#dear deep state operative assigned to monitor this account: was I was right about the diebold machines all along???

[cinemaocd]

I've always been a nerd about democracy. When I was 10 it was the election between Carter and Reagan and I surveyed every parent in our neighborhood trying to gauge who they would vote for. Believe it or not, my home state growing up was as blue as they come so I assumed everyone was voting for Carter. It was so funny when I got to my friend Cammy's house and her dad, a total neocon before the term was ever coined, answered all my questions and I was like: So you're not voting for Carter or Anderson and then my brain went to Jessie Jackson??? because I simply could not compute someone VOTING for Ronald Reagan. (You have to understand Reagan was the least qualified person imaginable and the media underestimated him just like they did with Trump.) I was completely shocked when Carter lost and that was also the beginning of the end for Blue North Dakota.

I made a poster for the 1984 election, that I still remember because my dad suggested the title: Presidential Timber and it was about the various candidates, which I guess people used to say if you had a good character you had "presidential timber" anyway, writing this now it sounds super odd and I'm sure my teacher thought I was insane pasting a picture of Geraldine Ferraro on a tree.

in 1988 it was my first election voting! I got super into it. My best friend was Greek and naturally supported Michael Dukakis. In our little Dukakis bubble we went to see him on the campaign trail, knocked on doors and put up signs. I still remember one of my friends stopping and getting out of his car to spit on one of Dukakis signs. My Greek friend ended up marrying his brother, by the way, nothing to do with the election, just a really weird Meet Cute I thought you'd enjoy... Anyway the dweebie East Coast Liberal who looked so small in his tank helmet esp. in comparison to literal war hero George Bush, got crushed at the polls and I was sad for four more years.

In 1992, I was in college and I voted 3rd party, I think Green or Socialist Workers Party or some other waste of my vote. Clinton carried Minnesota where I'd moved for college so I guess it didn't matter really. I was totally against Clinton's neoliberal garbage and I'd just read Manufacturing Consent so you know...

in 1996 I voted for Nader/LaDuke and the Green Party. I went to see him on campus, got really excited by all the progressive speakers. Also I was in a union (AFSCME) and they rec'd voting for Bill Clinton who would later sign the NAFTA Treaty that sent a lot of union jobs to Mexico. I guess he was better than Dole for the Supreme Court noms but my god...

2000 I did not vote for Nader because it was too close, even though I knew Gore would probably carry MN (he did) but sadly could not even carry his home state. It was the first election I voted absentee in because we were in the UK during the election. It was a sad night. I was and waking up one morning to find Bush's son president made me not want to go home again.

2004 The Neoliberal hell continued unabated as the DNC nominated the Heinz Ketchup millionaire war hero who threw his medals away in protest of the Vietnam war as the party once again gave the finger to the progressive wing while offering a "safe choice" that public didn't buy, meanwhile Dubya and his cronies were building up the deep state post 9-11 to terrifying new heights and we now involved in wars at both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers which is apparently bad if you know anything about history. Robert Reich began writing essays about how this is the end of the American Empire.

2008 My first election as a parent! I still remember my son making me turn off Obama victory speech to go back to The Imagination Movers on Disney, his favorite show. I felt good about politics for about five minutes until Obama started handing out checks to the Too Big To Fail banks, meanwhile massive numbers of Americans are losing their homes and 401Ks in financial collapse. But you know it WAS nice to have a President that the world admired instead of hated and who was actually a wonderfully inspiring speaker if nothing else. You know he was a classy guy. You might even say, Presidential Timber. We were still in two wars though.

2012 You really only need to look at 2016, 2020 and now 2024 to realize that RNC had no idea what they had in Mitt Romney, a decent, ethical man who worked hard and had reasonable, not insane ideas. He was a Mormon so that probably doomed him with the fundies and I remember my friend's conservative Catholic mom crying actual tears when he was nominated. This was my first election on tumblr and I was happy enough as Obama coasted back into office and we had four more years of Biden eating ice cream and Hamilton the musical at the White House command performance.

In 2016 I supported Bernie and going to the primary I was physically shouted out of the room by truly intense Clinton supporters. The anti-Bernie machine was in full force but it was the largest turn out for any primary I've ever seen. It was exciting! I voted for Hilary in the general election because I'm over wasting my vote by this point, but my heart was not in it. God. Hard to believe now. Really because wow Trump winning was shocking and so awful. I remember on election night going to a bar and there was a table full of Independent Voters who were supporting Jill What's her name the anti-vaxxer and Bernie and the staff came out of the kitchen to watch the results. All of the line workers in MN in any kitchen in Minnesota are almost invariably Hispanic, usually newer immigrants and Trump was running on Build the Wall and racist rhetoric then too. Like how can you look your fellow humans in the face and be like "I'm still supporting Bernie because of shennanigans at the DNC or I'm voting for Jill because I like to smoke weed and not pay taxes or vaccinate my children. And also Hilary's Emails." Fuck that. Also this was the first election with Diebold voting machines and man....I just don't trust those...But it turns out the election interference was Russian Bots, so it was like probably half the accounts I blocked on tumblr that year.

2020 Held my nose and voted for Biden even though he was too old then and he's a neoliberal and Bernie was out of steam by this point. I voted in the primaries and the election with Early Voting, which is awesome and the greatest thing for ADHD people like myself. Of course there is all the legendary stuff that happened on tumblr, you don't need my recap for that.

So forgive me if I'm a little hype to have two people I'm actually really excited to vote for and the first bonafide progressive candidates in my entire voting life. Thank you Joe Biden for stepping down. That was the greatest thing you ever did. Buy yourself an ice cream. You've earned it.

Tim Walz is addressing my Union! (AFSCME) Do you know how long I've waited for a presidential candidate to actually give a fuck about the government employees that work for them????

"Minnesota has the best worker protections of any state. We're surrounded by some that aren't so my job as Vice President will be to take those worker protections to every state in the union."

and "Alls we're asking for is better wages, better benefits and dignity in the workplace."