Kamala Harris/Tim Walz

“Do Something.”  This phrase says it all about the next 70 or so days.

Mn Gov. Tim Walz and U.S. V. P. Kamala Harris in support of candidate MN Lt Gov incumbent Peggy Flanagan, Minneapolis October 22, 2022.  Both Peggy and Tim won reelection in Nov. 2022. (Snapshot by Dick Bernard)

NOTE to non-voters, independents et al at end of this post.

First: 1) Voting information for any state: VOTE.GOV  2) A brief and very interesting history of political conventions comes from Heather Cox Richardson for August 22, 2024; and her August 24 post discusses the just completed Democratic Convention.  3) here’s a self-assessment sheet to help remind you of what offices you can vote for this year: Office Holders: Candidates.  (Except President/Vice-President, your list, will be unique based on where you live).  4) My post on Tim Walz, most recently updated August 23.  This will be my ‘file cabinet’ on Tim.  Read the third (“filing cabinet”) paragraph.  5) My long-time friend in England, made an interesting comment to my August 18, 2024 post, with his views about the American and English political systems,  I set it aside as a post of its own on August 19, and made it into a brief dialogue you may find of interest.  It is presented with his permission.

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Late in her speech to the Democratic Convention on Thursday, August 22, 2024, Kamala Harris accepted the nomination for election as President of the United States.

I am a person who respects process.  Until VP Harris accepted the offer, she wasn’t officially the nominee.  Now it’s official, and Gov. Tim Walz is her running mate.

No surprise to anyone who knows me, my vote is Democrat.  Democrat in my lifetime has always been the party for the people. This year in particular the slate is exceptional.

I don’t consider myself to have ever been a true passionate activist.  In the “scrum” of the population, I think I would be in the moderate left.  The graphic at the end of this post, which I’ve used often since I drew it in the 1980s, catches me well.  This year I attended and participated in all of the local political events, from school board to primary election to being set to serve as an election judge if needed Nov. 5.  I’ve always been ‘on the court’.

I have often said that the sometimes  ragged appearance of the Democratic Party is much more a positive than a negative.  It is not easy to be a ‘big tent’, accepting differing points of view sometimes completely at odds with each other, sometimes with the party itself..  We are an extraordinarily diverse country, and Democrats welcome debate, and work for peaceful resolution.

We resist efforts to restrict access to or interference with the secret ballot to select our representatives.

This election is the first time I’ve ever suggested voting  straight ticket Democrat for all offices.

My opinion: there is no longer a Republican Party worthy of the name, and until the formerly Grand Old Party is taken back by more reasonable folks, it is a mistake to vote for anyone under the label “R”.  I have these specific concerns:

1. An almost absolute lack of respect for truth and the rule of law.  DJT campaigns for election after being found guilty of numerous felonies, under indictment for numerous other infractions.
2.  Specifically, anyone who voted in any way to deny or reject the 2020 election results, or supported election denial, does not deserve support.  See page 5 of this NPR article from Jan. 7, 2021: Election Deniers Jan 7 2021 NPR0001.  Also, here.  There were over 120 of these folks.  Two of these were in my own state, one of the two is deceased, the other (Fischbach) remains on the ballot.  Here is some data on state legislatures.  At minimum, get on-record the comment of your candidate on the issue of denial of legitimacy of 2020 election and on laws restricting access to voting.  If any of these candidates are on any ballot, they should be publicly confronted.
3. The Nuclear Bomb in our midst in this election is Project 2025, which the radical right wing rolled out very publicly some time ago, and which they are seeking to temporarily distance ithemselves from, even though the project remains the blueprint for a hoped-for future of authoritarian control of the United States.  There is a great deal of information available about this immense and dangerous to democracy proposal, deadly to all, including its supporters.  The Kamala Harris website has a summary well worth your time.  An organization of which I’m a long-time member, the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers, has developed a well done flier, which I share with their permission: STOP PROJECT 2025

Finally, a few days ago I did a post featuring a comment from a long-time friend in England about the two political systems, English and American.  It is simply a conversation, but I think worth your time.  You can read it here.

The end of this story is in all of our hands; the evidence will be after November 5, 2024.

We, the people, own the result, November 5, whatever that turns out to be, for our nation, our state, our community.  It is the people we elect who will make – or not – a better world for all of us.

I urge a well-informed vote for all of the offices on every ballot.

NOTE TO NON-VOTERS: in 2020 over 81 million citizens voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for President/V.P.; over 74 million for the opposing candidate. Some voted for issues and candidates that had no chance at all to prevail.  Over 75 million eligible voters didn’t vote at all, and 2024 was the highest total vote in history.

We’ve all heard the reasons why people don’t vote.  No need to recite them.

A truth: in a democracy like ours, in fact, every one votes, whether or not they show up to mark a ballot.  Effectively non-voters of any type, including those who truly vote ‘independent’ for some candidate who has zero chance of winning, are giving their proxy to the two parties whose candidates names show up on virtually every ballot for every office in this nation.  They forfeit their right to participate, and are rolling the dice that the candidates elected are somewhat more inclined to their position, than the opponent.  Their non-vote is accepted….  But it never makes any sense for the absent voter.

No candidate, no party is perfect, particularly in a society such as ours with so many diverse opinions on multitudes of issues.  At minimum, speak with the voice you have on a ballot in each and every election in your community.  Whether you vote my way or not is not as important to me, as your actual vote.  See you at the polls.

POSTNOTE:  I am a citizen who’s paid attention to politics from the grass roots perspective.  I’ve written often about political topics here.  If you are interested, and wonder what I’ve been thinking over the years at time of recent Presidential elections, here are some posts archived at this site which I think are most pertinent.  (use Archive tool at right): Hillary Clinton July 31, 2016, including link to my thoughts about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in 2008; about Donald Trump July 19, 2016;   about Joe Biden and Kamala Harris August 20, 2020; about Why I’m a Democrat August 1, 2020; about the “T’s” (what was left of the former Republicans August 2, 2020.

Political Scrum 2024

POSTNOTE: Many years ago, my friend Joyce passed along a link received from her daughter in California.  It was Just Above Sunset, and it’s proprietor was a retired middle management person who grew up in suburban Pittsburgh, and retired in Los Angeles.   Several years ago, Alan retired from his volunteer passion of distilling the national news for people like me.  Often I referred to his work here. Recently Just Above Sunset appeared in my inbox again.  This time another highly skilled retiree out east, Doug, started sharing his work under Just Above Sunset heading.  His blog, Weekly Sift, I’ve come to find as useful as the old Just Above Sunset.

The most recent three posts from the Weekly Sift are offered and worth your time, if you wish.  It is easy to subscribe to this post, and of course easy to manage.  Following are the links to the three,  Take a look at least at one of them; note the authors bio.  August 26; August 26 (2); August 26 (3),   These are three separate posts on the same day.  You can subscribe.  It is worth it.

I will continue to write as things occur to me, but will likely back off from distinctly political stuff.  Doesn’t mean I’m not interested.  Right now the objective is best to clarify your own beliefs and work to get out the vote Nov. 5.  No election is routine.  This one especially.  Early voting in many places, including Minnesota, starts about Sep. 20.

I was at State Fair today and will likely post about that tomorrow.  I have another post in the works about “The Forgotten Tribe”, probably this week, and perhaps for Labor Day a piece on teaching, especially given Tim Walz status.

Have a good week.