My Letter to the Editor Was Published In Our Local Newspaper

While it was originally titled: “Seven Nice Things Liberals Can Say About Trump,” otherwise every word is mine, and I stand by each of them. Here's the full text of my letter, as printed in the Thursday July 19, 2018 edition of the Palisadian-Post:

Seven Things

Recently, a letter to the editor asked, why can’t liberals say anything nice about our current president? I’ll take that challenge.

1) It’s ironic, but Trump has made us have more empathy. For generations our culture has villainized entire other countries and everyone in them for the terrible actions of their leaders and government. (Think North Korea, Iraq, Russia…) Now, we understand that the people in those countries are probably just like us… good individual people with a callous, cruel, selfish government.

2) Trump has reminded us how vigilant we must be to not repeat the mistakes of Nazi Germany. At the Nuremberg trials, the question was asked, why did regular Germans participate in such inhumanity? The response was they were just following orders. And the world cried out, how could you not just refuse the order? This past month, when ICE agents followed orders to separate children from their parents, alarms should have gone off for all of us.

3) Trump does care about one immigrant. Among all the people who wanted to come to America and become a citizen of this country for a better life, there was one runway and swimsuit model Trump decided to help. Now she’s first lady.

4) Trump took the #MeToo movement to a whole new level. Our current president’s open disdain for women as anything other than objects for his personal physical interest turbo-charged the movement of people speaking up about the mistreatment and sexual harassment they have faced from men in positions of power.

5) Trump has shown us words are important. Calling real news “fake” to discredit any press that criticizes him is just one way our current president uses language to shield himself from being held accountable.

6) Trump has made us see how much more work we need to do as a society to treat others as equals. Our president’s not-so-subtle racism, emboldening the rise of bigotry across the country, reminds us how unfair things are, especially for people of color.

7) Trump is helping get out the vote. Trump’s policies, political maneuverings, and selfishness have energized me and millions of my fellow Americans. Energized those of us who envision an America of the future and not of the past. Energized those of us who want America to be a beacon of justice, equality, and opportunity. Energized those of us who can see beyond our own privilege to care about other human beings to show up on Tuesday November 6, 2018, and vote some sense back into this government.

There you have it. Seven nice things that you (no matter how liberal or conservative you are) and I can say about Trump. You’re welcome.

Lee Wind

#WhyIVote!

Voting in the USA takes place on Tuesday November 6, 2012.

We'll be voting for President, but there are lots of other contests across the country that are important.

If you're old enough to vote and a citizen, VOTE!

If you can't vote yourself, help someone else get to the polls.  Can you babysit for a half hour to let an adult have the time to vote?  Can you help get an older person to their voting place?

Most important - and everyone can do this - talk to people.  Talk to your parents, your grandparents, your friends.  Let them know the issues that matter for you, and share with them your hopes (and even your fears) for the future.  Let them know how every vote counts.

In particular, as GLBTQ and allied people, there is a lot at stake in this election, and I join my Kid Lit colleagues on blogs across the web in urging everyone to take part in this election and participate!

Why I Vote?

To Make Things Better for Gay, Lesbian, Bi, Trans and Queer Youth and their Allies!

Be sure to check out the master list of kid lit bloggers sharing their #WhyIVote stories at Colleen Mondor's blog, Chasing Ray.

Some resources for you:

An insightful article by Jonathan Rauch on Salon, GOP: Gays Out of the Party, about the stark difference between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama in terms of gay rights.

The League of Women Voters

Stonewall Democrats

Log Cabin Republicans 

Mitt Romney was a High School Bully... Does That Matter?

The ACLU's "Get Ready To Vote" resource


Electorially Yours,
Lee

The US Presidential Election: The Pro-GLBTQ Choice is Clear

We'll be voting in the USA for our next president... one more term for Barack Obama, or bringing in Mitt Romney.

I liked this video - I thought it said it very well.



Vote.

It makes a difference!

Namaste,
Lee