I got a 6:00am RoboCall asking me — Who are you voting for?
While it was a ridiculous hour it was a fair question to this a lifelong independent voter with a shifting pattern over the last 40 years.
/Ronnie over Jimmy and then again over Walter.
/George H. W. — betraying Dukakis and my Bostonian roots.
Then I showed my love of pie charts and shanked a Perot vote over Bush & Clinton. (In retrospect, glad the nation knew better)
_Shift; Left?
/Clinton over Dole, Gore over W. (hanging chads and all)
/Kerry over W.
/Obama over McCain (Yet know this Maverick, you are missed more today than ever before.)
/Barack over Mitt
/Clinton over Trump
So yes, over the years something changed. Clearly I have voted for a lot of flawed people but something shifted.
Was it me or the GOP?
And this might be what makes me part of that weird voting block that make pollsters and family members shake their head.
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So Mr Robo-caller who I am voting for in 2020?
/I am voting for the kids-in-cages because they can’t, and I have a soul.
/I am voting for the climate refugees forced from their lives because leaders find it more convenient to ignore science.
/I am voting for 20 million Americans that could lose healthcare at the swipe of a pen.
/I am voting for the 200,000 Americans that lost their lives due to arrogance.
/I am not voting for a stock market as the only measure of success.
/I am voting for a government to stay out of a woman’s uterus and for representatives that know love-is-love.
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And because 2020 is my waking hour
This year I have come to the hard realization that I have been clueless most of my life. It has become clearer to me today than ever before that my gender and the color of my skin has given me a fast-pass where others have had to fight to be heard.
And when I am silent, I am complicit.
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So while I invest in learning about my own bias, I will vote against systemic racism and for candidates committed to make it better.
And as in years past, I will look up-and-down the ballot choosing woman and people of color first – So all of America is represented in our government.
Said another way, I am voting for all Americans, not just the ones that look like me.
So next time a “Ben from the Michigan Republican Party” calls me, I am better prepared to answer his question.
– Even if it is not the answer he is looking for.
