IS VOTING ALONE ENOUGH?

Sorry for a lot of what appears to be radio silence on a busy news week. I had a long week at the paying job and didn't really have the time to comment on a lot of things.

By now you've heard more than enough people telling you that it's necessary to get as many people to vote in the midterms coming up in about nine days. Some go further in saying you should vote a straight party ticket regardless of who's on the ballot. In the meantime we've had a week that included mail bombs being sent to Democratic politicians and some other people important enough to be on electoral vote winner Donny's (a/k/a" the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago) enemies list, which ended with the capture of Cesar Sayoc Jr in Florida (whose van was covered with a mix of Trump stickers and certain liberals with crosshairs on their faces) as well as yesterday's horrific shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Add to this Donny's implication that the media brought this on themselves by treating the right wing badly as well as voter suppression efforts hell bent on helping the Repubs and it seems that many of us are facing an uphill struggle.

It's in this framework that many on the liberal to left leaning side are focusing on the electoral side of things. While I agree that this election is important (we are not anywhere remotely near normal times) I do fear that the focus on elections overlooks the need for protesting the injustices around us. Yes, I get (and accept to a point) those who want to focus on turning out the vote. In this go round it's necessary to get as many people as possible to completely blindside the chance for stealing the election on the homefront. However, it's also necessary for people to peacefully protest and take to the streets since those in power aren't willing to listen to their constituents.

As for those claiming people need to suck it up and go Democratic, even volunteering to get out the vote for them, it's a noble thing to do but it's hard for some people given that the establishment Democrats are not making it easy given their tendency to cut deals with Repubs (such as Schumer agreeing to fast track conservative judges just around the time the Kavanaugh hearings happened) rather than do the work of fighting every little thing Donny wants (y'know - what the Repubs did under Obama). That's not to say that both parties are the same but people do want someone to vote for rather than against and that's something the Democrats should take into account in 2020 and beyond.

So should people vote if they're able to? Of course they should. Should they protest the policies of electoral vote winner Donny and his minions? Of course. What should be avoided is the impression that merely working on elections is more important and imply that there shouldn't be people protesting. That doesn't help anyone in these times.