Even The Smallest Person...
Well, I showed up to PT yesterday and had two employees say they were surprised to see me, they thought I’d be in Canada by now. And then ask if I was okay. Like I NEVER talk politics there, a public setting, because you never know who will bring the wrath. But these people just know me well enough by now to know I am gutted. And that, at least, made me smile, when not much else has.
My little brother is a Libertarian - (Idk why, his kids rely on government aid and insurance, but ok) - so he told me that he was voting for Gary Johnson. I argued that Clinton needed every vote, that a third party vote was wasted. He said it wasn’t a wasted vote, it’s a vote for your candidate. I was like, “But your candidate will never win.” He said winning isn’t the goal for him. How? How can a poor, father of two, social issues activist think that way? In an election like this?
So I told him the following - (paraphrasing obvs) - “Okay, I know as a severely disabled person who has been disabled from birth, I will be one of the last to get my benefits cut. But if I do - even if I just lose prescription insurance - I can’t afford my liver meds and without them, I will die. If I die as a direct or indirect result of Trump being president and you voted Gary Jonhson, because ‘winning isn’t the goal’, then you are not welcome at my funeral. And I am not fucking kidding.” He responded with some grumbles and blahblah, but hoy boy, I am NOT fucking kidding.
I may be safer than most in that area - though as a poor, disabled, government dependant, queer woman, I am far from safe - but my brothers and sisters in the disabled community are about to have their health insurance gutted. In our disabled community - because my brother has fibro and bone spurs. We are about to lose people, lose lives, the way we have been losing people in England and no one is talking about it. And it’s not just the disabled, but every marginalized group out there that is about to have their life put in danger, because some people like my brother don’t think winning is the goal. Or ‘vote your conscious’. If all of those third party or absent protest-voters had voted Clinton, we wouldn’t be in this mess right now. And I don’t want to hear a single word from any of them. They forfeited their right to be upset by this outcome. They were warned.
After he was declared president, I made my sister promise that if I do, in fact, die as a direct or indirect result of Trump’s policies, that she is to put the following sign outside of my memorial service: “If you did not vote for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 elections, you are a part of the reason that my sister is dead and, per her instructions, you are NOT welcome at this service.”
She promised she would.
And now I leave you with this thought - the deed is done, so let us bond together and protect each other and amplify the voices of the marginalized and stand for those who can’t. And fight. We will take our country back with love, not hate. Let’s form a really big fellowship and throw the goddamn ring in the fire!
My little brother is a Libertarian - (Idk why, his kids rely on government aid and insurance, but ok) - so he told me that he was voting for Gary Johnson. I argued that Clinton needed every vote, that a third party vote was wasted. He said it wasn’t a wasted vote, it’s a vote for your candidate. I was like, “But your candidate will never win.” He said winning isn’t the goal for him. How? How can a poor, father of two, social issues activist think that way? In an election like this?
So I told him the following - (paraphrasing obvs) - “Okay, I know as a severely disabled person who has been disabled from birth, I will be one of the last to get my benefits cut. But if I do - even if I just lose prescription insurance - I can’t afford my liver meds and without them, I will die. If I die as a direct or indirect result of Trump being president and you voted Gary Jonhson, because ‘winning isn’t the goal’, then you are not welcome at my funeral. And I am not fucking kidding.” He responded with some grumbles and blahblah, but hoy boy, I am NOT fucking kidding.
I may be safer than most in that area - though as a poor, disabled, government dependant, queer woman, I am far from safe - but my brothers and sisters in the disabled community are about to have their health insurance gutted. In our disabled community - because my brother has fibro and bone spurs. We are about to lose people, lose lives, the way we have been losing people in England and no one is talking about it. And it’s not just the disabled, but every marginalized group out there that is about to have their life put in danger, because some people like my brother don’t think winning is the goal. Or ‘vote your conscious’. If all of those third party or absent protest-voters had voted Clinton, we wouldn’t be in this mess right now. And I don’t want to hear a single word from any of them. They forfeited their right to be upset by this outcome. They were warned.
After he was declared president, I made my sister promise that if I do, in fact, die as a direct or indirect result of Trump’s policies, that she is to put the following sign outside of my memorial service: “If you did not vote for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 elections, you are a part of the reason that my sister is dead and, per her instructions, you are NOT welcome at this service.”
She promised she would.
And now I leave you with this thought - the deed is done, so let us bond together and protect each other and amplify the voices of the marginalized and stand for those who can’t. And fight. We will take our country back with love, not hate. Let’s form a really big fellowship and throw the goddamn ring in the fire!