I have never missed an election while I have lived in the U.S. I always vote. I vote when I love the candidate, when I wish it were someone — anyone — else. In the end, I’m a liberal and a democrat and have never voted any other way. Nor have I wanted to.

Why so “married” to the liberals? Because I come from a household of liberals. I come from people who believed in FDR, admired and trusted liberal values and believed that this is the right direction for humanity to move. That helping people, giving them the tools to live better lives, was more important that squeezing every last penny out of whatever business you might be running — assuming you ran a business.

Mom

Both my parents were first-generation Americans, the first members of their families born in the U.S. They believed in this country and were ashamed of us when we failed to do rightly. When we failed to rescue Jews from the Holocaust, when we locked up Japanese Americans during World War II. When we blasted Japan — even though they understood why — they simply did not agree that bigger bombs were a solution. I never heard a derogatory word about any race or religion in my home. We weren’t those kinds of people. My mother made sure I found dark-skinned playmates, even if she had to search for them with the result that I was not uncomfortable with people who didn’t “look like me.”

When I married, I sought out a balanced and diverse neighborhood so my son could grow up perfectly thinking that color just didn’t matter. My granddaughter is the same.

Trump was, for us, a horror show. NOT because — other than the pandemic — his behavior targeted us specifically, but because it was WRONG. It was inhumane. It was mean-spirited and cruel. His anti-literate, anti-scientific view of the world infuriates me beyond world. His intentional destruction of our natural environment makes me sick.

Garry’s parents with toddler Garry

Garry’s family was the same way for similar reasons, so how could we NOT vote? I was born here, raised here, always lived here, but the world was never as ugly as it has been since Trump took office. Nor were the issues as grave as they are now.

I have not an iota of sympathy for anyone who didn’t vote because they didn’t think politics affects them. It affects all of us. If you are not sitting at the table, as Elizabeth Warren so well put it, you are probably on the menu. They think being white and rich is what matters. Maybe that’s all that matters to them, in which case, they live a sad and bitter life. Perhaps they aren’t white or rich, but figure if they vote for people who ARE white and rich, they will be next in line.

They won’t be next because they are on the menu.

Voting was never a problem for me, Garry, or Owen. We live in a small town, having moved out of Boston more than 20 years ago. We are glad we did. We voted early, but in person. It took us maybe five minutes. I didn’t trust our mail service. They are forever delivering stuff to the wrong house or not delivering it at all. This has been true since we’ve lived here and has nothing to do with this election. They are not one of the more competent post offices.

Let’s rejoice for as long as we can — after which, we’ll get down to work. There’s much that needs to be done. We CAN do it.

Categories: #American-history, Anecdote, Election, journalism, Media, Voting

Tags: celebration, Government, Marilyn Armstrong, new administration, Politics, Voting