08/27/2024
There's so much to think about that informs my vote. I struggle with my family and community views and questions about voting and try to gauge what I strongly believe in and what I might compromise or delay. If I have to pay more for food, gas and other living expenses on a fixed income, it is tough and a situation we have to make choices and live with dignity. How to budget our household, what foods to purchase, how to recycle everything, not simply our trash.... I am grateful for what we have and how we work together to make our lives and communities better, safer, healthier places to live. Daily our neighbor blasts his/her music so loud it rattles our home. While we are frustrated, we ask him/her to evolve into developing respect for his neighbors. When or if he does find it in his heart or mind, is decided daily, his choice. On the other hand, our problems are manageable. I'm also informed daily by responsible news outlets and film documentaries, the incredibly tough conditions where children, mothers, grandmothers of so many countries, struggle to simply -live safely, cook sparing meals in a kitchen and not in tents, to pause mid-breath as the dropping of bombs may crush your huddled family in the middle of the night; live in daily heat with no running water or stable shelter. I shall vote in this very confusing political time, and still continue to object and speak out opposing the US government fueling genocide as the world watch families on both sides being tormented. Historical wrongs and injustices have set conflicts in motion, yet they must be stopped, not fueled; yes there are injustices that still need to be corrected but not with bombs. A moral economy must be possible to embrace the millions of families wishing to contribute to strengthening family, community and nation, rather than tearing them apart. An economy that can support peace in place of war. Imagine the benefits of strong countries thriving rather than watching as babies are living malnourished, facing return of diseases that were long eradicated. I watch violence, trafficking children and women, men killed where they stand or as they flee across the globe. I shake my head to think of how much worse it will be with the Trump regime. I fear his win will bring quick chaos as he views himself as a dictator, where decades of political and economic gains will quickly and severely be compromised. History will repeat itself in the US. Currently in the US, we have democracy in place, and though imperfect, must not take it for granted. We still have that fighting chance to take the necessary actions for making necessary change. Democracy affords us protected opportunities to take those actions, protest what needs to be protested, to have voice, and a essential part of that voice is the right to vote and have it be counted. Democracy is not a handout or a free ride, it is earned, it is about mindful engagement in how we live and contribute to our world. Once we stop taking our rightful and responsible role, we become compliant in allowing government to decide for us rather than with us. Understand the US government, its representatives and agencies must be watched, studied, and directed by its citizens. We live in a country where my (our) grandfathers, fathers, mother's and sister/brothers were/are armed to fight for their children and grandchildren to manifest our lives, visions and create new opportunities to benefit from. They paid a painful price for going to war, too many with their lives, and for those who returned, a burden of memories and physical scars, health issues and trauma. It is up to their children and grandchildren to stay vigilant and continue challenging and improving systems requiring correction from institutional injustices to just and proper living. Project 2025 is a plan to return regular struggling citizens to those injustices. It appears to be plan of upper class domination, autocratic rule that can quickly break down 100-years of redefining and making democracy accessible for all its citizens. Democracy requires each of our participation and voice to shape and guide policy to act with morals that support one another. Yes, there is so much to think about, to act upon the current action at hand is working to make an informed decision in each vote of our conscience -while committing to a path of engagement. This is what it means for me to be American. Because I can and must be engaged daily -in making informed choices that are sometimes challenging, difficult, even painful. This is how I learned to embrace my country and flag, this is how I own my country, by contributing to its shape through democracy. The U.S. belongs to you and me, and to our next seven generations. This is what patriotism looks like.
