I swore I wouldn’t get into politics this election cycle, but I swear that basically every election cycle, and well, here we are! I want to not care … I try staying removed from it all, even with a hubby whose nine-to-five is literally politics, even as I curse under my breath while pumping gas that costs more than $5 a gallon, and as I channel Lucille Bluth at the grocery store when I spout off, “It’s one banana, Michael, what could it cost, ten dollars?” because the groceries are so damn expensive.
How long will it be before bananas are actually $10?
Fun story — in an episode of The Office from 2005, Dwight was tasked by Michael Scott to pick a cheap health care plan for the whole office. He picked the absolute worst one, because it’s Dwight, and according to Dwight, there is no health care in the wild. Just because I was looking up Office quotes, he said, “In the wild health care is Ow, I hurt my leg, I can't run, a lion eats me and I'm dead. Wow. I'm not dead. [Looks into camera] I'm the lion, you're dead.”
Anyway, Stanley reacted to this terrible, awful, healthcare plan with, “There's no dental, there's no vision, there's a $1,200 deductible.”
I don’t know about you, but in 2024 I’d kill for a $1,200 deductible.
Maybe 19 years from now I’ll kill for a $10 banana.
I’ve been involved in politics for a long, long time. I was phone banking in 2000 at 17 years old, when I wasn’t even old enough to vote for any of the candidates I supported. I got my first paid writing jobs through political activism. I met Justin through the grassroots firestorm taking over this new social media platform in 2008 called Twitter, and a few years later we worked together on a presidential campaign.
I have also leaned right since I was old enough to understand what taxes were. Not because I don’t believe in helping people, but because I believe “the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help.”
I know what happens to those tax dollars that supposedly go to help people who badly need it. Private charities and boots on the ground do so much better work than government entitlements ever could. I’d rather give $100 to a women and children’s center to buy diapers than to the government, who will spend the vast majority of that money on bloated bureaucracy.
I knew what would happen to our health insurance premiums when Obama was going on about Hope and Change. I wrote article after article about how everything was about to change, and not for the better. I went on the radio, I went on TV, I started a podcast, and scoured every bit of information I could out of the bill that Nancy Pelosi famously said needed to be passed before we could find out what was in it.
When I was told that if I liked my doctor, I could keep my doctor, I shouted LIAR to anyone who would listen. It didn’t change things, and now my deductible is $3,200 and I hit my max out of pocket last year at $6,650, which I’m currently paying off on a monthly plan. All I did last year was have a healthy pregnancy and vaginal delivery. When I did that in 2003 with my oldest, it was under $10k in total cost, and a $500 co-pay for the entire shebang. With my 2023 baby? Over $30k, $6,650 of which I’m responsible for. My 2008 baby who was in the NICU for a week only cost about $25k!
Anyway, I’m digressing because I’m still mad about it. But I know that I did what I could to change people’s minds about how to approach health care, and try to convince them that more government involvement was only going to make it worse. I used the most powerful thing I have in my possession: My voice.
And I’ve learned and grown tremendously from other people using their voices too. I have completely changed my stances on a lot of topics, including but not limited to legalized pot (despite what D.A.R.E. told us in the 90s, I really don’t think people are jumping from weed to crystal meth), US foreign aid (we have people HERE who need help first), and help for working moms in the form of subsidized maternity leave or childcare (everyone else is getting subsidized, why are moms LAST??). Maybe we take some of that foreign aid money and give it to mothers working 2-3 jobs trying to make ends meet while also simultaneously consumed with guilt over not being able to spend more than a few fleeting minutes with their kids in between brushing teeth and bedtime stories.
I never would’ve changed my mind on these issues if I hadn’t taken the time to listen to others passionately using their own voices, and I’m so glad that I did.
It was free speech that united me with some of the coolest people I’ve ever known during the covid lockdowns. When the government shut down our schools, businesses, parks, churches, community centers, gyms, beaches, skate parks, etc etc etc, over a respiratory virus that largely only became a serious health concern for the old and/or infirm, we gathered online to try and push back.
And we were silenced by government officials who put pressure on social media to suppress posts or even ban accounts when they didn’t like what someone had to say. Even Mark Zuckerburg recently admitted that Facebook participated in this extreme censorship.
I’m still mad about covid restrictions, especially as a mom. I see the unique ways that two very abnormal years affected my kids who were in very different stages of life when shit hit the fan in March 2020.
But I know I used my voice. Hell, I went to DC to talk to policy-makers to try and get them to change education funding laws so that schools would be required to provide in-person learning with an actual in-person teacher if they want to receive federal funds. No, we didn’t get it accomplished, but we planted seeds and we let our lawmakers know that at least some of us won’t just go with the status quo simply because we were told to.
I’ve always known that having a voice and freedom of speech were important. But until the last four years happened, I never understood how vitally important they were. The founders knew this: They knew that governments get unwieldy, and that it’s up to the citizens to reign them in; and fight against censorship and suppression of information.
Which brings us back to the 2024 election cycle.
Both presidential candidates have said stupid shit and both have definitely done stupid shit. They’ve both increased government spending to out-of-control levels, which is usually my linchpin issue. Neither is what most people would call a “good” person. I won’t go on, because honestly it will just make me mad.
We’re in a really unique position this election year though: Both candidates have served in the White House already. And one of them has actively participated in efforts to squash free speech under the guise of “limiting the spread of misinformation,” and the other one has supported multiple executive orders to protect free speech, particularly in the online space and at college campuses.
So while I don’t like either candidate, and I’ll hold my nose to vote, and it won’t matter anyway because I’m a Californian, I’ll be voting for the candidate with the track record of protecting my right to keep yappin’.
Because sharing our ideas and convictions is quintessential to this human experience, and being able to do it in a public setting is quintessential to this ongoing American experiment. It’s the first amendment for a reason.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
I'm an ex-Californian Dem for 57 years, I've left Ca. For a red state and happy I did, I also changed political parties the Democrat party is unrecognizable from what it used to be. DJT offer's so much more than the other one. We were much better off 4 years ago with him, I feel like we're living in a 3rd world country and I feel we need to get our country back this election or it might be to late. I'm glad you're voting that's so important, thank you!
With the national debt increasing by a trillion dollars every 100 days or so, as shown on the FRED charts, $10 bananas may not be very far away. I'm hoping for $5000 gold.