I voted today, for tomorrow #VOTE

Exactly two years ago on the morning of Election Day, I wrote this on Facebook:

Its gonna be alright, folks. If Trump wins, it’s gonna be alright. Think about everything Obama wanted to do but couldn’t. The Presidency is not a monarchy. And no one hates Trump more than the Republicans whose ideology I disagree with but who see Trump as an absolute betrayal.

But he isnt gonna win.

And if Hillary wins, it’s gonna be alright folks. If she wins, things wont change much. Apart from how they are already changing, irreversibly, inevitably. In directions good and bad.

politics is all about the illusion of control. What matters is under your roof. What really matters is the social contract we have with our friends, our family, our neighbors. Not what’s written on a piece of paper.

The piece of paper says we have rights, people argue over what it really means, but it really is just paper. What matters is who you are and who we are. If tomorrow, your candidate doesn’t win, that doesn’t change who you are. Or who everyone else is. The people who matter, we endure, and we do not need politics or politicians to make a difference for us.

This vote will achieve little in comparison to what we choose to do next. There are organizations, communities, churches and mosques and synagogues, unions, clubs, associations. Those are how we influence the world and shape it to what we want it to be. None of those things are on the ballot.

I was obviously wrong about two things. One was that Hillary would win. The other was that even if Trump somehow won, it wouldn’t be that bad.

I’m not the type to say every 2 years OMFG this election matters for the sake of the world/universe. But this year, it does matter more. The House we elect today will draw the districts for the next decade in the upcoming Census. More importantly, we have a chance to say whether we approve of the way that the party in power has acted, and assert our values: black lives, women too, immigrants, safe schools, political norms, the right to vote itself. It *all* matters. They don’t think so, but if we disagree with them, then we need to #VOTE. That’s how we use our voice.

And the things I was right about, I am still right about. Those things are in bold above.

Tomorrow, we start talking about Tomorrow. Today, we #VOTE.