I'm With Her

Tomorrow, Tuesday, is one of my split-schedule days.  I teach from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and I come home pretty exhausted after 12 hours of teaching and office-ing.  (Thursday is my other split.)

Anyhow, tomorrow night I'll being going to bed just when America is waking up to go and vote.  I think I can say that now, above all else, I'm just kind of numb.  Hillary's numbers look good, and the signs of Hispanic turnout for early voting is truly moving.  Beyond that, competent ground games really do matter and Trump does not have one.  Having a rally and throwing out red meat is actually pretty easy to do, if you think about it.  Registering people to vote, reminding them to vote, driving their elderly grandma to the voting station, and handing out sample ballots for down-ticket races is not.  It's really fucking hard work, and Hillary and the people around her are not shy of hard work.

So those are the thoughts that will be going through my head as I pass out tomorrow night, wondering if I'll still have a country to go back to the next morning.

And as much as I'm optimistic about Hillary's chances, what's clear is that even if Trump loses America is (in Trump-speak, no less) a permanently damaged brand.  The fact that a fascist vagina-grabber even had a shot at the presidency tells you everything you need to know about the United States in the early stages of the 21st century.

I'll let Barbara Kingsolver have the last word in what I'd say is a must-read piece, "End This Misogynistic Horror Show":

"I’m horrified to watch the bizarre pageant of my nation pretending these two contenders are equivalent. No one really imagines Donald Trump applying himself to the disciplines of the presidency, staying up late reading reams of legislation, instead of firing off juvenile tweets. It’s even harder to imagine Clinton indulging in the boorish self-aggrandisement, intellectual laziness, racism and vulgar contempt for the opposite gender that characterise her opponent. If anyone still doubts that the inexperienced man gets promoted ahead of the qualified woman, you can wake up now.

This race is close. Polls tell us most Americans believe Trump has sexually assaulted women (to name just one potential disqualifier). A majority also believe Clinton 'can’t be trusted', for unspecified reasons. We’re back to the ancient conundrum: a woman can’t be that smart and commanding, so either her womanliness or her smartness must be counterfeit. To set that hazy discomfort next to a sexual assaulter and call these defects 'equivalent' is causing my ears to ring as I write."

Hillary may be imperfect (who isn't?) but she's fought like hell.  And lest we forget, she's been being attacked for over two decades now.  And it all started because she wasn't interested in baking a batch of fucking cookies like a good little housewife.

I'll always be proud to say I voted for her.