For those who need it, the precise beauty of a spider web’s heart and a flower caught therein. Peace in the dew.
And for those who in fact want to hear my thoughts on the election, a few below. Simple and personal.
- Many people say, “Trump was a businessman,” meaning he’ll run the country well. There are a few types of businesspeople. Some invent, some run organizations, and some buy and sell. Trump bought and sold real estate. He got money from his father to start, borrowed the rest often inflating values of his properties, stiffed his vendors all the time and failed more than once. Has never led people or managed an organization; not the kind of businessperson to lead a country.
- It is becoming apparent that a crew of billionaires have become addicted to power and are no longer content with buying all the things. They want to run things. Trump’s primary PAC is hugely funded by Musk, Adelson, Mellon, and Uhlein, while Harris is funded much more by grassroots voters. Peter Thiel backed Trump’s VP. And in what felt like the final straw, yesterday the Washington Post’s billionaire owner, Jeff Bezos, quashed his editorial board’s endorsement of Harris. If the press won’t save us, gotta do it ourselves.
- Finally, these Trump guys creep me out big time. Tucker Carlson says that when Trump is elected Daddy will be home to give the bad girl a spanking, while Trump himself says that he “loves” women, and will “take care of” us. No thank you. We all know what that kind of “taking care of” by immoral men in power means.
I’m not even going to address reproductive rights, foreign policy, mass deportations, or the idiotic idea that tariffs can fund our nation without costing taxpayers. Or, oh yeah, the fact that tax credits for the middle class that are due to expire but he’ll reup the credits for the wealthy. We know all this.
I don’t expect to convince anyone, but on the other hand I doubt that many of you need it. At this point in the election, convincing will be done by people talking with their mouths to people listening with their ears. So if you’ve got people in your community who are persuadable, maybe one of my personal points, or a fraction of one can help.
And now, actually finally, if your community tacks more to the left, here’s an announcement that may sway them.
Have a wonderful weekend. I have to believe that’s still possible. We are human beings; we can and must live in community. All my best to you, your family, and your friends.
51 Responses
Thank you Lisa.
Canada crosses her fingers and toes and holds her breath–wishing our Southern neighbors good sense and good luck.
❤️
You are very welcome. I hope some of the abundant Canadian good sense makes its way to us!
Hello Lisa, Thank you for the most succinct and persuasive summary of this election. Selfishness and meanness have always surfaced in elections, but never even remotely so much as in this one.
–Jim
p.s. A couple of days ago I checked and my remote Ohio ballot was received and counted.
Jim, thank you for making the effort to vote from so far away. Sherrod Brown was my dad’s favorite, so, an especial thank you:)
Kamala-Walz all the way.
With as much joy and strength as we can muster!
God, I love that answer.
Onward, my friend, onward!
Thank you, Lisa
You are very, very welcome.
Thank you, Lisa, for posting the link to that endorsement — very heartening.
All of us here in the States who believe in its Constitution and ideals have our work cut out for us, and well beyond the election too. We have to keep our eyes on the ball no matter how well things might be going. Just as love should be an action and not just a feeling, so must democracy.
I agree. I really never knew. The Constitution and our assumption that we even have rights, I had no idea it was going to be so easy to shake. There is work to do, but many of us have woken up.
I’m just hoping I can sleep again after November 5. That’s been so difficult lately. I guess my second-worst fear is that Trump won’t concede if he loses and we’ll have a repeat of January 6, 2021.
The flower caught in a spider’s web is art and such food for thought.
A tenacious little spider has built a web on my front porch — and rebuilt it twice as the wind has intervened.
I can’t help but root for her, you know? I’ve spent most of my life afraid of spiders but have made friends of sorts with this one, eating breakfast outside each morning. She no longer runs away when she sees me, at least.
I hope you have a lovely weekend. ❤
Oh, Jess, I hope for sleep for you too, after 11/5! And peace and justice. I love the story of your tenacious little spider. Long may she thrive. She is persisting:).
“She is persisting” — that was exactly my thought. :)
We’re going to a remote cabin the weekend after the election. Did it four years ago. The Saturday when it was called for Biden our son called to tell us. He was holding his phone out of his window so we could hear the dancing that had spontaneously taken over his block. Hoping for the same thing!
We voted early and will take off for a week in a cabin next Sunday. I would have liked to be out of the country and in a more peaceful spot for the election week, but a cabin in the woods will suffice. No TV, no news, no social media. The news will sift through nevertheless.
Fingers crossed. Have a wonderful time in the remote cabin.
So disheartened by the Washington Post’s last minute (!!?!) decision to not endorse despite its own editorial staff’s protest.
I think it’s possible this might be a good thing, that the visible proof of billionaire power might motivate some formerly on the fence voters. I’m also often too prone to see the good side of things, but it doesn’t hurt to consider.
Had not thought of that perspective but it is so blatant maybe a maybe Harris will move yes Harris?
I, the eternal grouch, saw the play as a win for the orange base: “Look how powerful! See how strong he is? see how he will protect us from the big bad men around the world? see how he stomped on “the enemy from within” [his words]? they’re all scared of him, see? see?”
Brava. Your reasons sound far from eccentric. Indeed, they’re eminently logical.
I dropped off my ballot here in Oakland two weeks ago. I wish I could say I’m cautiously optimistic; there are too many idiots in this country for any flavor of optimism. But I am resolved.
Thank you. If optimism is unavailable, we are left with resolve, I agree.
Unsubscribe me please.
Maggie, I can do that, but one question. Do you not have a link at the bottom of the email to unsubscribe yourself? That can often be the most effective way.
Thank you, Lisa, for such a persuasive argument for the right choice for the future of our country. Hopefully, those who are undecided can still be convinced. My ballot in Pennsylvania has been received- now we wait.
Thank you for voting in Pennsylvania. I got so anxious I revved myself up to phone bank, and wound up calling into Pennsylvania. People were great, but so fed up with getting calls:). Best way to avoid them is to vote early!
I’m very nervous. I’ve been leaving the outdoor spider webs too..and have found them fascinating. Excellent post.
Thank you. Let’s all hope the spider webs can somehow bring us luck.
100% KH. Anyone that can support a criminal to hold the highest office in the land is just not thinking straight.
It’s so perplexing. Is it wrong information? Or is it determination to ignore correct information? And a criminal is one thing, but an unrepentant, defiant criminal is another thing altogether.
Not eccentric at all. Intelligent and thoughtful. Thank you. Just back from a trip to North Lake Tahoe for a family wedding at the gorgeous Edgewood resort, and then the Berkeley City Club for a week to see friends. It’s cool and rainy in Seattle, really a lovely afternoon and evening. Yesterday I was in San Francisco for a haircut. When I rose out of the Montgomery BART station, the autumn sun, the fragrance of the air, the slant of the light, made me think, Oh this is my town, and I miss it. By the time I left the city four hours later, I realized it has changed and I have changed, and maybe is no longer my town. When I took a walk after my Lyft dropped me at home this afternoon, I thought, Maybe this is home now. I’m in a middle place, but feel a shift toward this place. Like @KSL (Kathy) above, I’m very nervous about the election. Tomorrow I’ll fill out my ballot for Harris/Walz. Even if they win, we have much work to do. I think a lot of it is convincing people that they can replace fear and hate with love. So many of us are so far apart. I’d like us to find common ground and connection. I think those things exist. xo.
Your trip here sounds perfect in a way, you came, you remembered what you loved, and you discovered that you have perhaps moved past your belonging here. I’ll admit, I’m nervous too. And I too want people to break their addiction to fear and resentment. To return to being neighbors.
I’m not at all sure [yet] that Mr. Bezos wants to “run things,” it’s more like he’s using avoidance so he won’t lose control of…well, this from today’s NYT re WashPo quashing endorsement:
“In 2019, Amazon sued the Trump administration, blaming Mr. Trump’s animosity toward Mr. Bezos for its loss of a $10 billion cloud computing contract….The businesses Mr. Bezos founded, including Amazon and Blue Origin, his aerospace company, still compete regularly for lucrative government contracts. Blue Origin executives met with Mr. Trump on Friday, Blue Origin has a $3.4 billion contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to build a lunar lander.”
And what does the T chorus sing re those multiple pesky felonies of which he was convicted? “Politically motivated,” so they don’t even count.
I keep trying to find a way to retool my machine so I can live through the next 4 years of chaos, if. I wasn’t ready for the first 4, now I know what to expect. Even so, how does one prepare for one brutal shock after another?
Yes, maybe he doesn’t want to run the press, exactly, just step on it to allow him to get enough government contracts so he can run Mars;). I read the best article, by Ezra Klein, who points out that people love Trump because he “is who he is,” i.e., he’s fully disinhibited. His first term, the people around him inhibited his behaviors, because he’s also mean and racist and not very intelligent. His second term would be organized very specifically so that no one could contain him.
I do not know to prepare for brutality, except to be prepared to fight or give support to the fighters. The chance of calm and a return to a unified country under Trump is zero.
Perhaps that’s what is making it worse this time. Last time, we knew it would be bad but THIS BAD was unbelievable. Now we know how bad bad is….
Thank you for such an articulate post. My vote logged in AZ on the 24th (tracked it!). But so anxious.
Thank you. And you are welcome!
Reason # A Million: preserving the integrity of our judicial system. Onwards!
Concur. Onwards!
Everything you say here is true, but I have come to the conclusion, over many years of study, that both candidates work for the same “team.” Trump was ushered in as a “useful idiot” to divide and conquer the people. Back in the early 2,000’s people were beginning to realize things were seeming very “uni-party,” so Trump was brought in to divide. If we are divided, we are easier to control.
Ah. I feel as though the candidates are on very, very different teams. The easiest way to control us is trying to get us not to vote, no?
Not interested in your political opinions, whichever way they may lean. Very disappointing that you chose this format to try to persuade others others one way or another.
That’s interesting, inasmuch as I’ve talked about my political beliefs here before and I’m kind of always trying to communicate my thinking on this blog, of one sort or another.
Thank you for posting! Already voted thanks to permanent absentee status. I am so hopeful I will get to celebrate Kamala and Tim soon!
IMO, the quality we most need in a president is someone who knows how to run a team of people to get results because the presidency is not a one person show. The second requirement is they should have a law degree since they are responsible for making (not breaking) law, so let’s know something about the legal world.
We’ve had very few “businessmen” become president in the 20th century. I think it’s five or six. And of those, three had the worst records in terms of gross domestic product performance – Hoover, Bush, and Carter.
Very interesting point. And I agree, running a team (and hiring one) is critical.
*edited/deleted due to my policies around comment content*
Betsy. too much of what you say is too biased for me to leave your comment here. Am deleting. It is my space, it is a thoughtful space, it is a space that allows for differing opinions but not screeds of select unproven “facts” that reinforce your belief system. I will absolutely allow people’s personal non-insulting feelings, and data-driven facts, but your comment is damaging to my community so I’m taking it down.
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