Why We All (Particularly Guys) Should Vote for Kamala Harris

(Via Getty Image)

The closer we get to the election, the louder is Trump's bellowing, the subtext of which is frequently racist and misogynistic. His relentless campaign to stir up his followers through anger and resentment continues to divide our country. 

Below are links to some voices that counter Trump's nasty narrative and rationally outline the case for everyone, particularly men, to vote for Kamala.

• Why would people vote for Kamala Harris? 5 things to understand about why her supporters back her

Summarizing: Vote for her because she is... "1. A calm, steady leader... 2. A reproductive-rights advocate...  3. A health care defender... 4. A unifier... 5. A step forward..."

• ‘Be a man and vote for a woman’: Kamala Harris’s unlikely edge in America’s masculinity election

Key quote: "... voting Harris into office may indicate that people don’t want to shove women into a separate sphere... We’re voting on a lot of things, but among them is that version of leadership and our evaluation of these gendered versions of it,” Dittmar said. “As well as, even more broadly, our sense of the appropriate roles of women, the ways in which women should be treated by our political leaders.”

• Why we Black men should support Kamala Harris now

Highlight: "... Brothers, as we used to say, don’t go for the okey-doke. It’s a con game from a known con man. Yes, Kamala Harris embraces both her Black/Jamaican and Indian ancestry, but she went to Howard University and joined the historically Black Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and, as a senator, the Congressional Black Caucus. She recalls her mother, an immigrant who understood the racial dynamics of this county, stated her intent to raise her two daughters as free Black women. Vote for the Sister who knows who she is and has your best interest at heart."

SO GO VOTE!!

As Barack says, "Don't boo...VOTE!"  Don't just get pissed about Trump or waste time arguing with your crazy uncle. Make sure you take action and vote for a smart, positive representative of a new generation of leaders... VOTE FOR KAMALA!!

Lots of Republicans are bailing on Trump.

 

Harris-Walz Campaign Event, August 2024 
[Image via BBC News]

The dumpster fire full of crazies that is otherwise known as the Trump-Vance campaign is losing the support of normal, sane Republicans. In fact, many Republicans are openly vowing to vote for Harris-Walz, rather than support the fascist loony a.k.a. Donald Trump. These members of the GOP are giving freedom, democracy and patriotism a higher priority than loyalty to their former party leader.  

The articles below provide details. If you know any folks who are blindly following Trump, whom many consider the number one enemy of U.S. democracy, you might want to share these articles with them. 

Lincoln Project Drops First Ad Supporting Kamala Harris: "The Warrior America Needs"

"Harris is the warrior America needs to soundly defeat Donald Trump and Project 2025. While we thank President Biden for his outstanding presidency and tenure of service, it’s time to turn a new leaf and re-energize voters towards achieving the goal Lincoln Project has held from Day 1–stop MAGA once-and-for-all at the ballot box this November."

More than 200 Bush, McCain, Romney alums endorse Harris for president, criticize Trump [from USA Today]

"More than 200 Republicans who previously worked for either former President George W. Bush, the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., or Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president in an open letter Monday obtained exclusively by USA TODAY... At least five former aides to former President George H.W. Bush also signed the letter, which has 238 signatures in all... A similar group of about 150 anti-Trump former staffers of Bush, McCain and Romney pledged support for President Joe Biden in the 2020 election."

See the open letter here:  "Bush, McCain, and Romney Alumni for Harris Statement"

Republicans who have endorsed Kamala Harris and spoken out against Trump [from CBS News]

"Vice President Kamala Harris has seen a growing number of Republicans endorse her in the 2024 election in the days leading up to and following the presidential debate with former President Donald Trump, as the two candidates are locked in a tight race..." 

Action Item: 

Share the links above and spread the word, especially among your right-leaning friends, that a whole lot of very smart, conservative members of the GOP are bailing on Trump and supporting Harris-Walz with their votes. So they should consider doing the same. And, while you're at it, consider getting involved in GOTV (get out the vote) efforts in your area. Remember, when Democrats turn out and vote in large numbers, we inevitably win. As Kamala says, FREEDOM is on the ballot!

Summer Reruns: Six Articles You Might Have Missed

This month I'm taking a break from creating a new article. Instead, I'm re-sharing my most recent six articles that you might have missed. I hope you find them entertaining, informative or thought provoking. 

• PLAN TO VOTE & STOP TEAM TRUMP from Implementing Their "Fascist Playbook!"

John Oliver dug into the "Project 2025" strategy document put together by Trump's supporters and then put together an engaging (fun!?) and enormously informative look at the real dangers that a second Trump term poses for our democracy. 

• From fear-driven anger to understanding: It takes effort.

"... when fear gets a glimpse of itself it often begins blustering and posturing to hide its true nature. In an effort to maintain its dignity, fear morphs into quasi-ferocious anger... like a chihuahua about to be sniffed by a Great Dane..."

• A Frank Zappa Sampler: Meet My Favorite Musical Genius

To know Zappa's stuff you have to pop in your earbuds, get comfortable, close your eyes and just enjoy the ride. Here's my curated playlist to get you started.

• 10 of My Most-Accessed Items at Internet Archive

I have uploaded over 90 items to the Internet Archive. Some of them are downloaded and used more than others. This article links the top 10 items accessed there.

• On AI Authorship: What's the meaning of this? 

In this article I share the results of my experimenting with the AI authoring tool ChatGPT. It was a fascinating process.

• 11 Apps I Use Almost Every Day

... the apps that I find indispensable and use almost everyday... sometimes many times a day.

PLAN TO VOTE & STOP TEAM TRUMP from Implementing Their "Fascist Playbook!"

 

John Oliver on the Dangers of a Trump Second Term

Background

When Trump was president, career civil servants (typically experts in many scientific and legal specialties such as weather forecasting, constitutional law, medicine, etc) at the environmental protection agency, Department of Justice and other agencies stopped him and his right wing cabinet members from breaking laws that were meant to protect the environment, civil rights, healthcare and more. Team Trump was so frustrated by this that they resolved to develop a plan to neutralize these experts as soon as they take office. Project 2025 is their detailed strategy to dismantle the administrative entities and the laws that protect our civil rights, the environment, abortion access, the healthcare system and more. Project 2025 is supported by all sorts of special interests such as the Koch brothers, big oil, white supremacists and others. If it's implemented, it could destroy our democracy. 

Forewarned is Forearmed!

Critics are calling it the fascists' playbook!

They say the devil is in the details. So what devilish evils await us in a second Trump presidency? 

Project 2025 playbook

The detailed plans of those who hope to capitalize on a Trump victory in November are laid out in black and white for all to see in a document called Project 2025. Input from white supremacists, misogynists, and all manner of right-wing nut-jobs are represented in this detailed strategy document to be implemented following Team Trump's takeover. John Oliver has dug into this document and put together an engaging and enormously informative look at the real dangers that a second Trump term poses for our democracy. 

John's video is fun, yet it's fact-filled. Check it out and then please share it with everyone you know! 

Go Deeper & Share:

• What is project 2025 and why is it dangerous? [4:33 video]

• It's a manifesto: the most terrifying details in project 2025 [8:36 video]

• Wikipedia's detailed overview of Project 2025

From fear-driven anger to understanding: It takes effort.

Anger... Fear Under Pressure?

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“Anger is fear under pressure. Behind every angry upset there is a fear... If you can discover the fear behind the anger and dismantle it in the light of awareness, the anger dissipates..." 
-- from A Daily Dose of Sanity: A Five-Minute Soul Recharge for Every Day of the Year by Alan Cohen 

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In my book, Worth Sharing: Essays & Tools to Help Project Managers & Their Teams I shared Cohen's quote above. I then went on to observe that "... when fear gets a glimpse of itself it often begins blustering and posturing to hide its true nature. In an effort to maintain its dignity, fear morphs into quasi-ferocious anger. Like a chihuahua about to be sniffed by a Great Dane, fear barks and growls and desperately bares its teeth to ward off an imagined disaster. Never mind that the Great Dane was simply curious. It’s driven away before any kind of mutual understanding can be reached. And sadly, both end the encounter as ignorant of each other as they began it."

Now, nearly a decade later, I find we are facing yet more candidate-stoked (and media amplified!) anger and divisive rhetoric as we head into the 2024 election season. It's all about getting folks whipped into a fearful frenzy in order to drive them to the voting booths and to keep their eyeballs tuned in so the talking heads can narrate the brawl (... between ads, of course).

Is it meaningful political action?
Or fear-driven anger?

So here's my challenge. I urge us all to try to banish fear of the "other" and his/her positions. And I urge us all to keep these questions in mind as we enter this election season and try to answer them honestly: 

• If my political "enemy" were my spouse or parent, how would I participate in the discussion with them? Would I be more respectful? ... more patient?  Would I probe with thoughtful questions so I could better understand where they are coming from? 
• Am I taking the time to present my political views in ways that show that I've thought deeply about my positions? Am I giving personal (not heated, but heartfelt!) examples of how I've come to my political conclusions? 
• Am I truly open to changing my opinion on something... anything... on which my "opponents" disagree with me? What's it going to take to change my mind?

Remember this: A sharply divided country is not in anyone's best interest, other than the handful of ranters who are stoking the division and profiting from it.  This John Stewart video illustrates: 

If we don't embrace the irrational fears these ranters espouse, then they can't leverage our fear and take away our power by "saving" us from the "other." If we choose to see the "others" as our potential collaborators in a series of compromises that we all (as collaborators) work to achieve, then we strip the "dividers" of their power. Then we, the people, take charge of our republic. 

It's simple. As Yoda said in Star Wars: "Fear is the path to the dark side…fear leads to anger…anger leads to hate…hate leads to suffering." 

The bottom line: This election season, pay attention to anyone who wants you to fear. They may be trying to take us all down a dark path, indeed!