I AM Part of the Resistance (by Thomas J. Gray)

UPDATE: I’ve received notification by Thomas J. Gray that he is the author of this piece.  By the time I had seen it on facebook, it had been added to – so I am updating this post to more accurately reflect the original wording.  I liked much of what had been added, and I understand that in the passion of those first horrible days, many felt similar feelings and simply added their own parts.   This phrase was added:

The survival of our democracy and our way of life demands that we stand and resist. So I will Resist. I AM part of the Resistance, and I AM proud of it.

Here is the original, by Thomas J. Gray:

Why Does The US Vote on The 2nd Tuesday of November? – backstory

Why does the United States vote on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November?  Seems somewhat convoluted, doesn’t it.  And, really, it does it make sense?  Many people simply can’t get to the polls on weekdays.  Why not switch voting to a weekend?

Actually, many people have pushed for a change to weekend voting, but the change has always been opposed, especially by those who feel they benefit by low voter turnout.

Even though America’s voter turnout is among the lowest in mature democracies and more than a quarter of people who do not vote claim they are too busy, efforts to move elections to weekends have failed.

The Tuesday after the first Monday in November was set as presidential election day in 1845. -BBC

Did you ever wonder why voting day is always on a Tuesday…or why we vote in November?

The US political system is corrupt; WHY should we VOTE?

I have a smart friend who is socially liberal, considers himself generally libertarian, and also a total cynic.  Another friend is 100% progressive and has never felt represented in America in his 60+ years.  A lifetime having no political representation can do that to a person, and I’m sure all of us can relate.  Their attitude is something like this:

“the two major parties are corrupt pawns of the wealthy.   If voting changed anything it’d be illegal, and, there’s never a genuine progressive/liberal on the Democratic ticket. The Republicans have all gone crazy. If I vote for a third party, I’m throwing away my vote because they don’t have the money to win a national election.  So instead I’ll not vote, and just complain about the rising fascism of the reich-wing and the damage they’re doing to the poor, minorities, women, our environment, and the middle class.“

Well, There is ONE reason that voting Democratic could make a huge difference: Lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court.

The next President could pick several new supreme court justices – either judges who support the rights of CITIZENS – OR judges who are CORPORATISTS like the current 5 GOP appointees who brought us Citizens United AND ARE TRAMPLING CIVIL RIGHTS FOR THE REST OF US.  More scary stuff about Romney’s extremist reich wing picks for the court are at http://romneycourt.com/