This is the first election in which I had the privilege of voting. And while this may very well be one of the nastiest elections in the country's history, I think it's one that carries symbolic importance.
I wasn't born with the right to vote. I remember my grandpa back when I was a kid in Mexico railing against the "gringos". He hated them and everything they stood for. He thought "them" as a selfish, egotistical, racist, exploitative, and just plain evil people, forever fucking over other countries (like our own) for power and profit. His favorite insult was "diaper face", making fun of many Americans' rounder faces and pale complexion. And while I respect my late grandpa, after moving and living here for 16 years I began to have a vastly different experience. I found caring, selfless, open-minded people. I found those who were noble, intelligent, and morally right. I found progressives and those with compassion. I do find those who fit the bill my grandpa described quite well, but they were the dirty underbelly, fighting an increasingly losing battle.
Donald, YOU are the diaper-faced gringo. The misogynist exploitative asshole. The jackass who runs for office based on ill-conceived branding alone, for the sole purpose of advancing your personal business. You're the scam artist that swindles money from businesses big and small, the rich and the poor. You're the scum who has no moral scruples, lacking in any empathy. You came into the political world through your infantile, gaudy sense of pomp and circumstance, stood before the cameras, and accused illegal immigrants from my country as rapists and murderers. The same group of people who cook in your kitchens, clean your hallways, and build your buildings. They're the ones installing
your name in gigantic letters in every building you own (and many, many you don't) that inflates your massive ego. And when you finally released any semblance of a plan to have your childish wall idea become a reality, you threatened to "cancel visas" until Mexico paid for your terrible idea. Those visas, not at all unlike the one that was granted to my family to move here 16 years ago. Your crockpot scheme would've affected people like
me, and you nonchalantly and stubbornly continue to barrel through countless of ill-conceived plans that affect
millions of people like me, and unlike me, just for that extra cheer from one of your countless white supremacy crowds. You're toying with our lives for any semblance of a political advantage. Not even a proven one. You're willing to throw knives at that apple on top of that person's head for your cheap magic trick, because after all if you miss, you're not the one who stands to have a knife on the face. You represent everything that my grandpa rambled about.
I got my first "I Voted" sticker of my first presidential election during early voting over a week ago. It took 13,
thirteen years for me to gain this right. My family sat through years of bureaucracy, thousands of dollars in lawyers specializing in immigration, applications, travel to offices, to continue to have the visa, to gain permanent residency, to become naturalized citizens. And we were just the lucky ones, the ones with the means and resources to make it happen. And we took an oath in front of a judge. Did you know we take an oath, Donald? We take an oath.
I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."
That I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Foreign and
domestic. With no reservation, I genuinely and truly believe that with my vote, I am protecting the US from domestic enemies like you. And I took this oath freely, because I believe in the countless good people of the US that I have met through my sixteen years in this country, and because I don't believe in this version of the country run and populated by diaper-faced gringos peddling empty alarmism. They're not the ones who represent us, they're not
us.
Donald, you have
no idea who we are. But I know who you are. And that is why I wear that sticker in my cap every day. Because I didn't want to put that sticker on my shirt for one day then toss it before it goes in the laundry. My vote is not ephemeral. Because this goes beyond the importance of my first presidential election. It's the reason why I'm here. I do that to show anyone who sees that no, someone like Donald did not suppress me. A GOP blowhard did not pass some duplicitous law that would've prevented me from voting. From "my kind" from voting.
I've been listening to Death on Two Legs by Queen, because it describes you so well and so perfectly. It's like it was written for you.
You suck my blood like a leech
You break the law and you preach
Screw my brain till it hurts
You've taken all my money
And you want more
Misguided old mule with your pig headed rules
With your narrow minded cronies
Who are fools of the first division
Death on two legs
You're tearing me apart
Death on two legs
You've never had a heart of your own
Kill joy, bad guy, big talking small fry
You're just an old barrow boy
Have you found a new toy to replace me?
Can you face me?
But now you can kiss my ass goodbye
Feel good? Are you satisfied?
Do you feel like suicide?(I think you should)
Is your conscience all right?
Does it plague you at night?
Do you feel good feel good?
You talk like a big business tycoon
You're just a hot air balloon
So no one gives you a damn
You're just an overgrown schoolboy
Let me tan your hide
A dog with disease
You're the king of the sleaze
Put your money where your mouth is
Mister know-all
Was the fin on your back
Part of the deal? (shark)
Death on two legs
You're tearing me apart
Death on two legs
You've never had a heart (you never did) of your own (right from the start)
Insane you should be put inside
You're a sewer rat decaying in a cesspool of pride
Should be made unemployed
Then make yourself null and void
Make me feel good I feel good
Donald, in one of your little rallies you had a speaker who talked of people of "my kind" voting in droves, and asked "do you feel free?"
You bet your ass I do.