In a couple of days Phase 1 of the election process will be over. Phase 1 is the part where potential voters are bombarded with politics. It is inescapable. Between the time when I am starting this post and then finishing it I will probably receive 5 - 6 or more emails telling me how angelic one candidate is and how demonic the other is. Television programs and the internet present themselves as news programs but they really are biased electioneering. I particularly enjoy the trite phrases, including the one that says how the other candidate is a serious threat to our country and democracy.
Various polls have been showing for some time that the election is virtually even at this point. Which I find interesting. The latest stats that I have found say that there are 186.5 million voters registered in this country. If the polls prove to be true, that means that each candidate will receive 93.25 million votes. Think about that. Each side fervently believes that they are right and the other side is crazy (crazy is a word that's been tossed around a lot in this election). How is it possible that 93.25 million people see the truth, while the other 93.25 million are crazy? It would probably take a conference of 100 socialists and psychologists 10 years to answer that question. And 93.25 million people would not accept the group's conclusion.
Anyway, next Wednesday Phase 2 of the process will begin. That will involve hundreds of accusations about voting fraud being tossed about. Investigations will be held; suits will be filed, and best of all endless conspiracy theorists will entertain us into the unforeseeable future. Some will even claim to have proof. I'll be 84 next month, and I am mildly hopeful that we will settle on who was elected president sometime before my 85th birthday.
I voted early last week. When I handed in my ballet I was given a sticker that says, "I'm a Georgia Voter - I secured my vote." I wonder what that means? How did I secure my vote? If Trump looses he won't believe my vote was "secured". And I do hope that he looses. Now, living here in the south smack in the middle of a cultural far-right mindset, voting against Trump makes me one of the "crazies." I don't go around publicizing that I'm anti-Trump, and I don't bring up the subject in conversation, but I also will not back down if the topic does arise.
When I left the voting both last week I had a sort of helpless feeling. I would like to be able to do more to defeat Trump, but there isn't anything else. I did have one thought though that kind of perked me up. I thought of the most obnoxious MAGA guy that I know, and imagined telling him that I had just neutralized his vote - made his vote meaningless. That probably should not be a source of pleasure for me but that's the way it is these days, and that is somewhat disappointing.
