Well now that we’ve exposed that blasted white elephant that’s been hiding her bits behind a tea towel in the corner all year, let’s move on.

Hang on to your hats folks, because it’s going to get a wee bit political ‘round here.

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First, watch this little video, then pull up a chair and lets us have a little talk. I gots me some stuff to say.

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Alrighty…you done now? Comfy? Need a drink? Hungry? I made brownies last night… You’re good? Okey dokey then, lets get started.

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I can’t vote. Doesn’t matter how badly I want do, or how informed I am, or how much this election personally impacts me and the people that I love. It’s irrelevant how I feel about the environment, or the war, or healthcare or equality. I can’t vote. [can you believe they let a tiny little thing like citizenship get in the way of something this important. sheesh]. I can’t vote, but you damn well better be planning on it, because if you don’t, quite frankly, I’ll kick your apathetic, complacent ass somewhere you’re not given the option. Don’t think I don’t mean it.

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As the election date draws near- as I see more, and read more and discuss the issues with a wider range of people - I am filled with an ever-deepening understanding of the importance of this election. I don’t think that it is possible to overstate the magnitude of what will be decided in less than two weeks. The outcome on November 4th has the (near guaranteed) potential to change just about everything.

I’m a liberal. I know, I know, you’re surprised, right? My very first post on this blog stated “I’m so left wing I think my right side is beginning to atrophy from disuse”. Yes. I’m just another loving-logical-left-leaning-lesbian-liberal…

Among other things, I believe in equality for all without exception, that a woman deserves control over her own body, universal access to quality healthcare, that we’ve got to take responsibility for the health of the planet we depend on for life, that everyone should have the ability to make a living wage, full separation of church and state and that we need to get the HELL OUT of Iraq.

If I could vote, I would NOT vote for John McCain.

[I’ll just give you a moment to digest that shocking piece of information. You really didn’t see that one coming – did you?].

Quite honestly, I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket represents one of the most insidiously dangerous possibilities for American leadership I have ever contemplated. I’ve studied both platforms in depth and the choice, to me, is painfully obvious.

If you are planning to vote Republican - especially if you are in possession of two X chromosomes - I have to tell you that I am deeply mystified and confused by your choice.

The McCain platform represents the antithesis of what I believe in as a feminist, as a mother, as a woman living in this world. I have read and researched and listened and I don’t see or feel my core values represented, in fact I see them ignored, dismissed as unimportant, or utterly trampled beneath masochism and theocracy and black and white ideology that doesn’t even come close to representing the very real, beautiful shades of gray world that I live in.

I have talked with many, many people who are planning on voting Republican, and almost without exception their choice has been simplified down to one issue. Gay marriage. Abortion. The War. Which candidate happens to be a ‘better Christian’. The fact that ‘something about Obama just makes me nervous’.

And I want to warn them, “step back and look at the big picture!” Examine every detail of the platform. Learn how McCain and Palin have voted on legislation that impact our earth, our health, violence against women, our economy, our children. Research how they have spent taxpayer funds during their time in office. Examine how well their platform and past history align with those of the Bush administration and think long and hard about whether or not you want four more years of the same shit that got us in this mess for the first place. Leave off the hot button issues, take it all in, take a deep breath and think again. Please, think again.*

I’m living through American election fever for the third time in the almost-decade that I have called the US my home. Once again, I’m on the inside and the outside at the very same time. Caring deeply, knowing that the results affect me as much as they do anyone with an American birth certificate, wanting desperately to make a difference, but still able to stand apart from it all because I carry a different passport. But that fact does not give me a ticket to sit back and let it all pass me by. On the contrary, it gives me even greater responsibility to do what I can to create the change I want to see in the world.

I am struck today but a quote from Martin Luther King Jr.

“We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late.”

I feel confronted today, with the fierce urgency of now. With the fear that if this election swings the wrong way, that in four more years it might already be too late.

This election matters, and matters greatly to so many people. To gays and lesbians who are being prevented from obtaining equality, to families without healthcare for whom a simple illness can mean financial hardship or ruin, to soldiers fighting – and dying - in Iraq and the families waiting at home for them, for the water we drink and the air we breath and the planet that must sustain us. This election matters to me, and to you, and to our children. Tomorrow IS today, and it has never been more important to stand up and speak your truth.

NOW is the time. THIS is the place. YOU are the one.

LIVE with intention. CREATE change. MAKE a difference.

VOTE.

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*I don’t normally expend time and energy debating with decided Republican voters though, and although I’m very interested in hearing from both sides, I won’t likely do it here. Not because I don’t believe in the power of respectful debate – but because time is short, and I have to make a choice about where my energy is most effectively used. I’ll answer questions all day long if you’re undecided or if you really want to learn more – but if all someone wants to do is argue with me about how I’m wrong and they are right (while all along I’m thinking I’m right they are wrong)…that’s just not a good use of my precious time. To loosely paraphrase the ever pragmatic Julia* ‘There’s no sense arguing with squirrels” at least I think that’s who said it – hope so ‘cause I use this quote all the time and if it wasn’t her I’ve been giving her credit for years.