I know I have family and friends who voted for Donald Trump. I know those people are … perhaps not happy, but satisfied with the results of yesterday’s election. This post is for you. Not to attack, but to hopefully help you understand why I and so many others are angry and afraid.

To begin with, Trump has promised to completely repeal the Affordable Care Act. The ACA is far from perfect, but it offers protection for those with pre-existing conditions. People like myself and my wife, among many others. I have friends whose lives were literally saved because the ACA allowed them to get health insurance. I’m among the fortunate — when Trump takes steps to eliminate my family’s health insurance coverage, we have an alternate option through my wife’s job. For many others, this is a very real life-or-death situation.

The counterargument is that Trump will replace the ACA with something better. However, his statement on his website says nothing about protection for people with preexisting conditions, and offers little concrete information on how this plan will work. Understand, I want to see something better than the ACA. Nothing I’ve seen makes me believe a Trump administration will create something better, something that helps protect the health and lives of our most vulnerable people.

Trump has called global warming bullshit and a hoax. He’s promised to cancel the Paris accord on the environment, reduce regulation, shrink the EPA, and is putting together a transition team of “veteran Washington insiders, many of them lobbyists for fossil fuel companies and skeptics about climate science.” (Source)

I’m 42 years old, and there’s a decent chance I’ll be dead and gone before the worst effects of climate change hit. But I’m scared for the world my children and grandchildren will have to survive in.

I know a fair number of Americans aren’t worried about climate change. But “97 percent or more of actively publishing climate scientists agree: Climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities. In addition, most of the leading scientific organizations worldwide have issued public statements endorsing this position.” (Source) How much worse will we insist things get before we start taking this seriously?

Trump has routinely encouraged bullying and violence at his rallies, and we’ve seen his most extreme fans following suit. Comments like “A guy like that… [would] be carried out in a stretcher,” or telling the crowd to “knock the crap out of” any protesters they see (and then offering to pay the legal fees). He’s insulted and attacked women, people of color, the disabled, military veterans, and so many more. Marginalized groups in this country are already at a greater risk of harassment and violence. Legitimizing Trump’s bullying rhetoric will only make things worse.

The response I’ve seen here is that he doesn’t really mean it, or it’s all just talk, or whatever. But in the meantime, we’re seeing hate crimes against transgender people and black churches. I truly hope these incidents are a fluke, but as we watch a former KKK Grand Wizard celebrate Trump’s victory, I hope you can understand why people are afraid this will legitimize hatred and bullying and racism and bigotry and violence.

Trump openly bragged about being able to assault women. “Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything … Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.” I’ve worked with rape survivors. I’ve seen how hard it is to speak out against rapists and abusers with power. I’ve seen the backlash against survivors. I’ve watched our society continue to protect rapists and turn our backs on victims. And now half the country has signaled that this is an acceptable attitude for our most powerful elected official.

“It’s just locker room talk.” Even if you refuse to listen to the various women who claim Trump harassed and assaulted them — including one girl who was 13 years old at the time — we’re still talking about a man who believes this is an acceptable and normal way to talk about women. Who thinks joking about sexual assault is just boys being boys. You might not personally approve of what Trump said, but you’ve told everyone in America — victims and perpetrators alike — that you’re willing to accept it.

I could keep going. I haven’t even mentioned Pence, a man who claims to be pro-life but supports abstinence-only education, an approach which actually increases unwanted pregnancies. Or the potential gutting of protections for LGBTQ people. Or the stoking of hatred against Muslims. (I received an email a few weeks ago talking about voting for Trump because he’d “protect us from terrorists” … when in reality, you’re more likely to be killed by a toddler than a terrorist.)

So yes, I’m afraid. I’m afraid for myself, my wife, my children, my friends and extended family, my community, and my nation. I’m afraid for the world. (You can’t build a wall to keep out climate change.)

I don’t expect you to agree with me on everything. I do ask that you acknowledge these fears are real and valid. You might believe none of them will come to pass. You might believe America’s future is bright and hopeful for all. Obviously, I disagree.

Look, I hope you’re right. But if not, I hope you won’t turn your backs on the people who being hurt, and who are most vulnerable to being hurt more in the coming years. I hope you won’t rationalize and excuse the damage being done. I hope you’ll hold the men you elected accountable for their words and deeds. I hope you, like any patriotic American, will find the strength and courage to speak up and demand better.

Comments are closed.

Just got back from voting. I am officially declaring this the Happy Thoughts Post. Please post pictures, links, etc. of a non-political nature that make you laugh or smile. Like…

The San Francisco Zoo will be live-streaming its Red Pandas on the Firefox Facebook page today from 10-11 a.m. Pacific Time.

Or Brigadier Sir Nils Olav, the king penguin at at Edinburgh Zoo who “is an honorary member of the King of Norway’s Guard and gets to inspect the soldiers when they visit the Scottish capital.”

So post your link(s) and share the happy. If anything gets caught in the spam filter, just ping me in a separate comment and I’ll get it freed up.

1. Either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump are going to be the next President of the United States. You have the right to vote for whoever you want, but at this point in time, neither a write-in nor a third party candidate is going to win this election. This means the only votes that will count toward the selection of our next President are votes for either Trump or Clinton.
2. As big and loud as the 2016 presidential campaign has been, it’s not the only thing on the ballot. All those House and Senate seats are arguably just as important, if not more so. Please take time to research and vote on those other candidates as well.
3. If you’re knowingly lying or spreading misinformation in order to support your candidate? To me, that’s an admission that even you know your candidate isn’t good enough to win on their own merits.
4. The same goes for efforts to intimidate voters, trick people into not voting, or otherwise impede people’s ability to vote.
   1. No, you cannot vote via text message.
   2. Voter intimidation should be reported to 1-866-OUR-VOTE.
   3. The majority of states do not require Photo ID to vote. (Though Photo ID may make the process easier.) Check the laws for your state.
5. I have November 8 off from my day job. If you’re local and worried about voter intimidation, let me know and I’ll be happy to go with you to the polls.
6. Don’t know where to go to vote? Google’s got you covered. It’s a good idea to double-check your voting location beforehand. (I’m sure mine isn’t the only one that’s changed since the last election.)
7. Want to check the other races and candidates before you go to the poll? Ballotpedia lets you enter your address to pull up a sample ballot for your location. Googling “Sample Ballot” + [Your State] will probably also bring up links letting you see what’s on the ballot.
8. Not registered yet? Eleven states (and the District of Columbia) allow you to register to vote up until election day.
9. Voting selfies? Time has a map of where they are and aren’t legal.
10. Still not convinced? Do it for the sticker! Those “I Voted” stickers are surprisingly useful. They can be used…
    • As emergency bandages
    • To patch plumbing leaks
    • To cover up an ex in an old photograph
    • To hide that zit on your chin
    • Stick it to an attacker’s glasses to temporarily blind them in one eye, destroying their depth perception and giving you time to escape.
    • If your significant other is into politics, show up wearing your “I Voted” sticker…and nothing else. (Be careful where you put it, though. Ouch.)
    • Use the sticky side to get all that cat hair off your clothes.
    • Fold it in half and use it as a bookmark.
    • Put it on a political baseball cap and hide a few letters to create a very different message: “Make America   eat Again!”
    • Budget flypaper!

Comments are closed. I imagine most of you can understand why…

Walked around the local park with my family today and took a few fall-themed pics. I’m particularly happy with the way this mushroom turned out:

And of course, you’ve got to get a picture of the autumn foliage, right?

I’ve been spending a lot of time restoring old pictures after the hard drive mess of last month. One of the fun side effects is getting to see various old photos — not just people and places, either. For instance, here’s a bit of cover art I made for a short story that went up for sale on Fictionwise. This was back before Amazon started doing ebooks.

Speaking of cover art, here’s one that was actually published by Publish America (now America Star Books). They did eventually pull it and issue a different cover, but I saved it for arguments about whether or not writers should sign with Publish America.

I had some scans of old photos of me, too. Here’s one of me wearing glasses surprisingly similar to the ones I have now:

And then there’s this sketch Howard Tayler did of me at a convention a few years back, when I was doing all that cover posing…

I think that’s a good image to end on. (Though I suspect most of you would have preferred me to end on the previous one. Heh…)

Two good things have happened this week.

1. After a month, the place trying to pull data off my old hard drive finally finished and got that back to me.
2. My agent emailed with some minor notes on my middle grade novel. It sounds like once I go through these, we should (hopefully) be able to start submitting it to publishers.

Of course, there are down sides. With the hard drive, I’d had most of my stuff backed up already. Most…but not all. So I’ve been going through all of the files and partial files they salvaged, trying to make sure I’ve got everything. Probably 90% of what’s on this backup drive is redundant, but I’m paranoid. So I’m trying to manage how much time I spend on that.

And before you ask or offer suggestions, yes, I’m modifying my backup processes accordingly.

I’m really excited about the middle grade novel, but I also have another novel deadline coming up. I’m going to try to keep my head down and see if I can get all of the agent’s notes addressed today so I can get this off my pile and back onto his, which would let me focus all most of my attention on the remaining book.

And that’s why I’m keeping this short, because there’s a bunch of other stuff I’d love to babble about, but right now I need to focus on making some novel progress.