for specious challenges to the outcome of the election. If the vote tallies are close, we’re going to see a tsunami of delays, lawsuits, and chaos surrounding demands for recounts and refusals to certify results. To counter this, progressive-leaning voters need to come out in record numbers, to increase that margin of victory (yes, even in reliably blue states), so there can be no doubt as to the outcome.

To me, the choice has always been clear, but I understand that such is not the case for everyone. In my mind, an even temperament and a willingness to compromise are two hallmarks of a successful presidency. Next to those, I look for an agenda that is geared toward helping middle and lower income households, because that is what a society is supposed to do: help those who need help, not those who already have it made.

Harris isn’t a perfect candidate—I’m sure everyone will find one of her policies that rankles—but comparing the two candidates, comparing their respective agendas, and comparing their approaches to governing, I find the GOP candidates terribly lacking. The politics of division and denigration—of women, of minorities, of legal immigrants, of the childless, of the non-Christian and non-hetero and non-cisgender—that is no way to govern a society that is as complex and multi-layered as ours. It is a bleak and hostile view of our nation, its history, and its people, and it deserves to be soundly rejected.

Thanks for stopping by. I’ll put away my soapbox, now.

Remember to check your registration and make a voting plan!

k

† You can find Trump’s issue statements either as part of his series of Agenda 47 videos, or see many of them described in Project 2025. (Though Trump has denied any connection to that project, it was authored by many of his former staff and its elements are strongly echoed in his rhetoric.)

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Hope, Damnable Hope

Posted in Culture, Politics, tagged , , , , , , , , on 29 Aug 2024| Leave a Comment »

Walter Wofford’s sculpture of Harriet Tubman as the “Beacon of Hope,” installed at Lake Placid, NY
Enterprise photo — Delainey Muscato

Hope and I have had a long and complicated relationship, one punctuated by frustration, despair, anger, and (occasionally) joy.

For many, Hope is an emotion of wishes and prayers, of what-might-be‘s and wouldn’t-it-be-nice‘s. Hope personified, for such folks, is often depicted as angelic or maternal, protective and supporting. Sweet, embracing, serene.

Not for me. My relationship with Hope has usually been adversarial. Many times, I—having striven toward a goal with zero success—have fallen into the shadowed abyss of anguish and surrendered myself to failure. It is at such times that Hope (damnable Hope) has ridden onto the stage clad in armor, grabbed me by the scruff, and thrust me forward once more unto the breach. For me, Hope is not a thing of winged feathers and soft, motherly caresses but, as musician/writer/actor Nick Cave described it in Issue #190 of The Red Hand Files, Hope is “the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism.” Hope is the creature of sharp insistence, unseen kindnesses, and the whispered encouragement of ultimate victory.

In the last ten years, I have often felt despair. I’ve felt it for most of that time. It has been a harsh, brutal, sorrowful decade, both personally and (more consequentially) on a global scale. Politically, Hope has become a stranger to me, as my nation fell into a vortex of recrimination, grievance, division, and blatant partisanship.

But then something happened. About six weeks ago, our president (bless him), seeing the trend-lines and poll numbers auguring his defeat, decided to bow out and pass the torch.

It was then that Hope—the Warrior Emotion—woke from her slumber, shook the dust of years from off her armor, and sounded the call.

Hope is not heavy-handed. Hope does not have to bash us over the head to get her point across.

Hope is the hand on the shoulder, the confident smile, the steely gaze and the wink. Rather than a wouldn’t-it-be-nice, Hope is the we’ve-got-this.

As the scales fall from our eyes and we see the right-wing contenders for what they are, as we learn of their vision for our future, and as we read what it is that they intend to do should they be returned to power, Hope exhorts us once again to rise, to stand, to speak out, and to vote for a future that benefits us all, rather than just the privileged few and the people who look, love, and think as they do.

For the first time in a very long time, I am filled with Hope, eager to instill that Hope in others, and willing to believe that, this time, we might have a real Hope of success.

k

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One For the Box

Posted in Culture, Politics, tagged , , , , on 12 Nov 2020| 5 Comments »

In my house there are four boxes.

Four special boxes.

First, there is the God Box, a small cardboard box covered with embossed white paper. It contains the prayers my step-mother wrote to her deity during the last years of her life. It’s a difficult box to visit.

Then there is the Poem Box. It’s flat, the size of a billfold, and it contains the poems my father wrote after my stepmother died. It, too, is a difficult box, filled with despair and dark thoughts written in days’ early hours as he precessed from a broken future toward his own demise.

Recently, I received an incongruous box. A wooden half-moon with a clasp, japanned and decorated with 19th century-style chrysanthemums, it fits easily in two hands. It is from the estate of my recently deceased brother, and while it is totally not like him in style, its contents—pipes, Malian artifacts, a bracelet of broken silver—most definitely are. But, like the other boxes, visiting this one is also a sad journey.

The fourth box, though, is different. (more…)

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E Pluribus…Unum

Posted in Culture, Politics, Seattle, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on 07 Nov 2012| Leave a Comment »

Obey the Kitty!Regardless who you voted for, thank you for voting.

Washington State is now all mail-in ballots, so voting for me was easy. Not so for many people in other states who had to wait in line for hours just to exercise this essential civic right. Nor was it easy for those still caught in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and who, displaced or homeless or without even a polling place to go to, somehow managed to get in there and cast a ballot. Bless you for your efforts, for your perseverance, and for your example. (more…)

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