15 Comments

I hear you. I have that same 2016 PTSD.

The thing that gives me the most hope is... one of Google's top searches right now is "can my husband find out how I voted"

It makes me crazy that that's actually a good thing. But I'll take it.

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Nothing in politics pisses me off more than Dems not showing up in the off years. Bravo!

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founding

Same. I dutifully vote in every election

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I haven't missed voting in an election since I was 18. I was EXCITED to vote when I finally came of age! I could vote against Nixon's second term! The landslide that put Tricky Dick back in the White House was my first bitter taste of election loss. But I go back every four years hoping to get a another sweet sip of election victory, as we did with Obama. Damn, how I despise Repubbies and MAGAs...but I especially despise Dems who cannot be bothered to vote, even more than I despise MAGAs. Which

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Dems suck. I know, I am one. Frustrated. Because I vote every time and I know so many too busy with their meaningless lives to vote.

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"Nauseously optimistic" would cover it for many people, given the stress.

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Not 2016 nor 2020...this is 2024, two effing years after the shite Supremes killed reproductive rights, and the casualties of that decision are everywhere. GOP cannot disguise it, they own it, and the female-voter cohort of this country have decreed IT'S PAYBACK TIME! tRump, Hillbilly, shitty people in Congress, reactionary misogynistic judges, all of you - the wrath of women are about to descend unabated and without mercy upon your sorry heads, believe it!

A new day is being born, and you lot are consigned to a permanent darkness, as befits your shriveled-up hearts.

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Well rendered, Cathy. :)

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just finished another night of phonebanking to swing states, my feeling at this point is if I have time to doomscroll I have time to call. It has actually helped to keep me from completely stressing out.

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I don’t think Harris is perfect but she is far, far better than the alternative. I do wish the USA had compulsory voting (well compulsory to turn up at a polling booth) like we do here in Australia. Then the vast number in the centre who declare a pox on both houses (a valid opinion) a forced to hold their noses and vote for the least loathsome choice. Oh, and having a preferential proportional voting system wouldn’t go astray

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founding

Pinch me, two posts in less than a week, with a paid deep dive coming soon?

Hook it into my veins

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Whenever I feel awful about all the horrible things that happen right now and rabid idiots on social media I reread research below and remind myself that it's not that bad.

We share a lot in common and at the end of the day all it takes to convince somebody is remind that and a nice calm talk.

Bridging America’s Divide on Abortion, Guns and Immigration:

An Experimental Study

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2206.13652.pdf

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Nov 5·edited Nov 5

My wife and I voted for Obama in Ohio, too, and then later we moved away; small world. Eight years after that vote we were flying back home to Seattle and we landed at SeaTac just in time to hear that Ohio had gone for Drumpf; we spent the next 4 years being disgusted. But I have hope that America will not foul the nest and install fascism: Latinos are pissed off about MSG; women are pissed off about Roe; all these folks know *exactly* who is responsible; and all these folks and more are *voting*. If there is any justice still left in this country, this has to be for the good. PS -- you very rightly say, "There is no permanent victory.' Exactly so. Remember the mantra from a well-known coach when asked about whether a vital win was an end goal -- "No finish line."

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YES, my adrenal glands agree completely with you, they’ve been putting me into flight-or-flight for days now. I live in Oregon and my mail-in vote was counted last week. And they salute the articulation and passion of the words you wrote.

Oregon is not a bright blue state as so many outside think. It’s a a bright red state with a bright blue center (actually northwest corner). If Democrats don’t vote we get more shit like the Republican state legislators leaving the state so there’s no quorum for doing business and we have to send the state police after them (no shit). And the mess the last few Portland city administrations have made of the city was so bad we voted to change the structure of governance last time, and I’m hoping, this time voted out the incompetent, evil, crooks that have left so many people unhoused and being chased from place to place. So voting counts here too. And if the Fascists win this time they’ll come for all of us who spoke or acted against them and especially for those who insulted or laughed at them as many of us did here.

And for those who are unsure of voting and for those who are sure but could use a bracing dose of ardent rationality, watch John Oliver’s closing monologue on “Last Week Tonight” yesterday:

https://youtu.be/tWZAbKU-JzE?si=vyjVRcK1qAEGjou1 (has ads).

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My PTSD from 2016 is so bad I voted early to get it over with. I hope a lot of people did. That said, it's maddening that we could save ourselves if people could just bother to do the minimum of showing up, filling in a little circle on a ballot and turning it in.

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