November 3rd
Dear ones,
This is good-news Tuesday, my new, regular feature. First, here are some poll results from Morning Consult:
NATIONAL PRESIDENTIAL: Biden 51.9%, Trump 43.9% (Biden +8)
* ARIZONA: Biden 48%, Trump 46%
* FLORIDA: Biden 52%, Trump 45%
* GEORGIA: Biden 49%, Trump 46%
* MICHIGAN: Biden 52%, Trump 45%
* NORTH CAROLINA: Biden 49%, Trump 48%
* OHIO: Trump 49%, Biden 47%
* PENNSYLVANIA: Biden 52%, Trump 43%
* TEXAS: Biden 48%, Trump 48%
* WISCONSIN: Biden 54%, Trump 41%
High voter turnout is a sign of health in a democracy. By yesterday, Texas, Hawaii, Montana, and Washington had already exceeded their vote totals for 2016. Judges rejected efforts in Texas to disqualify more than 100,000 ballots cast at drive-through polling locations and GOP efforts in Nevada to require more stringent signature-matching. In both cases, Republicans were targeting areas with high concentrations of Democratic voters.
Keep your eyes on the prize. This is not going to be over for a while. Yesterday, Lena sent me a link to this voting guide, which included a songbook (I do love a songbook!). Alice Wine’s civil rights update of the traditional “Keep Your Hand on the Plow” is going to be on repeat in my head today:
The only thing we did was right
Was the day we started to fight
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on
Hold on, hold on
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on
I’ve also been thinking about a poem that I used to read to my students, usually on the last day of class. Here is a short excerpt of Kenneth Koch’s long poem, “Some General Instructions,” which answers the hope that someone will give us some useful direction. I think of it whenever it feels especially difficult to meet the moment:
Do not be defeated by the
Feeling that there is too much for you to know. That
Is a myth of the oppressor. You are
Capable of understanding life.
We are capable, together with millions of other Americans, of holding the line against a premature claim of victory. We can demand that every vote be counted by our refusal to do business-as-usual in the face of a power grab. Choose Democracy has made some excellent short videos (watch the one with the sock puppets!) to distill the message I have been trying to get across in mere words.
And finally, your dharma-in-action for today, in case you missed it before, is to sign this petition to demand an international inquiry into the mass killing carried out by Nigeria’s government. Kudos to those of you working the phones and/or the polls today!
with love,
L