Ever Perfecting Our Dream of Freedom

At seventy-five years old, this proud American went to the polls today and used my nonviolent vote to send this message: 

I believe in the American values so eloquently written into the opening words of our Declaration, the preamble to our Constitution, the eloquent speech that Lincoln gave at Gettysburg, the speeches of Frederick Douglas and Susan Anthony, the two Roosevelts, Margaret Chase Smith, John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Barack Obama, and all the perfecters of our republic. Our Constitution makes it plain that our founding was not static. Each generation must continue the work of creating a more perfect union. 

The Steve Bannons and Stephen Millers and Marjorie Taylor Greenes and Donald Trumps of the world do not share that goal. They deny the most basic of all republican (small r) values: respect for elections.

There have been elections that were about the economy, or the draft, or welfare reform, or tax reform, or name any of hundreds of important issues. But this election is about the existential issue: do we remain a republic.

Let's repudiate the authoritarians and fascists who desecrate our capitol; attack our leaders with flagpoles, zip-ties, gallows, and hammers; who steal our national papers for their own use and try to overthrow our elections.

Vote for liberty.
Vote for equality.
Vote for basic republican values.
Vote Democratic.

Let's keep Lady Liberty's lamp lifted high.