Walk with me, if you will
Five years back
When an unlikely announced
He’d run to become commander-in-chief and
People scoffed in amusement
“No, no, no,” they said
“It can’t happen.” “It won’t happen.”
“Americans won’t let that happen.”
And then it did
And then we felt our hearts dropkick our
Stomachs
Because even before we knew what exactly,
We knew what
Four years of him could do
And that’s just what it did
And every week we watched in horrific
Anticipation of
What he might say or do or steal or repeal
And every time we thought it couldn’t get worse
It did
And then three years rolled by
And sparked some hope as hopefuls said they
Could do better
And we picked our favorites
And rallied
And cast our ballots
And mostly watched our picks fall by the wayside
But one was left standing. And he’s the guy.
Now maybe you’re tickled pink with the blue ticket
And can’t wait to watch the ticker
Click in our favor in 43 days
Or maybe you’re not feeling gung-ho
It’s possible that you think taking a stand
Against just two parties is dutiful
Or noble
And you have your rights
But with great freedom comes great
Responsibility
And if you don’t play chess in this election
You, friend, will be responsible
They say Democrats fall in love
But Republicans fall in line
And if we take nothing else from the right
That attitude is it
We’d all like purity and warm fuzzies, but there’s too much
Riding on this
Send your ballots back
Tell your friends and family ‘cross the globe
To send their ballots back
Tell your folks back home to grab a mask and hit the polls
Or drop their packets off in droves
Or do whatever fits them best
One day, kids in history classes will look back at this
They’ll ask how things got so out of hand
They’ll ask what folks were thinking
They’ll ask why we let it go so far
Because the fire’s long escaped the fireplace
And our rumination has turned to rage
And years ago was already too far
But when they ask who finally ended it
Because we understood that, “Elections are determined by the people who show up,”
Because we know, “The most important office, and the one which all of us can and should fill, is
that of private citizen,”
Because, “Talk is cheap and voting is free,”
Because, “Not voting is not a protest; it’s a surrender,”
Because, “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being
governed by your inferiors—”
When they ask who finally ended this
We’ll be able to tell them
With our heads up,
And our shoulders back,
And our rights still intact
“We did.”
Jasmine Cochran from China - Read Jasmine's Bio
Vote in November! Request your ballot at www.votefromabroad.org.