OK, I’ll just be Biden my time.
It’s so crazy my mind keeps trying to explain it away as some sort of alternate reality dimension but, alas, this is life in America today. And let’s be real, during the run to the 2016 election, this is exactly the sort of insanity we predicted would happen and why we worked so hard trying to keep Humpty Trumpty out of that big white house in DC. If only more people had listened. If only…. But we can’t go back and change what happened on that dreadful day in 2016.
What we can do though, is press on and do everything in our power to bring an end to all this crazy. Which is why I’m waiting (rather) impatiently for Biden’s VP announcement. Not that it matters—Biden’s got my vote no matter who he, his team, and the party choose as a running mate. He’s also got the vote of everyone in my household. There are two options on the table: the death of democracy at the hands of bat shit crazy or the status quo. It’s not the dream, but it is an easy choice.
The Dream? The Dream was Real Systemic Change.
I put my whole heart and my (valuable, hard-earned, and very much limited) money on Elizabeth Warren. She was sensible, seemed to understand the plight of workers and working families, and had so many plans. I’m not saying she or her plans were perfect, because nothing can ever be, but the ideas were balanced moves in the right direction and it was refreshing to actually feel like the needs of regular people were being recognized. My heart broke a little when it became clear that Joe Biden would be getting the nomination because I understood that the same old is what got us where we are and that status quo just wasn’t going to be enough to right the wrongs that led to this current administration, or the damage that it has caused in its wake. Biden was the status quo.
But Shit Keeps Getting Crazier.
Now we’re fighting a pandemic with virtually no national leadership. The year is 2020 and the White House occupant at the helm does not believe in science! He tells people not to wear masks and to go about their lives as if nothing were happening. His only concerns are his self-image, the economy, and the money in his own pockets. He has no medical education yet denounces the advice of, and attempts to discredit, well-known and respected medical doctors. A man unable to understand the concept of changing recommendations based on newly acquired
knowledge. He thinks he’s a genius because he remembered five words during a cognitive screening for early signs of dementia. He lashes out like a child at anyone or anything that crosses him. Millions are unemployed and he’s fixated on cutting payroll taxes as a potential solution.
This is obviously not an exhaustive list, but if you’re reading this, you are already well aware of all of this bullshit and more. So to keep going is just preaching to the choir.
The Voice of Average Americans Need to be Heard.
I am by no means a genius and I definitely don’t know everything. I’m just an average United States citizen. Hell, maybe not even an average citizen. A 2018 Washington Post article describes the average American as:
- female ☑
- white ☑
- 52 years old
- holding a bachelor’s degree ☑
- working in education and health services
- earning $889.62 per week
- living in a city
- being politically independent ☑
- tending to vote Democratic ☑
- commutes 26.1 minutes
- is married
- and lives with her spouse
- in a house she or another resident own
- is evangelical Baptist
- disapproving of Trump’s performance as president ☑
- believes Trump strengthened the economy
- but weakened America’s global standing ☑
- prefers a Democrat-controlled House ☑
- and probably won’t vote
I only check 8 of those 18 identifiers for the “average American.” As I sit here writing this, I’m floored by the “probably won’t vote.” That NEEDS to change! Ladies, you need to vote! Not just now, but in every election: primaries, generals, midterms, special elections—if there’s a voting poll open for your district, get in there and voice your vote!
👉You can get registered, check your current registration, verify your party affiliation, initiate requests for mail-in ballots, or even locate your polling place at Vote.org.
But who the hell am I? Just AnnotherVoice—one among millions.
I’m no one special. I haven’t been educated at private ivy leagues and I don’t possess the working knowledge to understand all the intracacies of every aspect of life, government, or business. Does anyone really know it all??
Let me tell you some things I do know.
I know the difference between right and wrong. I know the value of human life. I know that science is real. I know that levels of education do not always equate to levels of intelligence. I know that learning does not end at graduation. I know that I am no better than anyone else. I know what we are all fallible. And I know that we all want a better world for ourselves, and that most of us also want a better world for our children and our children’s children.
And over the course of my lifetime thus far, I have come to genuinely believe that the average American knows Black lives matter and can recognize the importance of issues like true justice and equality for all. That the average American is sick and tired of working their asses off to scrape by while corporate America continues to line their pockets and control the political field at the expense and each and every one of our lives. That we’ve had enough of senseless mass shooting and unwarranted police brutality. That, in the year 2020, we should not still be fighting about things like the value of someone’s life based on the color of their skin, their gender identification, or their choice of adult sexual partners; that young Black men should not need to be educated about police violence just because they are Black, and that young women of any and every race should not need to be taught how to act and dress to avoid getting raped.
I believe each and every one of us is desperately seeking positive change. We just can’t seem to agree on how to make it happen.
So for now, I’m Biden my time, and I hope you will too.
I’m voting the status quo. I’ve had enough crazy to last me the rest of my life, my children’s lives, my grandchildren’s lives—my great, great, great grandchildren’s lives even! Trump is the crazy train to certain death.
Biden is not my dream. But he’s the only glimmer of hope we have right now. I’d have preferred a more progressive agenda—as I said before, I was all in for Warren. Biden’s smart enough to know the majority doesn’t really want the status quo so, I’m hopeful the collective voices of the progressives have been loud enough to be heard. I’ve noted some wiggle towards that end, so maybe this will be the beginning of the real change we all want and need. Change from the ground up instead of the top down. The start of a better America that can work for all of us.
Let’s see what he can do—Biden for President 2020!
Either way, it should, at the very least, get us the hell off this crazy Trump train!
[Links last verified/updated: March 2022]