There are all sorts of reasons to vote for specific political candidates. Sometime it can be complicated. This guy supports that policy, this woman does not. On the other hand…
But this election is simple. Because the huge issues woven into it tower over everything.
Guns. In merely the past few weeks, we have been faced again and again with the horrible results of this uniquely American insanity.
Whatever legislation comes out of Congress this week or next, it will not be enough. The Democrats — the only party to agonize over gun violence — have made it clear it will not be enough, but will be a beginning. They are prepared to move forward with more stringent legislation.
To do this, they need to hold the House and have at least a 54-46 majority in the Senate. With such a majority, the Democrats can dismantle the filibuster to pass meaningful gun control legislation.
That’s a reason to vote.
Women’s sovereignty. What the Catholic majority on the Supreme Court is about to do regarding our absolute human right to make our own health decisions is irrational, anachronistic, contemptuous and both superficial and profound.
It intends to reduce us again to second class citizenship, denies us our full equal powers. So it is a call to arms. Our arms are not AR-15s; since 1920 and the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, our arms have been our ballots.
There is one authority in this country higher and more powerful than the Supreme Court: our Congress. A Democratic majority in Congress (see above, re gun legislation) can write and enact laws which will enfeeble the Supreme Court Six, and turn them into irrelevancies in historically record time.
Another reason to vote.
The filibuster. If the Democrats have a robust majority, think of everything that can be done without the filibuster and Mitch McConnell. Think of all the good that can come out of Congress, if.
The January 6 Commission hearings. Yesterday, a good friend and I were talking over our stunned reactions to the revelations coming out of the hearings.
Nevertheless, she is pessimistic. She said, “I believe we are heading into a period of fascism. It’ll be limited but still…”
I said, “We already had a period of fascism. I think it’s been over since January 20, 2021.” So another reason to vote is to express our disgust at what we lived through, and firmly reject fascism.
Actually, I don’t think we need any reason to vote. That we can vote in every single election should be the only reason we need.
Still, when I voted today in my state primary, I had Shaye Moss and her eloquent mother, Lady Ruby, in my mind. And I thanked every election worker I saw. Every one.