LRN64 - The Big Day
Elections Matter
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Hello dear readers! Just dropping in here to quickly remind you, if you haven’t already or somehow forgot that tomorrow is Election Day in the United States
TOMORROW IS ELECTION DAY!
Please make sure you have a plan to get to the polls tomorrow and cast your ballot. There are many things at stake this year and the future of our democracy hangs in the balance. I know I’ve said that several times now, and it might seem like hyperbole, but it is true. Project 2025 isn’t just another policy document that may or may not be used in a second term for the Former President. It is the playbook. Although it was published in the last few years, the policies within have been crafted over decades by right-wing, Christian* conservatives, to tear down the separation of church and state and make America a white, Christian*, nation.
Some may say, but why does that matter? How will it affect me?
I’ve written about this many times, but I’m going to boil it down to one issue. I realize that we should not be ‘one issue’ voters, but this time around there is one issue in particular that demonstrates the forward motion of the Christian* Conservative movement in America and how that movement seeks to take away every single right that we have as citizens if it aligns with their vision of a Christian* nation.
Abortion
Abortion has been a wedge issue for 50 years. The Christian* Conservatives worked in the shadows for 5 decades to tear down the right to choose. And then, in 2022, Roe v. Wade was overturned with the Dobbs Decision, but Republicans won’t stop there.
The next battle is to criminalize birth control and IVF (despite what you might hear from scared politicians trying to win votes.) What we know now is that removing the ability for pregnant people to have abortion care touches almost every aspect of pregnancy, miscarriage (natural abortion), birth control, and even other aspects of healthcare in general. Removing Roe also criminalized pregnancy in general, and has caused women who want to have children harm and, in some cases, death when their pregnancies enter detrimental territory.
This is not made up. It isn’t being hysterical. It is a fact. If you would like to read more about all the ways that the Dobbs Decision has affected women’s healthcare in the United States, click here: A Review of Exceptions in State Abortion Bans: Implications for the Provision of Abortion Services (kff.org)
Overturning Roe v. Wade was not the end of the conversation on abortion in the United States. And it will spur a number of other Christian* focused decisions moving forward if we don’t put the guardrails back in place in the next term. I know there are many people who are reticent to vote for a democrat OR a republican, but at this time the only way to continue fighting and protesting is to elect VP Harris to the office of POTUS. Another term from the former President will result in the inability to make any progress moving forward at all. Republicans would likely seek to restrict (and perhaps even prosecute) any form of protest that is currently legal under the Constitution. Again - not hyperbole or hysteria - truth.
So, please make sure you have a plan to vote. Bring your friends, family members, neighbours, and anyone else you feel safe picking up on the way to your polling place. The more people who vote, the more democratic our country skews.
And for a very moving and important piece of media, please click through to YouTube to view this short (only 23 minutes long) sad, moving, motivating movie made by Nazrin Choudhury: Red, White, and Blue. It is worth the time to understand what we are facing here in the United States and what will continue to get worse if we don’t vote blue tomorrow. Thanks to my mom and dad for sharing that link with me last week!
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