I Guess I Should Talk About Voting
Just do it
You may have heard that we have a small election coming up. Actually, in most states, it’s happening now. We have successfully transitioned from an “Election Day” to an “Election Season” in the vast majority of the country and I’m thrilled. If we can’t start a Democracy Sausage tradition like they do in Australia, the next best thing is giving people as much time to vote as possible.
Unfortunately, voting is still pretty hard in this country (I’ll post my annual “India does voting better than us” link HERE.) so here are a few things that may help:
What to vote
Spread The Vote’s resources:
readthefingdirections.com for instructions on how to vote by mail in each state
Your local newspapers
Especially check the independent news sources that align with your values
Local and national organizations
Ex. if you care about climate change (do you live on this Earth?? THEN YOU SHOULD. BUT DON’T DESTROY ART THAT’S JUST WRONG AND DOESN’T HELP THE CAUSE.) see who your local Sierra Club has endorsed.
Local politicians you trust
On the off chance that you like one of your representatives check out their social media, a lot of them will post lists of who they’re endorsing. Or warnings about not to vote for.
How to vote
Ballot parties!
Get your friends together, bring your mail in ballots or sample ballots, and go through the options together. Maybe assign some ballot measures or candidates to folks before they come, along with a potluck dish or booze assignment. Voting is more fun together. Also see if a local group that you’re involved with or want to be involved with is doing a voting party.
UNLESS YOU CAN VOTE PANTSLESS
Voting is best without pants. Put on your pjs, grab your favorite snacks, put a different voter guide on all of your screens and The West Wing on your teevee and have a solo voting retreat. This is my favorite way to go to the polls.
BUT SOME PEOPLE ACTUALLY LIKE GOING TO THE POLLS?
If you’re an extrovert and you need to leave the house, I don’t get it but, you know, do you. Just try not to save it for Tuesday. Anything could happen. Your pipes could explode. Zombies could attack. You could get 24 hour Ebola. Don’t risk it. Vote early. Even Texas has early voting. You can make it happen.
Why to vote
Sigh. Ok, look. Are we on the edge of a democracy crater with every probability of falling off? Yes. Are 99% of the people running for office absolutely f*ing morons who couldn’t pass a decent law if it slapped them in the face? Yes. Are the 1% of awesome candidates so outnumbered by morons that the chance of them actually passing any legislation that will save us is slim to bupkiss? Yes.
BUT- HEAR ME OUT. Those good people, the ones who are really trying to make a difference, they actually do, even in the small ways that add up to big things. And they can stop the worst of their colleagues from doing big things that add up to disaster. And while 99% of elected officials are assholes, a good 51% of them are actually evil and actually want to bring back slavery and kill all of the lizards who are secretly ruling society so, you know, we may not have the best choices ever but there are some really really bad ones and we should not make those choices or let other people make those choices for us.
Besides, it could be worse. We could be England.
HOW TO CELEBRATE AFTER YOU VOTE
Watch:
The Banshees of Inisherin (Theatres)- We’re barreling into awards season and while the women have it locked down (Yeoh, Blanchett, Thompson) the men have not really shone until now. Watch Banshees and then do yourself a favor and watch In Bruges.
White Lotus (HBO Max)- Nothing feels better than judging terrible rich people and Mike White is here to make your judgey dreams come true with season 2 set in sunny Sicily (say that ten times fast) and boy these people are terrible. It’s too bad only some of them die.
Sex, Lies, and the College Cult (Paramount +)- The Sarah Lawrence cult story was one of the weirdest ones in a while and this documentary digs into how horrible and absurd the whole thing was. Pro Tip for the college kids not reading this: When someone’s DAD has moved into your dorm, something has gone terribly wrong. I don’t care how much Postmates he’s footing the bill for.
Listen:
The Prince (Podcast)- Xi Jinping has effectively made himself China’s ruler for life so if you haven’t dug into his past, now is the time. This podcast from The Economist is absolutely fascinating.
Bed of Lies (Podcast)- Just when you didn’t think there could be more horror stories from the early AIDS era, surprise! This is the absolutely awful story of how people with hemophilia were infected with AIDS because… nobody really cared? It’s heartbreaking but important.
Is Big Money Souring Pickleball? (Podcast)- I only know about trends when the Wall Street Journal tells me about them so apparently I’m late to the whole pickleball thing but it’s happening, it’s huge, and this episode is super interesting.
Read:
I, like everyone, miss Grantland daily. I haven’t found a good replacement, and this isn’t it, but The Gist is a fun women-run website that I just discovered that writes about sports without the whole penis-y vibe of most sports sites. It’s worth a shot!
Con men be conning. This time in Monaco so it’s extremely glam conning.