As you read this today (I wrote this last night), we are 108 days away from the November 2018 midterm elections. Polls continue to show high levels of Democratic enthusiasm, and the future hold the prospect of a world class bummer for His Lowness and the GOP 109 days from today. But, not so snide, Clyde.
The Republicans have a secret weapon, and it’s been battle tested in many a previous, usually midterm, campaign. If they can’t win with enthusiasm and ideas, they win by voter suppression. They make their piddly ass vote total bigger by forcibly making the Democrats total even piddlier, through voter suppression. The very fact that the Russians in 2016 went to vote suppression to help Trump is incidental evidence of collusion in my mind. How in the hell would the Russians know anything about voter suppression, much less how to accomplish it on their own? Here’s looking at you Brad Parscale!
Normally, the Democrats pump themselves up with the idea that this is the time that Lucy won’t pull the football away, and then console themselves afterward with the thought that one of these days, she’s going to screw up, and boy, are they gonna be ready.
But this time, the Democrats have a secret weapon of their own, Donald Trump. The Tiny Thumbs Diktator has unleashed an energy and sense of purpose in the people in this country that can actually tie their own shoes that no inspirational speech could ever hope to match. And just like the magician and his cup, every time he empties it, he waves his magic wand, and presto!, it’s full again.
Most of you already know that I live in Las Vegas, and no, I visit the Strip about as often as someone who lives in Orlando goes to Disney World. At least twice a week, I pootle the 1/2 mile from our apartment over to the Walmart to pick up some things. And for the past 4-6 weeks, most of the times I or we have gone up, we’ve been stopped by a smiling young man or lady with a clipboard, asking us if we’re registered to vote. The first time we were stopped, we used the young woman to update our voter registration with our new address. These people are unfailingly cheerful and polite, and I always offer them a thanks and a high five.
And it’s not just at Wally World. A couple of weeks ago, there was one of them standing in the shade of a tree at the corner of Boulder and Flamingo, and last week, there was one in the parking lot of my complex. They seem to be multiplying like mold on soft cheese, and I love it.
And this is Vegas we’re talking about people. In July. I think Vegas is where NASA tested their probe for the upcoming mission to to the sun, to see if it was strong enough. Every day is at least 105, and we just finished a streak with some 110 days in there. And yet, here these unsung heroes are, putting in the sweat equity for a favorable outcome in November.
This is how you win. One of the easiest ways for Republicans to suppress the vote is by making it as difficult as possible to register. Just because people may hate Der Gropinfuror doesn’t mean they want to spend 3 hours at the DMV registering to vote, so the activists are bringing the mountain to Mohammad.And it’s just starting. Cable news stations are starting to feature a trickle of stories about activists, already mobilizing to take older people, or those without vehicles, over to the DMV to get their voter ID cards. And I’ve already seen a couple of clips of Indivisible groups, as well as others, getting volunteers, and setting up the mechanics to get people to the polls on election day. The Republicans can only make it as difficult to vote as the rest of us let them make it. And this time around, people are hell bent for leather to make them pay.
Great orators like John F Kennedy and Martin Luther King can make the soul soar with lofty words, and inspirational speeches. But nothing, and I mean nothing, can spur direct action like a fucker that you really, really hate. And so I say, Thank you, Mr President!
