may your voice count

In the United States it's that special day when we can exercise the privilege, right, and responsibility of voting to finalize the selection of our next generation of leaders.

As easy as that may be to take for granted, having grown up knowing and expecting I would have this right, I try to remember it was not always the case for people like me, nor for so many others.  

I think about a humor column I read recently in The Washington Post that mentioned something to the effect of, "I like elections, and I want to keep having them." 

I agree.  

So I try not to lose sight of how precious this right to vote really is.

In an election that's so immersed in tension and conflict, with so much uncertainty and so much at stake, it especially disheartens me that so many feel their vote is insignificant.  

I heard this reason for voting in an interview the other day, and although I'd never heard it described quite this way, it resonated and I thought you might find it of interest, too. 

We have a responsibility to set conditions on behalf of individuals who are just experiencing the horrors of what is happening...  

Also, it is important that to me, that my vote is not about an extension of myself... If we look at voting that way, then every election becomes much more fraught because you're never going to find a polititican that aligns with you completely in every single way...

When I think about the history of people's movements, and people's struggles...  When I think about the enslavement of Black Americans... And when I think about Puerto Ricans that were sterilized by the U.S. government, and when I think about people's movements and the horrors that peoples in the United States endured, they are often both the most radical and the most pragmatic strategic actors in American history.  

And we can be both....  

What we need is an activism that is not limited by electoralism only. That doesn't mean rejecting electoralism.  It means thinking of elections as a condition-setting strategy for a larger organizing project.  We have a lot of work that we need to do.

I never ascribe, personally, to a strategy of giving up the power we have and allowing this decision to be made NOT by us." 

(I have a theory that we would count and consider people's words more deeply if we didn't screen and filter it through our already held beliefs about the source, so I'll include the name of the speaker below.)

Similar to this description, my vote is a representation of my values and my desire to apply my privilege to respect and protect the rights of others' that are at risk.

Whatever your reasons for voting, I hope you have a chance to make your voice count and to support others in doing the same.

I believe when each vote is counted, we can elect leaders who represent the needs and values of the many, not just the few.  

May your voice be heard and your vote contribute to our collaborative purpose to make the world around us more compassionate and just.

Your vote matters.  Your voice matters.

And, even more than that...You matter.  You make a difference.  I'm so thankful you're here.

**The excerpts were from a podcast interview that included Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  (How does that influence your perspective on them?)**