Election Day
This is a photo I took of a yard sign that I have posted on the edge of the front yard of my home. I obtained this sign from my church a few months ago. It shows the flaming chalice (a symbol of the Unitarian Universalist faith) with these words: “This is OUR DEMOCRACY. Protect it. Pass it on. EVERY VOTE COUNTS.”
Those words are perfect for today since it is Election Day in the United States. This is our last chance to once and for all bury the threat of fascism that Donald Trump and his Make America Great Again movement represents. It's also a chance to let certain wealthy immigrants who back Donald Trump know that we do not stand for their desire to turn the United States of Americs into their vision for an authoritarian rule similar to Russia with extreme income inequality and very limited civil liberties. This video from The Lincoln Project explains what is at stake.
A vote for Kamala Harris is a vote for democracy and freedom. A vote for Kamala Harris is a vote for keeping the United States as an independent nation free from all foreign influences. A vote for Donald Trump is a vote for an authoritarian dictatorship. A vote for Donald Trump is also a vote for Vladimir Putin since Trump has consistently kowtowed to Putin in nearly everything that Putin wants. A vote for Donald Trump would turn the US into a larger version of Belarus or Hungary, which would be intolerable.
What's more a vote for Jill Stein or any other third party candidate is a vote for Donald Trump since such votes could siphon enough votes away from Harris to ensure a Trump victory. A vote for Jill Stein is also a vote for Vladimir Putin given how close those two are. On top of it, I've just recently learned that Jill Stein's running mate, Butch Ware, is transphobic and he's also open to placing restrictions on abortion. If you’re someone who is into LGBTQ and abortion rights you will definitely want to take that into consideration if you're seriously thinking about voting Green.
If you haven't voted yet and don't know where to go to cast your ballot Google has a page where you can type in your address and it'll tell you where is the nearest polling place to your home.
I admit that I'm a bit apprehensive because of two previous elections this year that also had Russian meddling. In Venezuela Putin’s preferred candidate, Nicolás Maduro, was declared the winner but the opposition had produced voting machine tallies proving that Edmundo González Urrutia had really won the presidency. Impartial election observers agreed. González ultimately fled to Spain after Maduro had called out the military to enforce his election denial while another opposition leader, María Corina Machado went into hiding.
More recently in Georgia the pro-Russian Georgian Dream party was declared the winner even though the election there is disputed as well and it has endangered that nation's aspiration to join the European Union.
But then there is some hope. Last weekend in Moldova its pro-Western president, Maia Sandu, has won reelection in a rebuke to the Kremlin-supported opposition.
If a small country like Moldova can stand up against the Kremlin in its election then we Americans, who live in a larger country with a much bigger population, can easily reject Vladimir Putin's preferred candidate, Donald Trump. We need to vote in overwhelming numbers so that it will be harder for Donald Trump to prove that the voting is rigged or the election is being stolen. We need to put a permanent end to Donald Trump's political career and his Make America Great Again movement. I'm hoping for an outcome that fits in with this haiku for Donald Trump that was written by Middle Age Riot: “ha ha ha ha ha/ha ha ha ha ha ha ha/you're going to lose.”
Today is our last chance to have a say in the future direction of the United States of America since there's a strong chance that electing Trump will lead to a suspension of all further elections. In addition the future ability of Ukraine to fight off the invading Russians will heavily depend on the outcome of the US election since Donald Trump has indicated that he will not help Ukraine and he's allied with Vladimir Putin. I wish it wasn't up to us Americans to decide Ukraine's ultimate fate but that's the way it is. (It's one of the main reasons why the Kremlin troll bots have been actively trying to sway the US election towards Trump.)
November 5 also happens to be Guy Fawkes Night in the United Kingdom, a remembrance of a failed attempted terrorist attack on the House of Lords on November 5, 1605 known as the Gunpowder Plot that resulted in the arrest and execution of a terrorist named Guy Fawkes. Each year this famous rhyme is uttered on Guy Fawkes Night while lighting bonfires: “Remember, remember, the Fifth of November.” That's the same rhyme that John Lennon used to end his song “Remember.”
This tweet from NAFO member James Wagafella SD had this message about Guy Fawkes Night for us Americans: “I'd like to remind all Americans that the UK also had a threat to democracy on November 5th. We executed him, cut his body into four pieces and hung them on display around the country as a warning to traitors. Just saying…”
Donald Trump is just as much of a terrorist as Guy Fawkes was. He was the one who instigated the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. He has also instigated other forms of political violence through the use of stochastic terrorism.
As you go to the polls today, please choose wisely. The future of both the United States of America and the rest of the world is at stake.
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