:(

My cousin is a surgeon and was sewing something and used that stitch and then froze and said “Wait this isn’t a person.”

me: *thinks about how felons can't vote, thinks about how the working class often have to choose between getting work that day or voting, thinks about how black people and indigenous people couldnt vote until 55 years ago, thinks about how gerrymandering is rendering low income/mostly minority districts virtually silent, thinks about how the electoral college is still in effect and has more power than the actual popular vote, thinks about​ how each state can set up their own arbitrary laws for voting, even at the federal level, thinks-*

Also, yes, states run elections, and that’s both why they can make their own rules, and why it’s important to elect people at the state level who don’t try to make it difficult for low income and minority voters, and again, these tend to be Democrats.

No, they can’t, unless they’re fortunate enough to get their rights restored, and that’s not fair.  Who can change the laws?  Elected officials.

thinks about how the working class often have to choose between getting work that day or voting,

That’s not fair either, and all election days, both state and federal, should be holidays.  Who can make them so?  Elected officials.

thinks about how black people and indigenous people couldnt vote until 55 years ago,

But they can now.  They’re enfranchised today.  Because people lobbied elected officials and won their right to vote.

thinks about how gerrymandering is rendering low income/mostly minority districts virtually silent,

It is and it needs to be fought.  Who draws districts?  Elected officials.  Guess when they draw them -- next year.  This year’s election outcomes will impact the shape of your congressional district for the next ten years.

thinks about how the electoral college is still in effect and has more power than the actual popular vote,

It is in effect but I’m not sure it has more power than the popular vote.  Twice it has happened in my lifetime, and both times the popular vote was a squeaker either nationally (2000) or in a few key states (2016).  Democrats win when voter turnout is high.  And the Interstate Popular Vote Compact is almost a reality.

thinks about​ how each state can set up their own arbitrary laws for voting, even at the federal level, thinks-*

Who sets the voting laws?  Elected officials.

If the prevailing attitude is that “nothing ever changes” or “voting never changes anything” then nothing ever will change.  We’re effectively a right-wing nation because elections over the last few decades have trended to the right because when voter turnout is low, the right wins in this country, and voter turnout is low in presidential midterm years.

Trump won Michigan by .3 percent, Wisconsin by 1 percent. Pennsylvania by 1.2 percent. Florida by 1.2 percent. North Carolina by 3.8 percent. And Arizona by 3.9 percent. That's a total of a paltry 491,719 votes. Just four hundred and ninety two thousand votes. And those are only the states that were razor thin in margin.

Yet over 100 million eligible voters didn't vote at all, and 5 million voters voted third party. That's 105 MILLION people who could have made the difference. 492k goes into 105 million 23 times. 492k goes into 5 million, the number of those who voted third party, 10 times. Ten god damn times. That's how many fucking people that is.

If just some of those states had gone to Clinton, she would have won. But they didn't, and it's because millions of people decided voting at all was too much trouble, or they decided that wasting their vote in a protest of ideology was more important than actual human lives.

Here’s the map of the results for New York state in the 2016 presidential election:

Now I know you’re thinking - holy shit balls that’s a lot of red! 

And you’re fucking goddamn right it is! Trump had 36% of the vote in New York in 2016. For reference, although that’s about the percentage that usually goes to the republican candidate, here are the maps for 2008 and 2012 respectively:

Before I get into the main part of this post, wanna know WHY all those areas that were blue in 2008 and 2012 were suddenly red in 2016? In 2008 and 2012, Independents got less than 2% of the total votes. In 2016? Almost 6%. Not a big difference in the grand scheme, but this is a really great example of how even a small number can make a huge difference.

Now, see that teeny, tiny, area of dark blue down at the bottom? That’s New York City. New York City is literally the only reason New York State always goes blue. This ONE FUCKING CITY is the reason people are so sure that New York - which holds 29 electoral votes - will never, ever, go to a republican. And under normal circumstances, while that doesn’t make me comfortable, it does hold a certain amount of weight. It’s also why in the 2016 election I voted in my home county of Schoharie - one of those nice bright red areas up north.

Except here’s the thing about 2020. New York City is fucking empty. 

24,000 people died of coronavirus in New York City alone this summer. 

An additional estimated 500,000 - no you are not reading that number wrong - have either moved out or been evicted. I work as a dog walker, and a full 60% of my client base has left the city and told me they are not planning to come back. They’ve left for places like Connecticut(7 electoral votes), or Massachusetts(11), or Vermont(3) or Florida or Texas or - you get my point. Now that they have been unemployed for six+ months, and the eviction freeze has been lifted, a shit ton of people are being forced to leave, and people with kids are also abandoning the city for somewhere less populated. 

And even further? No one I know has received their requested mail-in ballots yet. No one. Not a single person. The virus is still active(and yeah, we’re down to <1% infection rate, but schools are about to open back up so :) ) Voting takes place in schools. it is likely many people will not be able to risk voting in person - especially if we see an uptick in cases as kids return. Which means if their mail in ballots don’t arrive in time, they may not be able to vote at all. 

Hilary had around 4.5 million votes from New York - 2 million of those came from NYC and the surrounding boroughs. She won the popular vote in this state by 1.8 million votes.

Now, yes, a small number of the people who have left NYC are also Trump Voters. Something like 15% of NYC’s vote went to Trump. But a much higher percentage are democratic - and committedly democratic - votes. Healthcare workers suffered disproportionately from CV deaths. Startups, Small business owners, College and recent college grads, Theatre workers? They’re all gone.

New York State can, honestly, no longer be counted on to go blue no matter who abstains from voting or who votes third party because of the toll the virus has taken on the city. We really do need every single person who is able to vote, to do so. Not because it’s fun, or it makes you happy. Not because you believe 100% in the american democratic system. Because the people you - yes - you, the abstainers - have counted on to uphold your few, dwindling democratic freedoms, can no longer be counted on to do so alone.

Gerrymandering sucks. The electoral college needs to be abolished. But it is specifically because those things are still in place that you need to vote if you are able. We absolutely should be fighting the system. But we cannot abandon it to let it fall to ruin and leave the people affected by that fallout to die because of it while we gather our strength. And yes. People will die. If this summer has taught us anything, let it be that elections fucking matter and in the coming years, our leadership absolutely has the ability to determine how many of us survive.

TL;DR: If you have the ability to vote please fucking use it. This is not a normal election year, and the safeguards that have been in place are no longer to be relied upon.

Meaning that a woman’s femininity and womanhood is not contingent upon the extent to which she buys and performs a time-consuming, expensive, uncomfortable mold of a very specific type of packaged femininity. 

Meaning that a woman’s femininity and womanhood is not contingent upon the extent to which she buys and performs a time-consuming, expensive, uncomfortable mold of a very specific type of packaged femininity. 

“Crazy Dion” Diamond at one of his sit-ins as a teenager in Arlington, VA. June 10, 1960

he did these sit-ins by himself. like idk about you, but i always thought of sit-ins as organized by groups, what kind of bravery does it take, man

he didn’t tell anyone about it, like he was no glory-seeker about this. his parents didn’t even know until reporters started calling them up like “hey, did you know your son is in jail?

when someone called the cops he’d skedaddle out the back door although he was sent to prison multiple times

the last time he got arrested was in Baton Rouge, and the cops were so sick of him that they told inmates they’d put in a good word for anyone who gave Diamond a hard time. (the inmates didn’t take the bait.)

he’s still alive!

I saw a woman on twitter who’d just joined the Democratic Socialists of America talking about how if she hadn’t gone to an in person meeting she never, ever would have done it because their online presence fucking sucks, filled with frothing keyboard warriors constantly screaming about guillotines and violence and brutal revolution. And then she went to a meeting and it was all sensible, helpful people doing things like paying off parking tickets for those in need or arranging for necessities like food or rent to be covered. I think about this a lot, how bad the left’s advertising is. We can’t spit contempt in everyone’s face and then expect their help when the time comes. That’s not how human nature works. And yes, the internet has definitely made this phenomenon worse.

How to Finish