Voting: Hey, voting!

Just a quick note (I think next week we'll see another Morocco post, I really do!) that if y'all Americans reading this blog don't make sure you cast a vote against every Republican on your ballot this November, you have a very depressing update to make to your mental map of "what I woulda done if I had been in Germany in the 20s and 30s." Look, I get it - lots of very valid reasons to hate the choices we have, though I think Hamilton Nolan gets at the right idea here (ultimately you need a party that isn't opposed to democracy to have any hope of pressuring a government to change its policies). 

But ultimately, one party this election (that would be the GOP) is totally fine letting their closing arguments be, no-exaggeration take-it-from-a-historian a replay of the Nazi rhetorical playbook, and if you aren't working to destroy that party, you are replaying the mistakes of the center/left in the Weimar Republic, of several waves of attempting-a-republic pre-Franco Spain, of every historical coalition that couldn't set aside their perfect-ideology dreams in favor of harm reduction at a moment of crisis. Particularly if you're white, particularly if you're not a target of the violent anti-trans rhetoric that's being shoveled into the mainstream media, particularly if you're not in the first waves of people who will be attacked if these thugs seize power, I think you have an obligation to vote to minimize harm, not to cast a vote that gives you a pleasant feeling. There's no excuse, and this very much defines who you are.

(As a side note: if you're stateside and you have a chance to canvas or assist in election-day get-out-the-vote efforts, I think that's MEGA swell and hope you will do it! Being over here I'm limited to remote-canvasing opportunities and donations, so y'know, live out my dreams of being boots on the ground resisting this stuff.)

Anyway, that's this little nugget! I can't imagine anyone reading this has so little humanity or empathy for other human beings as to need the encouragement, but on the off chance that you do... please do! If you are balking, hit me up and let's chat. Aroo!