It's 2018. Get To Work

Happy New Year.

Now get to work.

Find your local Democratic candidates for these levels of elections:

• State House
• State Senate
• State Governor (where applicable)
• U.S. Congress House
• U.S. Senate
• Any special elections or offices where party identity matters

Make sure you know what your district(s) are, especially at the state level, because gerrymandered districts make that confusing.

A good place to find your candidates is this site ActBlue: It has a directory of fundraising for U.S. House and Senate seats, Governors, and the State House and State Senate seats.

Go and meet or listen to the candidate(s) in your district/state. Make sure they match well with your interests and concerns, and their willingness to clean Republican corruption out of every level of government. And yeah, make sure they're not batshit crazy (elections can bring out the whackos, as trump clearly demonstrates).

Figure out how much time and effort you have to volunteer. Campaigns are still about footwork, paperwork, phone calls, passing out car stickers, and heavy lifting. If you can't volunteer, at least donate and at least show up for events. At the most: Spread the word about the candidate(s) to your friends, co-workers, fellow students, the news media (via letters to the editor), everyone you know to ensure people have an interest in getting the vote out for them.

Above all, do this:

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, SHOW UP TO VOTE.

Midterms have been disasters when it comes to voter turnout. It's gotten to where only the obsessive voters, the hard-line voters, the wingnut voters are the only who vote. Which is how we've gotten into this mess.

SHOW UP. YOUR VOTE MATTERS. YOUR FAMILY'S VOTES MATTER. YOUR FRIENDS' VOTES MATTER.

And make sure you all remember this:

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DO NOT VOTE REPUBLICAN.

Don't let my personal apostasy convince you. Look to their actions, America, and despair.

The Republicans are the ones who just passed a tax cut bill despite a majority of US citizens- including a large number of Republican voters - begging them not to. They do not listen to their OWN CONSTITUENTS when they gleefully pass unpopular bill after unpopular bill. Because they don't care about voters. You're just cannon fodder who show up and vote partisan because they've hardwired the nation's psyche to be partisan.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DO NOT VOTE THOSE REPUBLICANS BACK INTO OFFICE.

The Republicans are the ones who threaten to "go after" Medicare and Social Security, claiming reforms when in fact they plan to destroy those social safety nets that help our elderly retire, our families healthy, and our futures assured.

For the LOVE OF GOD, Republicans hate things in government like Medicare and Social Security that work for those making under $100,000 a year. Why should any of us who are under that income bracket - that is 75 PERCENT OF AMERICANS - ever vote for THAT (if economic anxiety is truly our concern)???

The Republicans are the party that voted for trump.

trump.

On this point alone, the entire party is unforgivable.

I hope more than my seven regular readers see this article.

This is it. No more moping, no more dreading.

Fight back.

Vote Democratic. Vote Blue. Vote to change Congress from cowardly Republicans to country-loving Democrats who will hold trump accountable for his crimes and fix the damage McConnell and Ryan have done.

Get to work.