Oh, I voted alright. Not with any pleasure but with considerable passion.
I voted for Donald Trump (as did Mrs. J, who had to go to the polls with a fractured spine), not because I love him (I don't), but because he's sure as hell better than any alternatives the Democrats are offering. Or should I say "threatening."
A genuinely dear friend posted on Facebook yesterday that people who vote as I did are straight up fascists with "foul beliefs," whether we admit it or not. "Most villains don't recognize their own evil," this well-intentioned person said - although on that sentiment we agree, for different reasons.
So let's unpack what my vote for Trump (and a straight ticket of Republicans, assuming that I can still say "straight" without being sent to a gulag) actually meant. In no particular order, I voted:
• To keep the Supreme Court a judicial rather than legislative body.
• To keep racists from gaining even more political power.
• To keep my future votes from being disenfranchised by the addition of new Democrat "states."
• To free Black Americans from their liberal prison plantations by increasing their access to education and opportunity.
• To stand in solidarity with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
• To clean up the FBI, the CIA, and the DOJ.
• To keep socialism from devouring our economy and work ethic.
• To have legal citizenship actually mean something.
• To improve everyone's access to quality, affordable healthcare.
• To ensure equal rights to all regardless of race, color, faith, or sexual orientation.
• To fight against "cancel culture."
• To protect our cities from those who would burn them down without fear of legal consequence.
• To resist the control of all information and speech by giant media conglomerates.
• To support police agencies and the communities which they serve.
• To maintain a viable economy during the pandemic rather than embrace systemic failure.
• To allow political dissent and the free exchange of ideas.
• To drain the Washington swamp.
• To keep our military strong.
• To put America first.
And much, much more of course. What I didn't vote for, knowingly or unknowingly, are any of the heinous "foul beliefs" my friend seems to imagine are in my coal-black heart.
Casting our votes this time around was a bittersweet process owing to the high stakes and uncertain outcome we're currently facing. It's my belief that if this election is lost, that future "stacked" elections won't matter; the "Dems" that will forever-after beat us won't be Democrats but demographics. And I genuinely fear that under a Biden/Harris/Sanders/Pelosi/AOC administration, people like myself won't just be persecuted for our beliefs, but prosecuted for them.
On the plus side, I also believe that a lot of Americans are sick of the Left's lies, anger, and divisiveness and will cast their votes in a way not predicted by fictitious polls. It happened before, and here's hoping it happens again.