I never thought I'd be saying this. I'm a fan of Taylor Swift. Her courageous stand against republican marsha blackburn may cause her to lose some fans but she felt that she had to speak out. The following is her instagram post:
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taylorswiftI’m writing this post about the upcoming midterm elections on November 6th, in which I’ll be voting in the state of Tennessee. In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now. I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country. I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG. I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent.
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I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their skin color, gender or who they love. Running for Senate in the state of Tennessee is a woman named Marsha Blackburn. As much as I have in the past and would like to continue voting for women in office, I cannot support Marsha Blackburn. Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me. She voted against equal pay for women. She voted against the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which attempts to protect women from domestic violence, stalking, and date rape. She believes businesses have a right to refuse service to gay couples. She also believes they should not have the right to marry. These are not MY Tennessee values. I will be voting for Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for House of Representatives. Please, please educate yourself on the candidates running in your state and vote based on who most closely represents your values. For a lot of us, we may never find a candidate or party with whom we agree 100% on every issue, but we have to vote anyway. -
So many intelligent, thoughtful, self-possessed people have turned 18 in the past two years and now have the right and privilege to make their vote count. But first you need to register, which is quick and easy to do. October 9th is the LAST DAY to register to vote in the state of TN. Go to vote.org and you can find all the info. Happy Voting!Way to go Taylor!
I like a lot of country music. I'm not surprised but I admit to being disappointed when I hear that some country artist I like supports our liar-in-chief (and tax cheater-in-chief, see recent NY Times article, and narcissist, racist, bigot, misogynist, mocker of the disabled, separator of immigrant parents and children ... I could grow old listing all of the sins of the donald and his republican enablers - and I'm already one of the oldest members of the baby boom generation).
It was good to hear that Willie Nelson is supporting Beto O'Rourke down in Texas over ted cruz. He wrote a new song, "Vote 'em Out". A Rolling Stone article provided these lyrics:
“If you don’t like who’s in there, vote ’em out / that’s what Election Day is all about / and the biggest gun we got / is called the ballot box / if you don’t like who’s in there / vote ’em out.”
It appears from their twitter comments that Rosanne Cash and Matraca Berg do not support the evil one or that domestic terrorist organization, the nra. (not responsible for anything) Rosanne had a powerful op-ed in the NY Times on 10/3/17 about gun violence. It was titled "Rosanne Cash: Country Musicians, Stand Up to the NRA."
Great point made on twitter by Rosanne re celebrities & citizenship
rosanne cashVerified account @rosannecash 2 hours ago
Thanks for the kind words, but do you mean you wish celebrities would stay out of citizenship? Because I’m not in politics. I am, however, an informed and engaged citizen.
I'm sure there are other country music affiliated democrats but my goal here is not to name them all.
My first vote was in the 1968 presidential election, November 5, 1968. I was unable to vote in the 1964 election since the voting age had not yet been lowered to 18. In a letter of October 23rd, 1968 from a hilltop in Vietnam I wrote:
Dear Ma,
I've been unable to write for the last 4 days because we've been on an RON (Rest Over Night) All we were allowed to bring with us was our combat gear and shaving equipment. We left Sat. morning at 8 and flew to our RON site via "Slick" helicopters. I never flew in a slick before. The other chopper I'd been on was a "Chinook". It can transport a whole platoon and is usually used for resupply. The Slick has a pilot, co-pilot, doorgunner (2), and can carry 6 men in full combat gear. Five slicks came in, one after another, and picked up our platoon. I was in the last ship. We landed in a rice paddy where the water was only ankle deep. Our RON site was a hill which became the base for our operations. We were there 4 nights and pulled 3 ambushes. We had to march thru rice paddies that were waist deep and higher in places. I'm glad it's over now. For 2 days, we ate nothing but C rations. This morning the Slicks brought us back to the NDP. I think the worst part of the whole operation was climbing up and down that hill with all our gear.
I finally got my absentee ballot. I got two of them. It only took me a few minutes to make my decisions and put the ballot in the mail. If Nixon wins it's not my fault. I thought of a write-in vote for McCarthy but nixed the idea because he stands no chance of winning anyway and it would be helping Nixon.
The rest of the letter deals with other things.
I was right not to vote for Nixon:
Google "Nixon's Vietnam Treachery" and you get the NY Times article by John A. Farrell of Dec 31, 2016. The whole article is worth reading but the second paragraph essentially sums things up.
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