Having A Voice

I VOTED TODAY, for what its worth. I voted straight democratic, including Hillary, in my small southern conservative state, and I voted in favor of legalized marijuana and gambling casinos, both of which, along with the democrats, will probably fail, here in my small ultra conservative southern state. But, I feel better for trying. Let's raise minimum wage, fight climate change, regulate wall street, fix Obamacare, forget the wall, stop attacking everybody, and keep religion out of government. I feel patriotic. America works. America is great because America is good, and so forth. The very small town where I voted was very busy at the polling place, which tells me that the early voting idea is really catching on, and that most likely a surprisingly high percentage of the American people will already have voted come election day. That bodes will for Hillary Clinton. Now is the time to be ahead, in politics, in the polls, with voting already underway. Its weird, knowing that your vote is meaningless; my state is going for Trump, and for republicans, and that's that. I cast my vote trying to elect five electors, and lost, while in other states voters are voting to elect dozens of elector college members. Eventually, we'll do away with the electoral college. But I still feel better, knowing that I have a voice, and that my voice has been heard, even if I'm the only one who hears it. One can expect nothing more than the opportunity to express oneself; nobody is required to listen or pay attention. No matter what happens in this election, there is going to be a great deal of anger and acrimony and arguing across freedom's land over the outcome of it, which should be sufficient to fill any good American with a certain sense of dread. Alas, the insults and anger and incivility have but barely begun. We'll be lucky if the next president, whichever one it is, doesn't get assassinated, just like we're lucky the current one hasn't been. America's right wingers are truly angry about now, and their anger is only going to get worse, say, about two weeks from now. Even if the Hillary people reach out to the trump people after the election, which Bill Clinton recommends, the anger will not vanish. The anger of America's right wing at Obama has for eight years been absolutely ridiculous, inappropriate, and indicative of low moral standards of personal behavior, and we must expect more of the same with President Hillary. In the unlikely event that Trump is elected, hide in your basement, to avoid the rioting in the streets. Either way, we're in for a rough and rocky ride.