On voting in a swing state

The queer rural left, hope for tomorrow, and filling in the bubble

California #19, Etel Adnan, 2013

On Friday morning in the rain in a small town on the way to nowhere I cast my vote for President of the United States of America, the country that I was born in and continue to choose to live in.

I cast my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. I wept into my ballot. I wasn’t sure why. Was the part of me that got caught by the real tree hat also caught by voting for a woman, voting for a Black woman, voting for someone who could very well beat Trump tomorrow? Was I crying for the thousands of innocent Palestinian lives lost at the hand of the woman I voted for? Was I crying because I was hours away from bleeding? Was I crying because women before me didn’t have the right to vote? Was I crying because it felt like a small act of saying yes to my own queer liberated body and no to fascism?

Along my road is only Trump signs, no Harris signs. Winding along for miles in the rural North I face dozens of these signs every day. Don and Terry put theres out as I imagined they might. Immigration Terry muttered. They have more rights than we do. I look puzzled I’m not sure I’m with you I reply, but we agree that we don’t like our choices. I ordered the sign, I ordered the tote bag, and yes dear reader, I ordered the hat. Embarrassed at my decision they sit in a pile never used and I never put the sign out. It felt like an endorsement I never felt clear on and a conversation I didn’t want to have with Greg the chimney sweep.

Here is what I know and the simplest way I made my choice : Tomorrow one of two people will win this election for President. It will either be Donald Trump or it will be Kamala Harris. I live in a state where the electoral college results are not guaranteed. I believe Kamala Harris will make the conditions of our lives a little bit easier. So I voted for her.

I believe when those with privilege have more freedom we can use that privilege to fight for the most oppressed, this includes lives here at home and those in countries most affected by war and genocide.

It is both a vast ocean of depth, and so light. Such a small fraction of the work that is to be done, here in this country, beyond this country, and between countries is done by voting. There is so much on the ground organizing, laws to be dealt with, and structures to be put in place. What I believe is that under a Harris presidency this will be easier. The load will be a fraction lighter. I want more ease. I want more rest. I want more choices. I want choice for my body. My body that could become pregnant, my body that is covered in scars from gender affirming surgery, my body that is whole and holy and of this Earth.

Every time I drive down my street my nervous system feels scattered, the same last name plastered on the signs over and over again. My neighbors, the ones who I call if I’m in trouble. Who flatten the land so I can park the camper. Who let me walk along their trails. My neighbors, who can’t always remember my name but let me put my trash in their bin, who love June, who I know would have my back if I really needed them.

And yet, our politics are both wildly different and have these strange moments of crossover.

I voted for Kamala Harris for my beautiful friends who have trans kids in this state. Watching them spin in their dresses, access trans healthcare before they graduate high school, be in the bodies they always knew they wanted before words were formed.

I voted for Kamala Harris because she isn’t a rapist.

I voted for Kamala Harris because Benjamin Netanyahu wants Trump and I want Netanyahu to not get what he wants.

I voted for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz because they back policy that protects the rights of my queer and trans communities. Trump can erode trans rights. Maybe if you live in a state where this is less likely it feels different. This feels so precious to me in Michigan.

I voted for Kamala Harris because in our broken system that she upholds I believe she is better suited for the job of continuing to uphold it, cursed as that may be.

I voted for Kamala Harris because I want to continue to live in collaboration with the Earth and its beings.

I voted for Kamala Harris because the material realities of our lives living in the USA will be better under her presidency.

My vote for Kamala Harris is not an endorsement, but a chess move in a game of pawns. It is a hope strategy, a movement strategy, a shift toward something better than what we had with Biden and much better than what we’ll have with Trump.

I spent a lot of time the last few weeks reading, listening, and learning from organizers, activists, and change makers who are much more skilled at discussing and talking about elections than I am. If I am honest dear reader, I have a hard time remembering the difference between congress and the senate, the timeline of wars, and how laws even work. So I look to the people who know what is really at stake.

If you live in a swing state and are considering if you will vote tomorrow I understand. I don’t believe that a vote for Kamala is a vote for genocide. I also do not believe she can save us. I believe it is a strategic move in this moment, and that after this election we can continue to mobilize and put pressure on her for a ceasefire. I do not believe that will be an easier task with Trump as president.

I believe in so many of the resistance strategies of this election like vote swapping with someone in a blue state, writing in a candidate, abstaining from voting in places where it is guaranteed to go blue, and while I don’t agree with her politics anymore than Kamala’s I understand that some people are into Jill Stein (whose own children want her to drop out of the race).

I also believe there are no guarantees in god’s world. So as much as I support and am participating in some of these tactics, I also want a landslide, even though electoral politics don’t really give us that possibility. I want a clear and concise loss for Donald Trump, sharp as a tac.

If you are still on the fence let me share some of the things that helped me understand and make my choice. Because in my humble opinion “just not really liking Kamala” isn’t a good reason not to vote for her. And if you really want genocides abroad to end, I really think we’ve got a better shot at fighting the system from within with a democrat as president.

I listened to many episodes of adrienne maree brown’s podcast series election time and you can’t go wrong with whatever you pick. I loved this episode the most :

I read what Chase Strangio had to say as a trans lawyer. This was helpful to have someone say listen - I know what it’s like to fight for our rights and its going to be a lot easier for me to do my job with Kamala as president.

chasestrangio

A post shared by @chasestrangio

I watched this video from Janaya Future Khan about reframes and challenges.
”Self righteousness is not a part of service work”

janayathefuture

A post shared by @janayathefuture

I watched this video from treasured elder Senator Bernie Sanders, who publicly disagrees with Kamala and her stance on Gaza. This is a really beautiful invitation if you are stuck.

berniesanders

A post shared by @berniesanders

I look to

Starhawk

, witch of all witches and author of one of my favorite and most treasured books The Spiral Dance, to see what she had to say, specifically as a white person having been dedicated to Palestinian liberation for decades. I ask, who are my elders? What are they writing?

On September 3rd she writes : I have a new post up: The Moral Dilema of This Moment, on how I wrestle with wanting to wholeheartedly support Harris and Walz to win this November, and the anguish of the continuing assault on the Palestinian people and Netanyahu’s disregard for their lives and the safety of the hostages. It’s an interjection into the flow of chapters and part-chapters of my experiment in writing a book online: The Movement We Need.

The Moral Dilemma of This Moment

I really identified with

kimberly r. drew

sharing about voting and mobilizing for Kamala Harris and not knowing what to make of this moment, but taking action anyways in a swing state.

museummammy

A post shared by @museummammy

I’ve listened to

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

talk about the impacts of climate change and how important it is in this election to VOTE CLIMATE

Episode 2: Vote Climate ✅

I kept talking about it with beloveds, wrecked by our choices, but dedicated to the possibilities of a world beyond a two party system. I hear about other people I share community with leaning into the rhetoric of Tucker Carlson and Trump himself and I start to feel like I might be losing my mind. I invite all sides in to where my imagination can take me but it can’t take me there.

I want to put my voice behind the massive Arab community of Michigan and the Uncommitted Movement. We have seen unprecedented numbers and change and I don’t claim to know what it would be like to make a choice to vote with that identity. There is no way for me to write this untied to my own privileges as a white voter.

I spend a lot of time talking about weaving in my values : to my life, to my business, to my relationships. When it comes to voting in an election I do not try to weave the action of voting or the person I am voting for into those values. I make a choice to vote for the person who will best let me continue to fight for what I believe in. With pen and tongue, with monetary redistribution, and with on the ground movement work.

I have a desire. And that desire is to wake up on Wednesday morning to the clear news that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are the next President and Vice President of the United States of America. We don’t have to like them to make this choice, one that affects the most vulnerable and the most marginalized in a state like Michigan.

For me to sleep soundly in this hope, in this wish, in this prayer, I am glad I filled in my bubble and hope you will consider joining me.

This will be but another Tuesday, we will keep fighting side by side for a better tomorrow. Freedom and liberation for all people, may it be so.

Website

Instagram

info@codycookparrott.com

PO Box 252 Cedar, MI 49621

Landscapes : A writing group for all genres

P.S. I hope you have a care practice set up for Tuesday no matter how you choose to use your right to vote. Landscapes will be meeting from 11a-1pm EST for a special Election Day edition (recorded) session : Contemplative Writing and Movement Practices for World Building hosted by yours truly. Drop in, many journaling prompts and movement exercises await.