Vote, Your Life Depends On It

Well it’s been four years so I guess it is time for another post.

All I can say is go vote if you already haven’t. Not voting is stupid and it means you don’t get a voice in the process. The powers that be don’t want you to do it so all the more reason to do so. Vote as if your life depends on it, because with this election, it may very well.

I was planning on writing something back in August after my kids and I concluded our vacation. My post back then was going to predict that Biden would win the election based upon my unscientific yard sign survey. Back in 2016, my boys and I took a road trip from Chicago out to Portland, up to Seattle and back. When we travel, we avoid the interstates as much as we can. As a result, we take the U.S. highways and thus pass through many little cities and towns, some that don’t even have a traffic light. I truly believe that you get to see the real America this way, at least the real rural America. So back in 2016, we went through many, many small towns and I saw so many Trump signs. It was how I was certain that Trump would beat Hilary Clinton that year.

The most telling was while we were in Arco, Idaho. There was a jacked-up pick-up truck driving around town with a huge Confederate battle flag flying off the back. Appalling, ignorant, but very telling. I wish I could have told him that Idaho was way north of the Mason-Dixon line, that Idaho wasn’t even a state during the Civil War, and that if it was it would have been a free state because it was way north of 36°30’ Missouri Compromise latitude. It wouldn’t have mattered though; you just cannot seem to reason with willfully ignorant people.

This year we didn’t go as far. We were planning on going to California and back but COVID ruined those plans. We ended up doing a week at Voyageurs National Park in upper Minnesota on the Canadian border. We kayaked/canoed almost 50 miles and spent 6 nights and 7 days out away from everyone in the world. The perfect socially distanced vacation. Like with all our other road trips, we avoided the interstates. Granted I didn’t see as much of the country as our 2016 trip but it was still very eye opening. I only saw four Trump signs during the entire trip. FOUR. Now I didn’t see many Biden signs, maybe it was ten. I just didn’t see the enthusiasm for Trump as I saw four years ago. This led me to conclude that Biden would win in November.

But then Ruth Bader Ginsberg died. And Trump refused to say he’d concede if he lost. And then he got COVID. I honestly thought he’d die because of how unhealthy he is. I guess you cannot discount the best socialized medicine your tax dollars can buy. Because of all of that, I’ve held off writing this post (I mean, what’s a few more weeks after four years).

I said on my post four years ago, “Maybe America is like the junkie and we have to hit rock bottom before we can recover. Maybe Donald Trump will be that low-point.” I do think he is that low point. I believe that Biden will win on Tuesday and win big. I think he’ll even win Texas, if all the votes are counted. I also believe that the Democrats will win back the Senate. How many seats? I’m not sure but enough for a majority even without Harris being a deciding vote.

Here’s hoping I’m right. And if so, here’s hoping the Democrats will actually bring about some real change. If Biden and the Democrats win on Tuesday, I will be back with what I feel needs to get done to put this country back on a path to real greatness, not this bullshit version King Orange believes is great.