I don’t know why I expected things to go any differently.
But I had high hopes when I went to sleep on Tuesday night.
Wednesday morning, as I read the news from Ohio, from my state, I was crushed.
Some unworthy people won.
For one. JD Vance was elected to our Senate. A Republican.
He is a man that believes women should stay in violent marriages and that being raped is simply an inconvenient situation for women.
He’s haughty and self-serving.
He got rich from a book he authored, which in my opinion, was pretty ridiculous. The movie was a thousand times worse. I’m not sure why so many people gave it such luster, but I considered it nothing more than a reinforcement of negative stereotypes. Repeatedly he gave false impressions of what hillbillies are actually like. People, who are genuinely down-home, salt-of-the-earth people would agree. Throughout, he implied his own experience is common to all people from Appalachia. Finally, JD Vance pats himself on the back by saying he found the American Dream. And by god, if he could do it, then anyone should be expected to do the same. Oh. And he pretty much calls people in those dire situations stupid, saying they just don’t know any better.
And through that fame, he’s now weaseled his way into our legislative system, writing rules for the rest of us.
We women, in particular.
But here is the thing.
While I am unhappy that we have yet another piece of swine sitting in our Nation’s Capitol, I accept the election’s results.
Tim Ryan ran a good race, but the majority of Ohioans were too transfixed on their wish to keep women barefoot, pregnant, and submissive that they voted in that direction for JD Vance.
These Republicans repeat their mantra: “Women, you must birth your unwanted babies. Oh. But wait. Once they are born, don’t expect any help in caring for a baby you don’t want and can’t afford. You are all on your own there.”
But. With this mindset, Vance won.
He got more votes. That’s how it works.
Just because your person LOSES does not mean an election is fixed. By saying so, you are spitting on Democracy in the United States. You are pissing on the shoes of all the people who volunteer as poll workers and work endlessly long hours, so you can have the freedom to vote fairly.
So your guy wins, and everything is fine and good.
But had he lost? Then the elections were rigged?
Shame on you, people, for thinking the way that you do. I mean it.
Shame on you.
We are privileged here in the United States in so many ways. Your manner of thinking and acting is putting it all in jeopardy for the rest of us.
Act with integrity. Be honest. Speak kindly.
Or is that too much to ask of my fellow Americans?
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“A half truth is a whole lie.”
— Yiddish Proverb
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“Honesty is more than not lying. It is truth telling, truth speaking, truth living, and truth loving.”
― James E Faust
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“Every lie is two lies, the lie we tell others and the lie we tell ourselves to justify it.”
— Robert Brault
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The big losers in the election. All of us.
