Get The Damn Vote Out: 2022 Blue Wave Edition

I keep saying "Elections matter" because guess what, they do.

There has been at least since the 2008 election cycle a glaring reality - one that our mainstream media refuses to admit, because they dare not lose "access" to Republican elites - that one political party - hint Republicans - has gone batshit insane. Obsessed with retaining power even as they sink into political minority status, the modern GOP has sunk into conspiratorial alternate-reality mind screws of their own making. We've seen what happens when they had trump pose for them as their standard bearer in the White House, and it wasn't pretty. And the Republicans want the nation to go back to that... permanently.

We're at the point where Republicans are openly pushing an agenda to pass a national abortion ban - to hell what they said about states' rights - to make every American woman second-class breeding stock, and going after Social Security and Medicare as though those safety nets for our elder citizenry are threats to the Far Right's Way of Life.

We're seeing what Republicans are doing at the state level: attacking gay/lesbian/trans teens as Dreaded Other; wrecking school curricula by denying any texts that dare call out our nation's racist history; and persecuting/abusing legal migrants from Central/South America through political stunts, harassment, and lies.

And Republicans are going after everyone's power to vote, because they know damn well keeping voter turnout down is the only way they can stay in office.

This is what Republicans want, and this is what they think will keep them in minority-majority rule for the next 10 100 years.

We dare not let them win.

We've seen what happens in 2018 and 2020 when voter turnout exceeds Republicans' desires. We've seen it happen this year in Kansas already, where a massive women's turnout flipped a midterm amendment referendum on abortion on its ass. 

Massive voter turnout by Democrats and left-leaning Independents work. Massive voter turnout keeps our nation's democratic traditions alive. Massive voter turnout defeats a lot of Republican attempts to steal away our rights.

There's a lot at stake this 2022 midterms, especially at the federal level: If the Republicans gain control of either the House or Senate (or worse, both) then our government becomes logjammed and nothing will get done. The Republicans - grown increasingly rabid under trump's leadership - have already promised retribution towards President Biden for what they feel is partisan attacks on trump for what are in reality legal investigations into trump's misdeeds. They will do everything in their power to hinder, delay, or break up any current investigations into trump's role in the January 6th insurrection; they will press hyperactive attacks on Biden's son Hunter to weaken Joe Biden's standing among voters; they will stage vote overrides of Obamacare and every big-ticket bill Biden just got passed this year knowing full well Biden's veto will save them from whatever disasters would happen if any of those bills were repealed.

It's imperative that Democrats retain control of the House. This may not be likely, due to the extreme gerrymandering that happened in Red and battleground states like Texas, Wisconsin, and Florida. But it IS possible for Democrats to blunt or reduce that gerrymandering, by reaching high turnout numbers that negate the district rigging. Voting for the U.S. House matters.

The U.S. Senate numbers are slightly better only because gerrymandering doesn't affect state-wide votes. There's even a likelihood the Dems can increase their 50-50 status in the high chamber with two (and even four) seats flipping Blue. It would secure any need for Biden to fill more judicial and executive vacancies without Republican interference: It could include enough left-leaning reformers into the Senate who can end the filibuster logjam mechanics and free up future Senates to vote more clean and effective bills into law. Voting for the U.S. Senate matters.

It's harder - I will admit this - for elections to affect the state results, especially in Republican-held states that have gerrymandered everything across every corner of each state. But turnout can still work, especially for the state-wide Governor races. If Dems can gain enough Governor seats, that can setback a number of extremist legislative bodies from doing further harm to their states (although as Wisconsin and North Carolina showed, a lame-duck GOP lege can try to strip Governors of enough power to weaken such changes). Voting for the Governors and state-level legislatures matter.

Let the call go out to every registered Democratic and Indy voter: This midterm matters. Voter turnout matters. Get the vote out, and do everything you can to prevent the Republicans from denying your access to the ballot box.

If the Republicans win, this could be honest-to-God the last honest election the Republicans will ever let us have.

As a personal note, I am currently in the path of a massive Hurricane Ian that threatens to shred central Florida. If I don't make it out alive, I want a promise, I WANT YOU TO PROMISE ME AMERICA, I want a promise that 69 percent of you - Democrats, Left-leaning Independents, Pro-Choice and Pro-Immigrant Republicans who are still out there (yes you are) - will show up this November and vote a straight-down All-Democratic Blue Wave ticket.

GET THE DAMN VOTE OUT, AMERICA.

And for the LOVE of God, do NOT vote Republican at any level. Blue Wave 2022!

Good luck.