Life: I VOTED! And I’ve encouraged others to vote!

I am always delighted to get a sticker. ALWAYS.

I completed my four sheet, multi-sided ballot!

I reviewed and/or had enough information to recycle my 340+ pages of official voter guides! (I have now also recycled all of the election propaganda that came in the mail!)

I sent letters to 30 infrequent voters, encouraging them to vote through the auspices of Vote Forward!

Vote Forward

Vote Forward volunteers send heartfelt handwritten letters to unregistered and low-propensity voters encouraging them to participate in our democracy. The letters have been shown to significantly boost voter turnout.

I previously made small donations this year to 15 different candidates running for office (all of whom happen to be pro-choice women!), and bigger donations to excellent organizations like Fair Fight, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, EMILY’s List, and ActBlue’s get out the vote drive. I give monthly to the ACLU, who have been fighting in court for voting rights on multiple fronts and for many groups.

Home | Fair Fight

Fair Fight is a national voting rights organization rooted in Georgia. Join our fight for free and fair elections today!

Planned Parenthood Action Fund

Take Action!

EMILY’s List

EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $600 million to elect pro-choice Democratic women candidates. With a grassroots community of over five million members, EMILY’s List helps Democratic women win competitive campaigns – across the country and up and down the ballot – by recruiting and training candidates, supporting strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, and turning out women voters to the polls.

American Civil Liberties Union

Fighting Racism. Reimagining Policing. When the Constitution was written, “We the People” did not mean all of us. Slavery created a legacy of oppression for Black people that is woven into our institutions today – from education and health care to the criminal legal system.

I’m acting like U.S. democracy depends upon this election, because… it does.

Book: Small Blows Against Encroaching Totalitarianism, Volume One from McSweeney’s Books

Link to SBAET, Volume One at the McSweeney’s Store

Small Blows Against Encroaching Totalitariansim, Volume One
from McSweeney’s Books and 22 contributors
published by McSweeney’s Publishing
2018

This compact collection of heartfelt essays was compiled after the first year of DT’s presidency. Each essay concisely (in as few as two pages!) reflects the individual inspiration to vote of a range of writers, poets, and journalists.

Their inspirations and concerns are diversely progressive: calls for kindness, democracy over fascism, the potential of refugees and immigrants to achieve their dreams, the injustice of war, the ongoing fight for LGBTQ+ liberation, the reclamation of language, the climate crisis, science, and more.

I used to think of collections like this as merely ‘preaching to the choir,’ but I now appreciate the sense of community and thoughtfulness they provide in a landscape in which perhaps 40% of the country believes in conspiracy theories and white supremacy.

(I was certain I have Volume Two, but it is small enough to be hiding in any number of caches of books around my home… If I can find it, I’m sure I’ll find some solace in it.)

A subtext to the essays, delivered directly or implied : DO YOUR PART TO MOVE US FORWARD. Real change won’t happen without you!