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Clutched in our elderly hands were our precious ballots for the October mid term election. We’ve carefully fillled out our selections, rechecked them for errors, voting a blue ticket all the way. Signed the outer envelopes. Taken them to our local supermarket drop box and taken pride in participating in Democery as usual for the past 63 years. 💙🇺🇸 Three days later we were notified our ballots were received and counted. So easy to be a citizen of the USA in California.

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The expression, “Vote for the world you want to live in, or live in the world that you didn’t vote for,” becomes more important day by day.

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As a Foreign Service Officer, I had witnessed gross violations of the right to vote in Egypt and Congo. In the 1950s/1960s I never imagined that I would witness the same in the United States.

Heather vividly describes the history of American voting intimidation, including countless thousands of murders. 150 years ago the Supreme Court ignored these calumnies. In recent years the Supreme Court, morphing into the Stench Court, increasingly has diminished the Constitutional right to vote.

I spent much of my early professional life in Third World countries. Now I am fearful that I might die in one. Democracy is not a spectator sport.

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“I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this: who will count the votes, and how.” - Josef Stalin

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Heather, I am stunned, but not surprised, by this news of intimidation-through-violence by 45’s vigilantes. He spawned this movement in its current form and his lust for power is represented by the men threatening voters in Arizona. Florida is another terrible example of what is going on. I am not disheartened and hope all voters who are menaced or kept from voting follow through with law suits. We still have courts...and all of us have cell phones to record these goons....

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Thank you Heather.

Everything old is new again.

I have friends in Arizona and the threat of intimidation is very real there. I was told it's not a question of a few random wackos with MAGA signs. The threat is the heavily armed psychotic fringe that are gathered at specific mail drop boxes.

This is serious and very real.

Be safe. Be well.

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If our government is of the people, by the people, for the people then how is that considered by some to be socialism? Our democracy allows us to choose our leaders by a majority vote. Those people represent us. So who doesn't want roads and infrastructure rebuilt, quality schools, medicare, social security, clean air and water, etc.? What DO rich, religious, rightwing Republicans want? I get that they want to keep their riches and not help those beneath them. But I see Democrats doing things that help all of us. I am frustrated that I don't understand this division. All I can tell is Republicans just want to undo things that are working. The majority of anger and hate comes from MAGA Trumplicans. But what do they want? If they are anti abortion, then why do they want more poor, unwanted, children in populations they already don't like or want to help? If they don't believe in global warming than do we just let our country keep flooding, burning, and drying up without trying to remedy those catastrophes? I am tired and sad that our country has fallen so far. But I do not blame President Biden for it. I blame those before him. I will vote blue down the ballot. If that creates a government to help myself and others, well, okey dokey. I am tired of highly paid old men with benefits for life running our nation into the ground and doing nothing but squabble with the opposite party. I also wish we had a limited ONE term to the Presidency. They spend their first term wasting time, money, and energy planning reelection. Or plotting an insurrection to claim a second term as Trump did.

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I'm going to dare say that the Maricopa officials broadcasting their alleged fear for voters' safety are merely reinforcing the intimidation tactic. What they should instead be saying is that if you show up and intimidate voters you'll be arrested and reassure people that they are safe, and put police at the drop boxes, whatever they need to do to ensure equal access to the ballot box. They're trying to scare voters into staying home. I for one am not falling for this crap. I've been inspired by Michael Moore's Midterm Tsunami of Truth emails and I'm going to try to help get the vote out. If you're not already subscribed, here's a link to the most recent one where you can subscribe and see them all. https://open.substack.com/pub/michaelmoore/p/o-ye-of-little-faith?r=8l44a&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

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Vote against Jim Crow. While you still can.

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As Jonathan Capehart told President Biden during their recent interview, I am scared. I'm trying to be hopeful, but my hope diminishes with every passing day. Here in Michigan, in 2018, the people voted to have no-excuse absentee voting, and the Republicans in the legislature have been fighting it ever since. We have three strong Democratic women at the top of the ticket who Betsy DeVos and other Republicans are trying to replace with terrible Republicans. Every two years, Jocelyn Benson, our Secretary of State, sends applications for absentee ballots to anyone who requests them. We received our application in June and filled it out to have barcoded and tracked absentee ballots mailed to us for the August primary and November general. For both elections, hubby and I sat at the kitchen table, filled out our ballots, signed and sealed them, and rode our bikes the 1.5 miles to the nearest dropbox. Easy peasy. We never ever miss an election. Of course, we live in the very blue City of Detroit, and we've lived in the same house and precinct since 2003. I wish some MAGA people WOULD try to monitor drop boxes and early voting sites here in Detroit! We be Packin'! LOL. We have Republican election deniers and would-be democracy destroyers in other parts of the state. We're getting mailers telling us that our daughters will be going to the bathroom with men (trans women) and other lies like that. I'm old enough to get Social Security and Medicare, and in January with the SS increase and the Medicare Part B decrease, that will be about $30K of my annual income. I'm lucky because that is not my entire income, but for tens of millions, including Republicans, that is their only income. We're gonna continue to fight and fight and fight, but I am scared.

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Professor, While I appreciate you concluding that careening toward “a corrupt one-party government” thus precipitating both a fatal weakening of American civic institutions, let alone a Presidency eager and able to consolidate power wherein the rule of law could be subjugated to an individual, is not inevitable, with midterms slightly more than two weeks out, we need a plan.

Considering the American people in poll after poll report the economy and inflation as their two major issues, I am stunned, aside from an occasional word from Biden calling out corporate price gouging or the occasional hearing, wherein, say, Katie Porter unearths windfall corporate profits increasing by 52%, we don’t see a coordinated effort by every Democrat amplifying that over half of the increased prices people are paying is coming from corporate profits.

With 60% of the people in this country living paycheck to paycheck and millions working for starvation wages, not only should we not ignore that the biggest driver of inflation is corporate pricing; we should make it clear to working families throughout this country, many of whom are prepared to vote Republican, that if they vote Republican, the Party that has been silent on this issue, their vote will run counter to their interests and concerns.

While I don’t expect an amplified coordinated message pinning corporate pricing as the biggest driver of inflation to influence MAGA, I imagine there are sufficient numbers of “persuadables” who could help Dems hold the House, pick up some Senate seats, and also win contests in battleground state and local elections.

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Well tonight I deposited my early ballot in the secure drop box outside the County Offices.

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One more thing regarding abortion. If women don't turn our en masse to vote Blue, I don't know what will save us. Women who support the GOP and MAGA, and their daughters, are at great risk. We have to get rid of people like DeSantis, who is a dictator. We are dumbing down our education system when books are burned and teachers are not allowed to teach an inclusive history.

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The October 23, 2022 edition of Letters from An American is the best and most significant and important that I have read.

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Shame on Youngkin (governor of VA) for his endorsement in Arizona.

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The Republicans want history to repeat itself. They want a one party system and are, in effect, burning down the house.

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