Published by annieasksyou
I've been a nonfiction writer for many years, exploring diverse topics that pique my curiosity, as noted in my first blog posting (Greetings!). I'm seeking dialogue with others committed to joining me in this exploration, sharing my conviction that different views can be exchanged in a respectful, civil discourse where we can learn from one another and be agreeable, even when we disagree. These postings depend for their enrichment on your participation: your ideas, insights, knowledge, opinions, and personal stories.
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Soon we crest the hill. Prepare for the drop!
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I’m prepared for anything, Richard; remaining hopeful.
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I’m not worried beautiful lady! I took two young men with me to the poll today. At eight in the morning there were as least 100 people in line. There were six that greeted me by name along with two friends of Ace that were in their typical happy mood. Sometimes I lose tract of the wonderfulness of is. My bad for spreading it.
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Thank you, Richard! I just heard the first indicator: Dixville Notch, NH, cast all five of its votes for Senator Maggie Hassan. Good sign!
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Annie Asks You…..
The truth is and has been, in off year elections/the mid terms, the voting population shows up only about 50% of the time. However, this time, there might be a very large turn out compared to previous mid term elections.
Annie you are correct in your conversation that suppressing the vote with lies and or fear is the way elections are controlled to another’s favor.
If there is fear in the headlines it stirs the fear in the streets. Though the fear is real it should activate not freeze voters like deer staring into a high beam.
A very good and close friend said that they couldn’t see voting for a candidate but wouldn’t for the opposition. I’ve heard this claim before in many previous election cycles. We discussed the issue and some cause of his real concerns and in the end I pointed out that by not voting you have voted for the greater of the 2 evils.
I have held my nose to elect those I did not like against those I could never trust to lead as I think our country needs to re-invest in its strengths and not crumble to its most malignant thoughts.
Democracy is enjoyed everyday by the people of this country. We have struggled to have it and to keep it alive. It is made secure by our commitment to fending off all attackers. It needs to be celebrated at the polls. It’s the way we make it work. It is our civic duty to defend it at the ballot box and not watch it dissolve from within.
Politics has always been a dirty game and well championed by both parties. Much of the time more by 1 than the other and especially in local campaigns.
It comes down to you can scare some of the voters all the time. Scare all of them sometime. But you just need to scare enough of them at voting time.
FYI. The early voting looks as it can be on par with 2020 and those registered as Democrats have vote at almost a 2-1 to Republicans and in some places, Independents. We will know more soon enough.
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Thank you, Charles. You’ve pointed out two key issues about voters’ attitudes: the feeling that they must be enamored with a candidate in order to support such a person; and the (very understandable) tendency to be swayed by attempts to scare them. I saw a statement that I liked: “Voting is like playing chess: you make moves toward creating the country you want.”
I’m hoping the majority of voters feel about democracy as you stress. The early returns have been encouraging.
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Annie, here are some random thoughts from my post today. Keith
The day to officially vote has arrived in America. Will America take a step back from its democracy or will it say to some belligerent autocratic thinkers enough is enough? Here are a few thoughts, again from an independent and former member of both parties. I mention this often as I want people to know I have some conservative bents around financial stewardship and progressive bents around civil rights and opportunities.
Please vote, if you have not doneso already. If you have, well done.
If you care about our planet and battling climate change even more, please vote.
If you care about the civil rights of all people on our shores, please vote.
If you care about the right for a woman to choose what to do with her own body, please vote.
If you care about healthcare access for all Americans, please vote.
If you care about financial programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, please vote.
If you care about requiring more truthfulness and civility in politics, please vote.
If you want to people to address real issues rather than contrived ones, please vote.
To be frank, the halls of legislature no longer are filled entirely with people with good morals, ethics and sense. We have some folks we are not only less than competent, they are more than mean-spirited. Sadly, we have hundreds more just like this lot who are running for office today.
This last statement is unnerving is as Bill Maher put it so well, this is how autocracies start, by electing the people who have sown seeds of doubt. As Maher said the other night, Hitler and Mussolini were elected into office and brought along like-minded folks.
If anyone touts the former US president’s bogus and unproven claims of election fraud in this election, they should not be voted for. Full stop. They are purposefully gaslighting you to get elected, just as the former president has done all of his adult life. He did not just wake up, run for office and start deceiving people. That has long been his modus operandi. This is why I did not vote for him in 2016 or 2020. I want my president to be more truthful than not.
We have one Senatorial candidate who is against abortion, unless it is his baby and he needs to pay to get rid of it. We have one Senatorial candidate who as a doctor on a TV show was hauled in front of Congress for peddling snake oil miracle cures that were untested and harmful to people when taken with other drugs. We have another Senatorial candidate who owns a gun shop, presenting a fairly significant conflict of interest, but also has posed a even tighter nationwide abortion ban.
People need to look at the candidates and vote. Even if you don’t agree with me on all issues, please vote. The problem with elections in America is not fraud, it is not enough people voting. That has always been the case. One party does not think that.
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We have one Senatorial candidate who is against abortion, unless it is his baby and he needs to pay to get rid of it
I guess the official position is now that abortion should be banned unless necessary to save the life of a Republican politician’s career. In Walker’s defense, it seems that all along he’s been one of the major funding sources for the US abortion industry.
If anyone touts the former US president’s bogus and unproven claims of election fraud in this election, they should not be voted for
One of the striking things about the recent Brazilian election is that Bolsonaro apparently considered claiming he really won and the election was stolen (as Trump did), but every major right-wing leader in Brazil made it clear that they accepted the election results and would not support Bolsonaro in challenging them, so he abandoned the idea because he knew his challenge would get nowhere if he had no support. The fact that so many politicians in the US are enabling Trump’s lies suggests that the institutional commitment to democracy among the US right wing is actually weaker than among their Brazilian counterparts. Rather surprising considering that Brazil was a military dictatorship within living memory; democracy is a recent innovation there.
From what I’m seeing, turnout around the country is running very high. A positive sign.
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Hi, Infidel. I’ve had the same thoughts about Bolsonaro and Brazil; the distinction is both maddening and saddening.
Abortion may well turn out to be the “No, dammit—we haven’t forgotten this!” issue the pollsters and pundits missed. That and a genuine preference for democracy and civility—with Social Security and Medicare topping off the surprise.
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Well done, Keith. You are a dependable and thoughtful voice.
I completed my direct voter efforts this afternoon and can now return to timely responses to my fellow bloggers.
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Remember when we all went end of the world in 1999? I woke up with a terrible hangover on Jan 2 2000 and nothing had changed except the time. No hangover tomorrow !
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Sorry, Ohio is lost for the foreseeable future But Illinois should see increased traffic for their abortion providers. I was so looking forward to watching Tim try to out- Manchin Manchin. I guess like gambling and pot we will join the rest of you last.
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I’ve been hearing discussions about whether if the Dems had given him money, it might have made a difference. Some say the spread was too high—and that’s just Ohio—others say the far-right’s pouring $ onto Vance made his run impossible. Anyway, he ran a terrific, creative campaign. I did have your Manchin worry, though.
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I think the Manchin thing was definitive. The big boys didn’t see anything in Tim that would be easier than dealing with JD. I think they may have been right, JD is completely transactional.
Losing those 3 Supremes will cost use dearly in the log haul. Women’s rights will soon be gone here in Ohio for awhile. Upside when clinics come back they will be state of the art.
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