On November 7, 2016, I hopped on Medium and urged readers to vote. Why Medium, Chris? Why not Myspace? Altavista?

Through self-incrimination, I hoped to encourage like-minded-but-politically-dormant people to speak up and get active. I'd always voted, but largely kept my opinions to myself.

Recognizing silence is complicity, and horrified by what I was seeing (and anticipating), I picked the 11th hour to say my piece.

I'm sharing that post below.

Like any writer, I sometimes cringe when I read old work. Here, I describe myself as "left-leaning" and "left of center"; I'm far more progressive now. Much of the post reveals a naivete that's long gone. "Usually understand where they're coming from" and "decent, thoughtful people" have been challenged--and often refuted--on a daily basis. I've spent the last decade dismayed and disgusted by the voting public and politicians alike. Even *if* most people are decent, I've learned that far, far too many aren't.

So yeah, a few moments below have (for me, anyway) aged poorly. Sadly, the rest has aged well.

Today, I'm less naive, but I am terminally hopeful. I hope a thousand things for the future, but I hope you vote today. I hope you tell a friend to. And I hope you take care.

Why I Don't Talk About Politics (And Why I Am Today): From November 7, 2016

I didn’t want to write this. Maybe it’s the byproduct of a polite upbringing, maybe it’s the current climate of political discussion, maybe it’s that I’m far from an expert. But I try not to talk about politics. Especially online.

To borrow an oft-used Dad-ism, there are differences of degree and differences of magnitude. Online, those differences are in starker relief. If you only read FB or Twitter, you often see two political parties: 1) People I Agree With and 2) Idiots. Rhetoric’s amplified. Yell at a stranger or preach to your choir. Debates reduced to “fuck that guy, please RT.”

Before today, here’s the only time I’ve posted about politics on Facebook:

There I am, one year ago, being a snarky asshat. It’s easy to be one. It’s easy to congratulate yourself for staying out of (if not above) the fray.

And here I am, now, earnestly posting about politics. Bear with me.

This post isn’t aimed at those who love HRC — you’ve voted, or you will. It’s not aimed at those supporting Trump, either. If you’re voting for him, you’re (consciously or not) making a statement about what you’re willing to either a) loudly advocate or b) silently accept in terms bigotry and authoritarianism. I’m not here for you.

I’m aiming this post at myself. I’m aimed at anyone who’s talked themselves into sitting on the sidelines. Thinking about voting but haven’t yet? Might vote or might not, just playing tomorrow by ear? Justifying your own laziness by convincing yourself “it doesn’t matter”? I’ve done all three. And I was wrong.

I’ve spent most of my life in a blue city in a red state. I’m an artist in the Bible Belt. I come home to Memphis, but I travel much of the year. The circumstances of where I’m from and what I do mean I’m lucky enough to have family & friends across the political spectrum. I’m left of center, but many (if not most) of the people I love are not. Even when we disagree, I usually understand where they’re coming from. Come Wednesday, we’re still neighbors and coworkers. We’ll still shoot the shit in line for BBQ nachos. We’re still Americans who want to do right by our families and our communities, whatever that means.

It’s not only important that we disagree — it’s essential. The wrong lies in the how.

If there’s a “silent majority” in America (a phrase I’m skeptical of), it’s not drawn along a singular age, gender, or racial line. It’s made up of decent, thoughtful people who are drowned out by extremists. To varying degrees, I think most people land somewhere in this group. But again: this isn’t about differences of degrees. And it’s not about most people.

Despite tired and transparent false equivalencies, 2016’s choice is a difference of magnitude.

One candidate is a career politician whose career politician-ness turns people off. The other is a racist failed steak salesman whose vision of America is neither Constitutional nor a democracy.

About 80% of the electorate is 1) female 2) a person of color or 3) under 35. Hillary’s got her cheerleaders and Trump’s got his. Again, I’m not talking to them. I’m talking to myself: the left-leaning youngish voter who for whatever reason usually stays on the sideline.

Trump can’t win unless I stay home. He’s counting on people like me talking around something instead of doing anything. Obsessively checking Twitter or refreshing 538 or pontificating about “changing the whole system” instead of simply voting.

I didn’t want to write this. But this election is about a difference of such great magnitude I felt inspired to. It’s about one especially hateful fascist needing people like me to sit down and shut up in order to be the President of our already great country.

So fuck him. Please RT.