A Time For Pondering

 

I have this photo as my screen saver on my big desktop computer. On my big screen it just glows. It was taken in late June of 2019, when everything was good. Well, not everything. But at least we had hope that we could elect a new president in the coming year, we had not yet heard of COVID, and I was still able to spend hours crawling around in my garden trimming those edges you see on that emerald green lawn. This picture makes me happy. 

Pandemics provide plenty of time for pondering. 

I listen to the news on TV and radio, I peruse the daily newspaper, I skim-read editorials from the Washington Post and the New York Times and read a few in depth. I catch other news based articles on Facebook. I do the dangerous thing of reading some of the posted comments. I get an idea of how people of different persuasions are thinking.  Then I worry.

The former president has recently emerged from his cocoon in Florida in order to be worshiped at the CPAC convention. People still love him, or at least say they do. A recent exchange with a supporter on Facebook informed me that it is all about his "policies". I find that confusing, since the former president doesn't deal in policies. But I did urge her to then find another candidate that had similar policies but one that she did not have to sell her soul to support. 

I am getting the feeling that there may be some former supporters who really do want another choice, one without the "Twitter Angst" as a responder on that Facebook post said. That gives me hope.

What worries me more deeply is the move across the nation to pass laws in state legislatures to increase voter suppression. There is a widespread attack on mail-in voting, stricter limitations of voter registration, more gerrymandering, anything to enhance the chance of Republican wins by limiting votes. How can one of our two major political parties claim to be the upholder of our constitutional representative democracy, claim to be the real Americans, the true patriots, when they scheme to win by suppressing the right to vote. 

I support with a monthly donation an organization called "Let America Vote", whose goal is to prevent voter suppression.  Voter suppression is the new battleground. There are many good organizations fighting the good fight for your right to vote. I encourage you to find one to support.