doing the right thing

Doing the "Right Thing" on Tuesday and Political Bullies

Tuesday is election day in the US. We are voting to either reelect our current President, or voting to elect a new President. We hold these general elections every four years. It’s a very exciting time for most of us, and it can also be a very stressful time for some.

I don’t post about politics or my political beliefs here on this blog. I’m not doing that now. I happen to be a rare dying breed: I respect everyone’s opinons. So this is just a general post mainly for those are worried about voting, and for those who don’t live in the US and are curious about what it’s like over here during voting time.

This year it’s been particularly brutal. It’s usually intense during presidential elections, but I haven’t seen it this way in a very long time. People are passionate about their candidates and they are fighting hard to see them get elected. Some are turning into bullies and it’s getting ugly.

And when that happens sometimes we lose sight of common sense. It’s wonderful to be passionate about a political candidate, and to work hard to see that candidate get elected or reelected as the case my be. But voting in the US is not a group activity, at least not as far as I know. Voting is a private matter for every single individual and no one has a right to bully or force anyone into voting a certain way.

The other day a good friend told me that a mutual friend of ours said this to him: “Remember to vote the right way on Tuesday.” Of course that means that our mutual friend wants my good friend to vote for our mutual friend’s candidate of choice, not to vote according to my good friend’s own conscience. Not only is this wrong in too many ways to count, it’s insulting and patronizing and no one has the right to tell anyone else how to vote. NO ONE. No one has the right to apply pressure or force, not even gay people.

So don’t be bullied by anyone. If you aren’t the confrontational type and someone says this to you, just smile, nod, and walk away. Then go vote for who you believe is the right candidate. It’s your choice. You have that privilege as an American to vote however you wish. And no bully has the right to force you into voting any other way. If you are the confrontation type, do what I do: tell them to fuck off, and then smile and walk away.

Doing the right thing when you vote is about what you believe as an American, not about what someone else believes.

Don’t Get Sucked In…

I’m posting about con jobs because I’ve seen them happen before and I hate to see people being taken advantage of. There have been people conning other people since the beginning of time and the Internet has only exacerbated this.

Watch out for Internet con jobs, especially those that tug at your heart. These are the worst offenders. There are a few going around and they sound endearing, honest, and reliable. They are asking for money by handing out personal details in private messages or private e-mails that make you stop and think twice. But if it involves money and it’s going around through a social network or through e-mail and you don’t know the situation personally, it’s most likely a con job.

When decent, honest people are working for a charity or running a legitimate fundraiser they post about the cause at hand and state their intentions openly and in public. They have nothing to hide. They don’t do it through furtive e-mails and private messages on social media. This is creepy. This is wrong on so many levels I could write a book about it.

And we all work too hard for our money to let anyone take advantage of us. If you’re an author, no one helped you more than you helped yourself by writing your book and finding a way to get it published. No one was around when you were getting rejected and you found the strength to keep going. Don’t get sucked in.