Since I live overseas, I applied for my Absentee Ballot while in the US during May and finally received it in the mail today.
Like many elections I’ve voted in, I find I am voting against someone, not really for a candidate. But this election has given me someone to vote against not just because of his policies, or I should say lack of any specific policies, but because “this guy”, as they would say in the neighborhood, is so despicable as a human being.
I know there are many who find his opponent untrustworthy but when I think not just of the future of the Supreme Court but of how the world, apart from Putin, would view the United States with a leader so unfit to govern, that I find there really is no choice but to add my vote to canceling out some misguided individual in New York who can’t accept the fact that the United States is no longer the country that was reflected in TV shows like Leave It To Beaver or The Ozzie & Harriet Show. There is no “taking back” of America. It has moved forward into the 21st Century just as it is meant to. It is a land of hope, equality, and freedom for all its citizens and those who come to its shores for refuge and better opportunities, just like my grandparents and all the other immigrants who sailed into its harbors or disembarked at its airports and yes, even walked across its borders. That is the greatness of America, not the picture painted by a racist, sexist narcissist.
There are problems in the US but they can only be solved by someone who understands they must bring people together, not push them apart.
There is no mystery in whom I am voting against. The only mystery to my way of thinking in how did this sleazy individual ever capture the nomination of a major party and be in a position to possibly govern a country that stands for everything he is not.
There are those of you who may disagree with me, which is your right in a free, open democracy. But it is because I believe in that free, open democracy that I will cast my vote against someone who seems to think belittling critics, demeaning opponents, disrespecting people of different races and religions, and preying on women is proper conduct. That is not only unacceptable in my eyes but downright immoral.
There is a place for people like him but it certainly is not as the head of state of the most powerful nation on earth. My grandfather, a naturalized citizen of the US, took pride in his right to vote in every election. I, too, take pride in that right and so do not want to waste my vote by abstaining. Instead I will vote my conscience as I hope all citizens of whatever country they reside in will do.
And as they say at the end of every State of the Union Address and at ball games, too: God Bless America.
Leonard Durso 
That pretty much sums it up for me too. I can’t not vote either. If the stories passed down through the family of Great Grandma marching for the right to vote didn’t get me I think my dear departed mother would haunt me for the rest of my life if I ever missed a vote. 🙂
Good for your mother and very good for you.
The proper place for Trump is in a psyche hold hospital, and locked up for good…
Amen to that.
My theory is that Trump is only there so Hilary can get elected (manipulated by the real powers behind the scenes as usual) – no way she’d ever get in otherwise with her track record. Glad I’m not faced with that choice (I’m UK) – God help the world either way!
Personally I would have liked to vote for Bernie Sanders, even contributed to his campaign, but those “real powers” made sure he didn’t get the nomination he deserved.
Absolutely! He was my favourite contender by far, but figured they’d never let him get to a position where he could get elected. Mind you maybe that’s just as well for Bernie – he’d have probably quickly ended up like Kennedy.
Politicians with integrity are always at odds with the party bosses.
Well said, and I too will never utter his name from my lips. He needs to disappear. His morals are beyond deplorable! He acts like this is an extended version of his reality show. It’s a circus!
This is the danger of those reality shows. They make celebrities of people like him.
Exactly!
It’s ridiculous!!!
Claire, I read an article a while back in a local paper where ex-president Clinton (a Democrat) called ‘him’ and encouraged’ ‘him’ to run when he was undecided. It was meant to be a ploy to make Hillary look good/better. Trouble is the Republican party wants nothing to do with ‘him’ because ‘he’ is a loose cannon. We all hoped ‘he’ would long gone by now. It just goes to show there is still major under-current secretly hating, secretly for segregation, secretly for ethnic cleansing, secretly for everything the US has struggled for so long to dissipate. Having ‘him’ spew ‘his’ venom is giving rise to the under-current that has been suppressed by unification. ‘He’ is definitely a bad influence and making quite a spectacle of the US.
I shudder to think what the news overseas says about the US. It’s embarrassing! 😳
Since I am overseas, I can confirm that it is embarrassing.
Sigh…
I shudder to think of the outcome.
Make your vote count.
Be safe.
Happy weekend!
Thanks. Enjoy your weekend, too.
☺ 🌷
Thank you Leonard! I agree completely, and you have said it so well here. There is no choice but to vote!
Yes, it’s a right we should all exercise.
I agree. I usually hold my nose and vote. This time I think I will need a space suit.
Ah, good idea that.
Yay!!! Good for you.
I am a Canadian, and can’t vote. However, my entire country is riveted to this election.
You say you are voting against someone, not for someone. I hope what I am about to say makes you feel a bit better about your choice.
⭐ I adore Hillary Clinton. She is a role model to me, & a beacon to all that women can achieve in a largely male dominated world.
The woman is strong like an ox, made of kevlar. Trump crushed all of the Republican contenders like pathetic ants beneath his feet. One by one they crumbled. fell & gave it all up to him. They were weak & ineffective against his bullying.
Hillary is a super ant.
Trump is a pair of size 20 shoes that can’t squash this super ant.
Apparently, his hands are too, big for ant crushing, as well!
Thank you, Resa, and I know she is a role model for many women. Personally, though, I would vote for almost anyone other than Trump. He is, as you say, a bully and not the kind of person one expects to find in a leadership role of a major country. He is the exact opposite of what the US should stand for.
I adore the USA, and all it stands for.
Best to you, the USA, and I await election day results!
Me, too. It’ll be another sleepless night for me here.
It boggles the mind, really. Glad to hear you’re doing your part and voting from afar.
Thank you. You can’t have an opinion about the government if you don’t participate in the most basic way by voting.
The big difference,Ol’ bean, is that he perceives right from wrong. The strength of his Righteousness is equal to the Elitists…..yet opposite poles. Many a furtive evil dart about under fallen leaves and thrive in the state of chaos. The killers’ is adept in spotting weakness,and goes in. It’s their job. Just look around and hear them screaming for Barabbas. It is the American Patriots who are under attack, and Donald is the defender,just like when you punched Gus in the arm and said,”You leave my friend alone!” Then his sister came along and took sobbing Gus Seyfert away. I felt sorry for him,but you did in effect, stand up for a friend. I know we’re on opposite sides “politically and that’s cool. It has to be. To your continued Health!
To yours, too, Tom. America, the world, is big enough to accommodate different opinions as long as we’re all on the same side striving for peace and understanding. Don’t you think?
Hear! Hear!
Thank you. And Yes! Yes!
God help America -and the world. I am not American, I can’t believe a so called first world country could put itself in this position. For the sake of the planet, all you right minded Americans have to vote !
Let’s hope the election goes the way the polls indicate.
Leonard … Don’t know if you have read this recently published book but it might help understand the bewildering phenomenon of such a person gaining any traction at all. 🙂 Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
No, I haven’t. I’ll check it out though on your recommendation.
I disagree with those who are either not voting or casting a vote for a third party candidate which is essentially a vote for Trump. I have many concerns with HRC but the option is unthinkable. She is sane and reasonable, he is a buffoon and possibly bordering on the sociopath. There has never been a more important election, we must stop Trump.
We are in total agreement.
A lot of us are voting against him…not for anyone. We have to stop him because he would destroy the country and he is disgusting beyond belief.
I am in total agreement with you.
Wise words, Leonard!
I should mind my own business or maybe it is really my business – still surprised how he is running for potus – please stop him, you won’t regret it, the whole world will appreciate it!
I will do my part. Hopefully the polls are right and he will lost, but this is not one to sit out.
It is a choice politically of which is the lesser of the two evils. Though I think neither one is suitable and wish Bernie Sanders did get to run, I’d even vote for Ryan if he got in but I will never vote for a man that reminds me of Hitler and is an idiot on top of all that. I can just see him tearing down the White House to build a hotel.
I know the choice is not favorable but she at least has decorum and experience. I just hope to God that she wins. She a little reluctantly has my vote.
Great Post, at least I know she has a shot at it.
I, too, would rather have Bernie Sanders but one must deal with the choices available. And a third party vote is a vote for Trump so I voted for Clinton. Sent in my ballot today.
I am voting for her because she is perhaps even better qualified than Obama. Wall Street? She was there. She knows how the Street works and how those within think, so she is better able to deal with them and thus shut them up about regulations.
The focus on Trump has obscured the real fact of this election. A republican victory would be an apocalypse for the poor and working poor, and those above won’t be in much better shape. Concerns about Sec’ty Clinton and Wall Street? Under Trump, Wall Street will establish an oligarchy that would take decades of suffering to undo.
I agree about Trump which is why I sent in my vote for her yesterday.
We too, just cast our absentee ballots for HRC who, although she carries some baggage, really was the only sane choice in an election that started out with a faintly comic twist and then fast became the nasty, minority and religious name-calling contest that would turn back the clock on women’s health and reproductive rights to the 1960’s. We’ve watched every debate and from the first it was frighteningly clear that the GOP has moved far to the right of their venerable hero Reagan (and who would have thought he’d look like a moderate?!) and that Hillary really was the only one who could carry on with Obama’s legacy. Only a few weeks to go but I’m afraid that the fall-out after the election isn’t going to be pretty either! Anita
Unfortunately those Trump supporters are now out in the open and won’t go away even if he loses. There are too many in the Republican Party quite willing to take his place. How the US will ever recover from this campaign season is anyone’s guess.