Where To Put Your Power
To all the women in my life: our time has come, let's do this
This is a moment for women. Do I really need to say any more – to describe the feeling that women have collectively felt since Joe Biden dutifully stepped aside to let a WOMAN fill his shoes as the Democratic candidate for president? Hell, yes, I do!!
The current vibe: joy, relief, happiness, hope, feelings of being heard and seen, and a huge it’s-about-fucking-time. Let’s wrap this up with a bow and call it what it is: WOMEN EMPOWERED. Finally.
HEY, take a moment, crank up the volume 👇🏼, sing your lungs out, and weep some tears of joy. You deserve it: some happiness and a heaping helping of hope.
Finally, we have a woman running for our country’s highest office who stands a really good chance of winning. She looks like a real woman, she dresses like a professional, she’s fit and strong, she can deliver a riveting speech, she’s intelligent, she’s tough as nails, she’s saying what we need to hear, and she radiates positivity. And the icing on the cake: she’s beautiful.
Kamala looks to be plowing down the competition, big time. With a huge smile on her face, Kamala has become the “happy warrior” my friend Armand has been talking about; someone who can rise above the repugnant cast of characters the Republican Party has offered up.
Kamala is also kind. She sincerely cares about women and children (and men, too), and is willing to go to the mat to protect the rights of all people, regardless of ethnicity and sexual orientation. She is also primed to take on the individuals and corporations who wantonly destroy the environment and whose policies demonstrate a careless disregard for human life - corporations that have funded the political campaigns of politicians willing to dismantle child labor laws and strike down the restrictions that protect the health and well-being of their employees and of the people using their products and services.
In Kamala Harris and her sidekick Tim Walz, we truly have something to celebrate.
NOW is the time for all women, and the men who love them, to act decisively and with force. No more Mr. Nice Guy with ovaries. Time for Crazy Ass Bitch. Speak up, put it out there, display your signs, be unambivalent, be confident. And yes, I am reclaiming the word bitch in its most positive connotation. Hip-hop rappers use the word “bitch” to describe a woman who is fierce, independent, confident, and positive. Sound like someone you know who is running for president?
And why are Republicans up in arms when this word is used? Because strong, independent, confident women are fucking scary – a threat to the GOP’s concept of masculinity. Real men, on the other hand, love women who have these qualities – these are the women they want to bear their children, women who can take charge and are vigilant and protective when it comes to the well-being of all living things and the earth.
These “bitches” include my friends, my daughter, my neighbors, my family, my colleagues in journalism, and the women I chat with as I go about my day. I am proud of every one of them.
There are millions of other women out there who need to feel the love and take part in this incredible moment in history… let’s gather up all those women who have been passed over on the career ladder or paid less than their male counterparts and those who’ve dealt with sexual harassment or sexual assault. Others are struggling single mothers whose state legislators and governors, the majority of them male and Republican, have chosen to decline federal benefits and food programs that would have greatly benefitted children, or who have failed in administrating Medicare programs, leaving millions without the free health coverage they need and deserve.
Then there are the millions of women who are victims of domestic violence whose ex-spouses are allowed to purchase guns with zero restrictions or background checks and who go on to torment, threaten, and injure or kill these women and their children. Add to this the women who are treated as less-than in their homes and communities and those who’ve been forced to make difficult reproduction choices and have had to forgo proper treatment for life-threatening pregnancy conditions because of the GOP.
Grab this moment and use your power to get Kamala Harris elected to our country’s highest office. Work to bring out the female vote.
If things feel overwhelmingly Trumpian/MAGAish in your community, remember this and have some hope: inequality, bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, religious intolerance, and the like are part of the crumbling foundation of a political party that is headed for collapse. The collapse of the GOP is imminent. Start putting together your dance sets.
Recent events, namely Kamala becoming the presumptive Democratic candidate for president, have shifted the political landscape overnight. Is this a miracle? Hell, no. The country was ripe for change, and because of that, the elevation of Kamala Harris to the position of leader of the Democratic Party was inevitable, as will be her elevation to the office of POTUS.
August 19 - 22, 2024
Democratic National Convention in Chicago
Kamala’s immediate popularity and the positive response from every direction - media, polls, public declarations of support, etc. – tell us all we need to know. Not only has Harris reinvigorated the GenZ vote, and that of women and of people of color, but she is also staving off what had appeared to be significant defections from the Latino sector. All of this now puts Harris at tied or ahead of Trump in the swing states.
In addition, the DNC held a virtual roll call in early August to insure there would be no glitches logistically in Ohio and 99% of the delegates nationwide stepped forward to approve Harris. All of this puts the Democratic Party right where we need to be – ready to close down this nightmare we have endured for the last eight years.
Time to push our progressive, feminist agenda past the finish line on November 5th by ELECTING KAMALA HARRIS.
And time to start listening to that growing political contingency - women, young people, and people of color - that has largely been ignored in our country, and in particular by the most powerful politicians in the GOP. Kamala’s candidacy, for obvious reasons, has energized these groups and they will be the ones to turn this election on its head. Women alone could push Kamala through to victory as they represent over half the population of the United States and they vote at significantly higher rates than men.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
• Encourage others to register to vote. Start with your personal contact list - send texts and emails. Talk to people in line at the grocery store. Chat with your neighbors and be ready to text links to websites that explain the registration process. Great spots to send new and old friends: Rock the Vote, Vote.org or your local election office.
• Wear the swag, invite the conversation. Get bumper stickers, T-shirts, and yard signs for yourself and for your friends and family. Be ready to chat with people whose interest is piqued by your swag - know the facts and know the platform so you can talk accurately and persuasively.
• Plant the seeds of doubt. Best use of social media: target undesirable local and state candidates pages with factual takedowns that will plant the seeds of doubt in the minds of undecided voters. Include links to reliable media sources that back your claims.
• Donate to ActBlue.org to support Kamala’s campaign.
• PROTEST. Keep your ear to the ground for protests in your area that are related to issues of importance. Marches and political rallies are a show of force that make people take notice. They are also a great way to make new friends with those of a like mind. Check out Women’s March.
• Stay abreast of political developments. Search for ways to help.
Women! This is our time. Believe it.
The world needs women in office now more than ever. It is women who can rescue our country from this downward spiral of hatred, intolerance, repression, destruction of the earth, reversal of basic human rights, bigotry, and violence. Ours has been an uphill battle - be it for our voting and political rights, reproductive rights, as well as our rights in the workplace and in politics. All of this uphill climbing has made us strong, scrappy and ready for the fight. We can do this.
READ UP, LEARN MORE:
• The Obamas throw their support Kamala’s way and reassemble the Obama coalition of 2008, who will be supporting the Harris/Walz campaign and the Kamala Harris White House: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/barack-and-michelle-obama-endorse-kamala-harris-for-president-giving-crucial-support
• A great article on Kamala’s emergence as the presidential candidate and her rise in the polls: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/vice-president-kamala-harriss-presidential-campaign-revives-the-obama-coalition
• A winning campaign strategy, woo hoo: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/can-kamala-harris-win-campaign-strategy-trump-obama.html
• Pelosi. The woman who set this whole thing in motion: https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/nancy-pelosis-art-of-power
• Pelosi and Biden at odds: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/14/us/politics/pelosi-biden.html
• Enjoy some Tim Walz: https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/30/politics/tim-walz-harris-vp-contender-trump-vance-weird/index.html
• Create your own Kamala swag: https://www.menonpause.info/p/harris-walz-do-it-yourself-election
• A white dude who explains how all of this needs to go down:
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Should be titled: "Men Against Survival of the Species", but I'm sure you feel better for having got it off your chest