Protest With Your Vote

 

The late Congressman John Lewis, flanked by young fans at Comic-Con in 2017. 

Justice has taken some real hits this year with Breonna Taylor as the latest. And now with the untimely passing of 3 great leaders and social justice warriors; John Lewis, Elijah Cummings and now Ruth Bader Ginsburg, it feels as though respect and decency is sinking into the quicksand and mire of the Trump presidency. By all indications so far, the polls are telling us that we have the wind at our backs to rid ourselves of him in November. But as most of you can tell, as each day goes by it won't be easy. Lies manipulation, and confusion are some of the verbal hands-on tools inside his bag of dirty tricks because he doesn't have real moral truth in his reach.

These are not normal times where a president would just mud sling at his rival. Trump craves more power, and has already crossed politcal as well as constitutional lines to assure himself he will have more of it. If he was just alone in this, I wouldn't be very worried. But his enablers range from the GOP who won't oppose him for the sake of humanity as well as who we are to other countries, but also to his base of supporters who spew his lies and are willing to pack themselves at rallies, maskless and all.

So what can we expect from this President and his minions between now and election day and maybe until January 20th? I would say expect anything but compassion and empathy. If a leader can be so cold and unfeeling about 203,000 plus souls lost to a pandemic, and even give himself an A-plus, then we need to become a little more shock proof. Our main job is to look ahead and brace for impact. Because when they go low we must still go high but go hard. Trumpsters don't respond to tweets or even facts. Their objective is to get us to respond with emotions and then claim they're the ones being victimized. They will reinterpret the most blatant and brutal scenes of violence where Trump had ordered (or at least not spoke up against) white supremacists with guns invading your state, town, or city with the pretense of keeping peace and fire upon protesters who carry no more that a BLM sign. We cannot, at this point, shame them in what they're doing as they pick fights with protesters, go into Walmart, Target, or a place to eat full of rage yelling things like "freedom" and "take off your masks!" We shouldn't surrender to the uncivil scare tactics of these people, instead allow it to be a determining factor of why we should vote. 

If you've been listening to any news outlet then you know voting scares Donald Trump, and he's hoping that we will be too afraid to show up at the polls (because of Covid-19) or shamed for using the mail-in ballot system. He talks in broken, unending speech about mail-in ballots being the sinister rigging tool of the Democrats, (although it's been used by Republican voters as well.) His top sheriff, Bill Barr, has attempted to give credence to Trump's wild claims about mail-in ballots.

“There’s no more secret vote with mail-in vote. A secret vote prevents selling and buying votes. So now we’re back in the business of selling and buying votes. Capricious distribution of ballots means (ballot) harvesting, undue influence, outright coercion, paying off a postman, here’s a few hundred dollars, give me some of your ballots,” the attorney general said.- Law And Crime, September 15, 2020

 Obviously Bill Barr just made up some strange claims to boost Trump's accusations that Democrats will print, buy or steal ballots because they are desperate enough to cheat. He has no solid past cases to make these wild accusations. But like many of Trump's loyalists he goes on TV to spread the nonsense in hopes that anyone who is anti Trump could be a criminal. 

It is my contention that Trump, Bill Barr, and his pro Trump forces can plan their strategies only by what we say and do but are helpless by what we think. They are expecting people in anguish to come out for Breonna Taylor, so they can weaponize the protests by labeling liberals and anti-Trumpers as rioters, looters, and terrorists. He and his crew of deplorables find strength from the anguish we feel. It's the wood for him to pour the gasoline on. If then we want what is best for our country, it might come from the inner  strength to restrain ourselves to not telegraph their plans and thoughts for him. As the proverb goes, "there is a time for every purpose under Heaven." Maybe we could hold our physical protests for this season and prepare to protest with our vote. To not be seen or heard by the opposition leading up to voting day could be the calm before the blue Tsunami. Perhaps our greatest weapon right now is our vote. The most hate-filled white supremacist and pro-Trumper has heard the rally cry that Black Lives Matter. (And they need to hear it again in the future.) But for now I believe our best strategy is not in what we express on social media, but what we do between now and November 3rd. 

I will make this as plain as possible. Yes, we need to express our outrage and disgust by protesting the injustice. But all injustice must be met with permanent solutions such as leader change. To vote against Trump, his immoral actions, those who make excuses for his bad behavior (i.e. Lindsey Graham) and those who are a threat to American decency will be the off-ramp to a better destination for ourselves and our children. I believe we're in the season of moving America to the polls, using whatever legal means possible.  

Trump and his hardcore base can't be stopped or reasoned with human appeal. Their personality politics has picked him as the winner again for another 4 years, and the only things that will give good people an undisputed victory for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and for a sense of normalcy is to choose this time to run silent, deep, and vote.