The last time I spoke with you, I was discussing how I hit a deer in my car. Since that time, a dear uncle of mine passed away and one of my closest friends who has been in the hospital took a turn for the worse and has been fighting for his life. It’s been a rough spell, and my efforts to find some distraction in sports haven’t been working out. The New York Giants lost another heartbreaker tonight, and this afternoon my son’s travel soccer team was robbed by poor officiating and eliminated from a tournament in the semifinals.
Whenever I’ve peaked at the political news, it has only heightened my stress level. There’s the domestic stuff related to the upcoming election and also the devastation from two huge hurricanes. Events in Ukraine and Israel aren’t showing any signs of improvement or much cause for optimism.
Maybe you can understand why I haven’t been writing over the last several days. I know it’s not just me but all of us who need a break. A lucky break. I guess we’ll get some clarity on where humanity stands in about three weeks. I’d like for the news to be good. I’m kind of invested in this whole humanity thing and it’s a little confusing and demoralizing that about half the American electorate is really only invested in bullshit.
My feelings on this really won’t change no matter who wins the election. But one way lies hope and the other some kind of unimaginable abyss.
The only solace I feel right now is that there isn’t too much more time to wait.
5
Condolences, Martin, on the death of your uncle, and I hope your friend is able to recover. It’s understandable you needed (and need) a break.
I’ve also been struggling with how demoralizing it is that so much of our country is in the grip of a death cult. Yes, we must win this election, but even if we do, there is much to be concerned and even afraid about.
I have greatly appreciated your writing for years, since the Obama campaign, and you do make a difference for my understanding of the political situation we face, and your articles inspire me to make sure I do the work I can as well.
This weekend I traveled from Los Angeles to Yuma, Arizona to canvass in semi-Trump territory. There around 20-25 volunteers door-knocking, and I estimate that we knocked on about 5-6k doors total over the weekend. The local volunteers were very grateful, and we did some quality persuasion and vote-plan assisting. Tiring work, but also satisfying and took my mind off the bigger picture for a while.
It was only the first weekend that there was organized canvassing from California Volunteers driven by the campaign to Yuma. The campaign paid for all of our hotel rooms and food, and I deeply appreciate all the donations that people have continued to make who have allowed that to happen. I gave financially what I could over the past 10 months and then switched to sweat equity a five weeks ago.
I plan to go back either to Yuma or to Las Vegas for the final two weekends of the election, depending on where the campaign most needs us Californians to go.
If anyone reading this blog has been thinking about canvassing, but has been afraid to do it, I highly recommend it. Not since volunteering on the Obama campaign has it felt so good to participate in that way rather than just phonebanking or writing postcards.
Good heroic work on your part, Akamai. We are all so grateful.
I’m sorry to hear about everything that is happening with you. It’s been a pretty shitty year for me, too, and some sort of lucky break with this election would certainly help a lot. It started with losing my dad in July, and it seems as if it’s just been a steady stream of shitty things happening since then. Like you, I’m tired. Being surrounded by people who seem ready and enthusiastic to embrace fascism and all the inhumanity that comes along with it is just a bridge too far for me. I feel as if I don’t belong in this country anymore. A win on Nov. 5 would help, but it won’t solve the overarching problem in this country.
I’m ready for the end of a steady stream of shitty things.
3.5
I am very much, as the Irish say, sorry for your troubles.
The fact that we’re three weeks out from Election Day after a longer than usual campaign (it basically never stopped after 2020) just adds to that feeling.
In my experience, 2-3 weeks before any big action (an election, a union contract campaign, a community organizing action, etc.) is one of the toughest times, emotionally speaking. It’s near enough that the end is in sight, and it’s far enough that you can’t simply lose yourself in the closing tasks. It’s the last time you have enough mental space to worry about everything that’s go wrong so far, and whether there’s a way to fix it (there isn’t). It’s when everyone who isn’t as fully invested is finally waking up to the fact that the deadline is coming, and they’re just now making their decisions about what they’ll do: vote/not vote, vote early/vote on 11/5, vote for Harris/Trump/neither.
It’s also the time when the opposition—*especially* if they think they’re losing—will try hardest to bluff and discourage you. (We see that now with the flood of GOP “polls” showing Trump leading narrowly in all the swing states.)
P. S. For anyone who’s looking for reasons for cautious optimism, I heard (indirectly) from a longtime political observer/participant in northern Maine that they think Harris will win the electoral vote from Maine’s 2nd congressional district. That’s a stretch because Trump won by 7 points in 2020, but if she’s even close on election night then that’s *very* good sign for Harris in places like western NC, central PA, and northern MI.