Outside The Box

 41 days. 

That's all that stands between us and four more years of hell. 

Because hell is what a second Trump term will bring. Four more years of not having any sort of plan to tackle COVID-19. Four more years of wondering if the CDC is telling us the truth about any potential vaccine. Four more years of stoking the flames of racism, hatred, and division and insisting that White supremacists are "fine people." Four more years of DACA recipients, refugees, international students, and TPS recipients wondering if they'll be forced to leave their adopted home. Four more years of press freedom being gradually eroded and press members being attacked and assaulted at political rallies. Four more years of the ACA and a woman's right to choose being constantly under attack. Four more years of misoginistic, racist, and homophobic tweets and rhetoric from the supposed leader of the country. Four more years of kowtowing to Russia at the expense of American servicemen and women. And four more years of restless sleep, constant worry, and emotional distress that we as concerned citizens may not be able to be overcome. 

We know all this. We know that the stakes of this election cannot be any higher. With Ruth Bader Ginsberg's passing, there is a very real possibility of having a Conservative-leaning Supreme Court for the next 30 years. Combine that with a lawless president, a feckless Attorney General, and a subservient Senate Majority Leader, and Donald Trump will have the tools to further erode American democracy in a way that will essentially end the great American experiment. The founders put in a lot of fail-safes but they never anticipated the greatest threat to their newfound nation would be one of their own. With 251 compromised/spineless members of the president's party and the misconceived notion that a sitting president cannot be tried, Donald Trump is now in a position where he truly is above the law. The only way to remove his cancerous presidency is to remove Donald Trump at the ballot box this November. 

How do we do this?

That's where you come in. All of you. All of us. At a time when the pandemic has forced the Biden/Harris campaign to shift away from traditional campaigning, there still are opportunities for those like us to step up our game and make a difference these last 41 days. We may not be attending rallies or knocking on doors, but there are ample opportunities for folks to get involved. Every phone conversation, text message, postcard, ride to the polls, and registered voter, can and will make a difference. Every conversation with your 18-year-old niece or nephew, every conversation with your conservative neighbor who served in Iraq, every conversation with the fast food worker working second shift to support his family, every conversation with the domestic worker here for a better life, every single one of these conversations matter. They matter because they come from your heart and they come from a place of understanding and empathy. They matter because your passion is contagious. 

With these conversations come opportunities and it is up to us to actively seek out these opportunities. Have an 18-year-old nephew not yet registered? Look into seeing if his school has any system in place to help register new voters. Have a parent or grandparent in a retirement community? Safely check in on them and then look into that community's plan for absentee voting. Have members in your neighborhood who are differently abled? Check to see if they have a voting plan and a way to get to the polls. Willing to safely put yourself out there on Election Day? Consider being a poll worker, a job traditionally held by senior citizens. Confident that your blue state will stay blue on Election Day? Find a local race or a critical Senate race to get behind. Have some disposable income? Contribute to the Biden/Harris campaign or another winnable race in a swing district or state. Already voted early? Help get the word out to others in your community about the process and just how easy it was.  

This is our time. This is our country. But we need our people to vote. Voting is the only tool we have left. Many of us are tired. Many of us are frustrated. Many of us are heartbroken. Many of us are all three at once. So take time for yourselves. Take time to recharge. And then get back in the fight. We owe it to Elijah Cummings. We owe it to John Lewis. We owe it to RBG. We owe it to Hillary Clinton. We owe it to Barack and Michelle Obama. We owe it to every single person who has died in war and in peace to move us close to a more perfect union. And we owe it to yourselves. We've come this far and we cannot stop now. The next forty-one days will be a slog. But we have to endure. We have to fight. We have to win. 

And we have to do it in ways we didn't think possible four years ago.