Reading this site lately sucks. I think I need to stop until April, when I can find what I like to find here: my team, a reprieve from the right-wing and conservative garbage I hear in a lot of other avenues of my life—which is alienating and dispiriting.
At the risk of sounding holier than thou, this is what I wish for myself and for us, for the next few months:
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1) Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will work hard for each other’s elections. Not only that, I bet in person they treat each other with great respect and dignity. If they can manage it, we can, too.
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2) What does it mean to be liberal? “Reactionary” is the opposite of liberal—not just “conservative,” but also “reactionary.” Let’s be liberal with each other: open minded, seeking to understand before we respond and judge. Liberal means open. Reactionary just reacts.
Let’s avoid being reactionary with the same fervor with which we would avoid being conservative.
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3) We’re electing a party, not just a President. With both Hillary and Bernie, we’ll get nominees—not just to the high court, but federal judges, hundreds of them. And hundreds (thousands?) of Democratic appointees to federal positions—expertise that will be brought back to the states after the presidential term ends, hopefully fostering the next generation of Democratic office holders. And maybe cabinet positions for either candidate. We’re electing a party, and we’re part of the same party.
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But even so, 4) If you don’t want to support the nominee, don’t. Some people feel like candidates have to earn their vote. I feel like I vote for my own benefit—that of myself and my neighbors, not for the candidate’s benefit. It’s not a gift I give to a candidate; it’s a responsibility I exercise on behalf of myself and my community.
If you feel like you can best exercise that responsibility in some way other than voting, go for it.
Maybe we can’t work together right now, in this election. But at some point in the future, we likely will. So let’s not burn bridges now.
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And, 5) A picture of my cat. Because? That’s right. Because she’s a cat. And because she agreed to stay off the keyboard long enough for me to write a diary.