I’m with Michael Moore.

I think most American voters are well aware that the GOP has gone completely off the rails and that they have decided, in no uncertain terms, that DEMOCRACY will prevail when all the votes are tallied in the days following the upcoming 2022  midterm election.

Universe/God/Great Spirit help us if we’re wrong!

ARE WE BETTER OFF NOW THAN TWO YEARS AGO?

YES, YES AND YES! I have been far less stressed, distressed and depressed since President Biden took office. I think most voters feel the same way.  Having a sane, sensible guy in the Oval Office has caused one big global sigh, and it isn’t hard to figure out why.

Yes, inflation is high, but it’s high globally because of the ongoing pandemic. It could, and will, be mitigated here in the U.S. as a result of the actions Congress took this year to pass the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act (neither of which a single Republican voted for, I must add!) but it will take time to show up in our lives.

But high inflation won’t trump citizens’ sense of relief, I don’t think.

I think this is the first time in many of our lives that the average American feels that the federal government (whose policies we support with our taxes) is taking better care of us. It has been a long time coming, and the GOP is responsible for the delays.  We need to vote them out of office — especially the 147 who voted to not certify the 2020 election just HOURS after an armed insurrection, created and supported by the immediate past president, who was impeached twice for malfeasance in office. Trump a financially kleptomaniac menace and wannabe tyrant and those who “had his back” are equally accountable for backing his worst policy inclinations. It’s time to clean House!!!

So for the next ten+ days I am going to be back on pins and needles with all crossable body parts crossed, hoping that Michael Moore and I are right about the mood of the electorate. If we aren’t, our founding fathers will spin in their graves and Ben Franklin’s warning will come true. When he was asked what kind of political system they had just hammered together in Congress after years of squabbling, compromising and bartering, he responded, “A republic…if you can keep it.”

It’s our turn to defend the system of government that they envisioned. We’ve already IMPROVED it — by getting amendments allowing women and people of color to vote (and to count as whole Americans, not just as 3/5ths of a human being), by declaring that all citizens should have the same rights (e.g., to marry who they love, to get appropriate medical care, and more) — but there is still work to do. If we can get the Party of NO packing their bags, we can pass laws that give everyone equal opportunities to achieve life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And although that has never happened yet, it remains an ideal and a goal, and it can be achieved when the racist, sexist, misogynistic, xenophobic, LGBTQIA+-phobic obstructionists are voted out.

May that happen in the next ten days and again in 2024.

Time is short and the water rises.