Your vote is sacred

Public testimony submitted to the Michigan Board of Canvassers, Nov. 23, 2020:

“Your vote is sacred.”

From the time an American is a child, we are told this untold times. Our parents instill these words in us when they take us to accompany them to the voting booth. Our teachers tell us this when we learn how our government is work — or is meant to work — in our school rooms. Candidates promise us this when they come begging for those votes. I heard countless lawmakers — Democrat and Republican — utter these words on the House floor when I worked for the Michigan House of Representative for seven years.

by bawieland

Election Eve: Let’s be reasonable

‘Twas the night before Election Day and all through the land
Hardly a person was feeling good – not a child, woman or man.
The polls had be read, re-read and discussed at great length
The candidates dissected, all their weaknesses and strengths.
The Democrats lay awake unable to sleep in their beds,
as visions of doom replayed in a loop in their heads.
Trumphumpers, instead, gathered in their masses
Not wearing their masks and behaving like asses.
That left only me, neither worried nor rallying
But confident that soon all the votes would be tallying.
It’s true, the calls to disturb the election with violence are troubling,
And I don’t like the thought of a violent uprising bubbling.
But I have been reading the signs and I like all the portents
And to expect good news – I just think it makes more sense.
So worry if you must, and stay up all night fearing
But I’m willing to bet that soon we’ll be cheering.
So to the good-hearted, the just, the exhausted, the ones dying of fright –
Be of good cheer and look forward to election night!

by bawieland

What would you say if…

Spinoza says that ALL things MUST happen exactly as they do because of everything that came before. We humans are a part of nature and not apart from it, and beholden to the same laws. That includes things like how you react to people who look different from you. Or what you will have for lunch tomorrow. Or who we vote for.

by bawieland

Be not afraid

I can’t allow myself to slip into despair. It’s just not a place I want to be. So I began looking for a branch to grasp on the slide down that hill. And I turned to, of course, Spinoza. Because what use is philosophy if you can’t use it when you really need it?

by bawieland

Welcome to Dystopia

Can I be honest, guys? There are moments I don’t recognize my life anymore. I don’t mean moments where I think, “Huh, isn’t this different?” I mean moments of dissociation where I wonder if I’m living the right life, or if I somehow got body-swapped into some other, horrible place and time. Because the life that I’ve been plonked down into is both strangely familiar and terrifyingly foreign, and I don’t want to be a part of it.

by bawieland