I'm terrified. Many people are. I keep having to tell my patients, "Focus on what you can control" but it's damn difficult to take my own advice. I've lived in Texas on and off for almost 25 years and it's almost unbearable now. Democrats have the best, most qualified candidates but it doesn't matter. The Cult of Republican is so strong that it's almost futile. I'm pretty sure they'd vote for candidates who joined the Nazi party, just as long as they have R next to their name. It's that bad.
Case in point: when my sister was running for office in 2018, I was blockwalking for her the weekend before early voting started. I passed the house of her opponent and noticed he was puttering around his garage. It was almost like he knew he didn't have to put in the work. Despite all of her (our) hard work, despite her being the vastly better candidate, despite her opponent having done nothing for anyone, including businesses (and they didn't like him), he still won with 60% of the vote. This time (same seat), the Republican is under federal indictment for campaign violations. Sadly, I expect the same result. After all, our AG is under indictment (he's had that for 7 years) and an FBI investigation yet the polls show him neck and neck with his Democratic opponent.
People rightfully despair of Texas and, honestly, I don't know what will save us. The Cult is strong here but that isn't our only obstacle. Republicans have led the state for over 30 years, so they've gerrymandered, voter-suppressed, and (I think) rigged the electoral system. I'm pretty sure Beto beat Cruz in 2018 because of rigged voting machines (google it; some news outlets noticed). Ironically, our county-wide meetings have seen numerous older white Republicans visiting them every week complaining about election integrity. There's no doubt in my mind that should any Democrat win any race, they'll lose their minds.
Lots of people are moving, especially healthcare workers. Who can blame them? Our maternal mortality rates (already the worst in the nation) are so bad now that they're refusing to release them until after the midterms.
We haven't given up though. The Democratic party in my area is stronger than it's been in over 2 decades. We won't go down without a fight. My hope is that our counterparts in the rest of the states are working just as hard. It's all we can do.
I get nauseous every time I think about the what-if of Republicans. Even if Democrats prevail, we are still a broken country and have years of work ahead of us. We need strong people to stand up. We need a new political party that will subsume the old and at least stand for something that benefits people of all kinds. I dread waking up to the week after November 8. I wrote this in 2020. https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/i-am-terrified-of-november-4-ce888f31c476
I'm terrified. Many people are. I keep having to tell my patients, "Focus on what you can control" but it's damn difficult to take my own advice. I've lived in Texas on and off for almost 25 years and it's almost unbearable now. Democrats have the best, most qualified candidates but it doesn't matter. The Cult of Republican is so strong that it's almost futile. I'm pretty sure they'd vote for candidates who joined the Nazi party, just as long as they have R next to their name. It's that bad.
Case in point: when my sister was running for office in 2018, I was blockwalking for her the weekend before early voting started. I passed the house of her opponent and noticed he was puttering around his garage. It was almost like he knew he didn't have to put in the work. Despite all of her (our) hard work, despite her being the vastly better candidate, despite her opponent having done nothing for anyone, including businesses (and they didn't like him), he still won with 60% of the vote. This time (same seat), the Republican is under federal indictment for campaign violations. Sadly, I expect the same result. After all, our AG is under indictment (he's had that for 7 years) and an FBI investigation yet the polls show him neck and neck with his Democratic opponent.
People rightfully despair of Texas and, honestly, I don't know what will save us. The Cult is strong here but that isn't our only obstacle. Republicans have led the state for over 30 years, so they've gerrymandered, voter-suppressed, and (I think) rigged the electoral system. I'm pretty sure Beto beat Cruz in 2018 because of rigged voting machines (google it; some news outlets noticed). Ironically, our county-wide meetings have seen numerous older white Republicans visiting them every week complaining about election integrity. There's no doubt in my mind that should any Democrat win any race, they'll lose their minds.
Lots of people are moving, especially healthcare workers. Who can blame them? Our maternal mortality rates (already the worst in the nation) are so bad now that they're refusing to release them until after the midterms.
We haven't given up though. The Democratic party in my area is stronger than it's been in over 2 decades. We won't go down without a fight. My hope is that our counterparts in the rest of the states are working just as hard. It's all we can do.
I get nauseous every time I think about the what-if of Republicans. Even if Democrats prevail, we are still a broken country and have years of work ahead of us. We need strong people to stand up. We need a new political party that will subsume the old and at least stand for something that benefits people of all kinds. I dread waking up to the week after November 8. I wrote this in 2020. https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/i-am-terrified-of-november-4-ce888f31c476