This is just a small note today to emphasize one really important task for all of us in the US sometime between now and November 8th.
Please vote.
Our early voting begins on Thursday in Tennessee, and many states are already opening the polls.
Even if you are busy, even if you tend not to vote (especially in the midterms), even if it is a royal pain in the butt to get to your local polling place, please, please go this time.
I know it seems like it doesn’t make much difference, and I know that most of the time things sort themselves out and the pendulum of public opinion sways back and forth….so like, what’s the point.
Well, this time, I believe it really, really matters. We have to show that we are not asleep at the wheel and that we really do care about having our voices heard.
Women need to be heard. Teachers, farmers, latinx Americans, moms, African Americans, poets, nurses, plumbers, writers, LGBTQ Americans, seniors, baristas, students all need to be heard.
And we get to be heard when we vote.
People ask me a lot what’s the most important thing they can personally do about climate change. There are lots of actions we can (and should) take, but no matter whether your main concerns are around climate or education or reproductive rights, or discrimination, or healthcare, or worker’s rights, the most important thing you can do is vote.
And this year, it’s not even policy that is getting me to the polls. It’s all about character and decency. It’s also about preserving even the right to vote - to self-determine our governance - that is on the ballot. Before any of those policy-issues can be debated, we have to make sure that those who represent us are doing so in good faith.
There are many on this year’s ballots who have already told us they will not act in good faith. They will not honor the results of an election if it doesn’t go ‘their way’.
This is just flat-out crazy, and we can’t let those voices drown out ours.
Please share your voice by voting.
Sooooo important. This year more than any other I think. Thanks for sending this out! <3