I’m as nervous as a cat, and I have 2 nervous cats so I know what it looks like. I want to be joyous about watching the election returns tonight but after the awful nights in 2016 and 2024, the best I can muster is hopeful. But hopeful is still good.
I really want all MAGAts out of office, but that’s not going to be possible in one election cycle. However, as the (paraphrased) joke goes: Q: What do you call a thousand MAGAts at the bottom of the ocean? A: A good start. And depending on how today goes, we could start to see the death of MAGA.
One of the reasons I have hope is what I’m seeing in my own political backyard:
Now is West Virginia going to turn blue tonight? No, absolutely not. But some state house seats will flip with Democratic turnout like that. And there are some seats where the stupid people running the WVGOP primaried GOP members who opposed the governor/Americans For Prosperity’s (they’re the same thing) relentless push toward data centers. And so now in one district, the ballot lists the Democratic candidate, the Libertarian candidate, the guy who holds the seat who qualified as a write-in candidate, and the GOP/AFP candidate Charles Hartzog. Watch this video: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19y6CM5YaX/
It’s amazing—he has zero idea what he is doing so he is literally repeating (and repeating) AFP talking points. The video is an encapsulation of how soul-crushing and banal Koch money makes politics. This guy is wholly unqualified to be a member of the statehouse. He has no ideas, no constituency, and no motivation to help people. He is running on eliminating the income tax and not raising the sales tax by concentrating on tourism and…infrastructure. But also no more income tax. Obviously he’s a clown. And we should all be furious at the outside money interests who are willing to buy elections to prop up their intellectually devoid puppets.
It’s definitely a race to watch. My own state delegate is also looking at a D 25+ electorate in my county, and one that is made up of people moving in from other states so it’s not the usual WV registered Dems who vote GOP. On the other hand, despite the fact a lot of people just detest him, my stupid MAGA House rep will probably win reelection. But the consolation prize will be that he will be utterly irrelevant.
A House victory is certainly a reasonable expectation and it would be enough to stop the spiral of madness Mike Johnson started. Beyond that I’m too nervous to contemplate in light of past disappointments. But even if I can’t yet do more than hope, I know it’s our moral imperative as citizens to electorally punch some nazis.
It’s our right to live in a country where we don’t have to fear that we or our neighbors will be dragged out of our homes and vehicles without due process and sent to foreign prison camps or just dumped in a country where we know no one.
It’s our right to live in a country where people are fed, housed, clothed, educated, and taken care of when they are sick, disabled, or elderly.
It’s our right to live in a country where everyone has equal civil rights and equal autonomy over our own bodies.
It’s our right to live in a country where the rich are not allowed to exploit the workers who built their companies or the shared resources which sustain the nation.
It is our right to live in a country where the standard bearers for one of the parties answers to a higher standard than this:
It’s the fucking stupidity that I hate the most.
It’s time for me to go pace some more. I’ll leave you with this:
