This is my first and possibly only Substack post. I don’t follow many people and I don’t have many followers. But I do have a voice and I intend to use it. 

Here’s what I want to say:

It’s less than 2 weeks until Election Day. I can’t believe that this is a close race. Him? A convicted felon? A rapist? A pathological liar? An ignorant grifter who spews nonsense and hate? A rich, whiny bully who walks onstage to the song “It’s a Man’s World” and then rambles incoherently (and incessantly) about how mean everyone is to him? Half of all voters want that? 

It’s up to the rest of us to make sure it doesn’t happen. Vote. Do it as soon as you can. Contact your friends. Make sure every sane person you know is voting. I know it’s awkward, especially if you don’t typically talk politics with your people. But feeling uncomfortable for just a few minutes is far easier than watching the country burn for the next 4 years. Attacks on women and people of color. Anti-science and anti-fact based policies. Abandonment of our allies and open embrace of dictators. Blue states punished. Unqualified idiots in positions of power. 

If you oppose abortion bans but otherwise vote for Republicans, why would you empower the very people engineering those bans? Support the candidates who want to hand control of women’s bodies back to women themselves. If we don’t own our own bodies, we own nothing. 

There is one party in favor of reproductive freedom. One party for sensible gun control.  One party who acknowledges climate change and works to protect the planet. One party who believes we all deserve a seat at the table. 

Vote for democrats down the entire ballot. There is no good faith in Congress anymore. Republicans are proud obstructionists. (The few who are not—Cheney, Kinzinger, etc., are routinely voted out by cult-y magas.) Give Kamala a Congress she can work with, to move us forward. Give her a Democratic majority. 

Vote. Vote well. Vote for decency & competence. 

That’s it. If you’re a good person trying to make the world a kinder place I appreciate you so much.