The Official Title to This Post: I’m Suspending My 30 Year Long Personal Protest By Not Voting Because After All These Years, MY TRUST IN “WE, THE PEOPLE” INCLUDES “ALL WITH NO EXCEPTION” IS STILL MY TRUTH TO POWER EVEN IN THE MIDST OF THIS LEVEL OF CORRUPTED CONFUSION.
Yawn.
Stretch.
I’m bored.
Okay. That statement isn’t true.
I just wanted to see what it looked like on paper.
Okay. That’s not entirely true either. After all, this keyboard is no pen and this computer screen is definitely not recyclable like paper, either…but we all know that data sure as hell is recyclable and that’s all this is. My digitalized thoughts my own hand.
I’m just not in the mood for the walk today and I am certainly free to refuse the expectation I’ve put upon myself, but I know I’m going to do it.
Oh wait.
Hold up a moment.
Yeah.
I just glanced at that 2 ½ word sentence and I so wish I could make it true.
I ache to be bored.
It would be a luxury, in fact.
The truth is, I am overwhelmed with busy.
The truth is, I don’t have time to take the walk today.
I have work to do. I have a lot of people counting on me to produce actions that lead to results.
Hell! I have some fun to engage in. I know, I know. My idea of fun isn’t the same as anyone else’s. I like cleaning sewer covers of leaves, especially in the fall. It feels good. And although I have chosen to not attend open mic nights to just jam for a while with other musicians, I certainly have taken it upon myself to jam outside every now and again let alone dance through the halls of my home.
But if I do this walk, I know I’ll be physically worn.
Nap level, in fact, so that the ink in my veins can replenishing itself enough for me to go back to work this afternoon.
The signs being marched through my mind say things like “You have time!” and “Don’t worry so much!” and if you think it’s been tough for you, the reader, to bear the burden of my live and digitalized protests over the years, you still won’t be able to imagine how tough it is when I am protesting myself!
I only throw my best stuff at myself because of course, only I know myself the best and just now I came up with the promise that I would someday jam on the roof of a building.
See how good I am at derailing myself?
Well, that’s not entirely true.
Actually, I am just trying to be productive with my time while I wait for a local event to begin and at this point, I probably could start walking now and be in time to take care of what I want to take care of.
In fact, I haven’t even started the workday clock yet and I even have the television on in the background, ergo that particular trail about a rooftop.
Okay.
So.
Now that I haven’t been entirely truthful here, there is one fact that no one can factually dispute and that is the fact that I have been using my refusal to vote in elections for the PAST 30 YEARS to reflect my thick, thorough and extensive protest against both Government and Society for a fairly long list of reasons.
Hell.
I poured a bunch of those reasons out into this blog, other social media platforms, board rooms…
NOW THAT IS FREEDOM BABY! ROCK ON!
Whoops! Sorry about that.
I had taken a pause from writing this to watch some jaw-dropping dancers and I guess my words slipped out of my fingers.
Back to where I was going.
I’m not in the mood to walk to a place where I can go ahead and register to vote.
Make no mistake.
I’m not protesting my desire to register to vote.
I already made that decision months ago. In fact, back in August (you remember last month, right?) I requested an application to be sent to me in the mail and damn it, it’s September 24, 2020 and it still hasn’t arrived.
Unless my math is off, 10 business days have more than come and gone and yeah, I am not in the mood to walk to get this done.
I am not in the mood to lose time better spent on virtually any other task I have put before myself, including the option of going back to sleep.
I am not in the mood for any of this because This System Built From Words Designed To Cause Actions From Others To Create Specific Results once again. The Twitter version of this would be, “When you say ‘in 10 business days.’ I expect it ‘in 10 business days.’ Equal expectation from Business AND Government. WTF?!?! Now I have to spend even more time accessing my right to vote??? HELL NO! #FIXITNOW”
I know, I know. Look at me bitching about my plight, right? And in front of you, no less. But fact is fact and I don’t care if the dog ate the application, let alone a virus of the virtual kind.
What I DO care about is knowing just how lucky I am that I am still capable of getting out of this chair at any moment I decide, walk a handful of blocks and register with someone I actually know and trust…and knowing that for every footstep I take towards that registration booth is 100 less keystrokes I can put to this keyboard, 10 less phone calls I could be making, 1 email I could be writing…
ALL TOWARDS DOING EVERYTHING I PERSONALLY CAN AS THE AMERICAN CITIZEN I HAVE BEEN AND REMAIN FOR ALL OF MY LIFE TO ENSURE PROMISES MADE WILL NOT CONTINUE TO BE PROMISES BROKEN NOMATTER HOW MACRO OR MICRO YOU WANT TO SCALE IT!
So.
I don’t know.
I don’t think my registering to vote is some world-changing event, although I can respect the results of races that have been decided literally by one vote.
I cannot in good conscience cast my vote in a political race for any human being who is incapable of extending me the most basic of rights and reasons because a) I am not a registered voter and b) Because I am not a registered voter, I therefore lose all rights to harbor grievances in any capacity, means, measure or reasons and that I must therefore receive the full weight of both Government and Society attaching words like “Friendly Protestor” and “Enemy of the State” and even “Clear and Present Danger” when calling for people to dismiss my thoughts, my words, my experiences, my knowledge…
Whoops!
I’m getting into my protest again rather than reflecting on my annoyances that I have to take a walk today because I know that if I choose to wait, this kind of an opportunity may not present itself in time for the rest of the paperwork process to munch and crunch my data.
Of course, my paperwork may not get processed and I may somehow even be blocked from voting, but I kinda figure that if I register in person, I have much better odds of becoming a card-carrying member of the Voter Registrated Club.
I am not looking forward to being bombarded by those wanting my vote. They don’t know me. They only hope their slick words describing their proposed platform will attract not just my faith, but my trust and I don’t do my politics this way.
In fact, being a member of this club is going to make my conversations a lot more challenging as it relates to how I am being interacted with by a public figure or government employee. All of a sudden, I will be cast into this class of people with a slightly elevated level of protection not provided all other non-members when it comes to being sent to a voice mail box compared to connecting to a live person.
It’s not something I will need to wear a badge for or even flash my card as proof.
It’s one of those things that just kinda, sorta happens no matter party affiliation.
It’s kinda, sorta like opposition research performed by corporations PLUS the amplifications pushing political figures black and white above the rule of law for all others, such as with robocalling, let alone data collection on registered voters.
And I can so see it now.
“Oh! Look at this. Valerie wiped her ass 4 times rather than 2 today. She’s not only wasting resources, clearly she can’t even properly feed herself enough to be regular with the most basic of bodily functions. Tag her with this list of words so we can [insert whatever action the candidate chooses]”
Or maybe one of these.
“Oh WOW! Look at this! Valerie has a mental health history conducted, composed, scribed, sold and distributed by none other than a well-regarded, highly respected member of our military and upstanding member of the business community. Let’s spill all of that out and see how the public reacts so that we can better adjust our actuarial formulas driving our economics and military preparedness.”
Or maybe even one of these.
“Damn! Too bad she didn’t listen to the advice given to her on Facebook to kill herself by jumping in front of the 6:45 train.”
That last one is an actual possibility, by the way.
A former police chief posted to my Facebook account the idea that he hoped I would commit Suicide By Train and boy did that one set off a nuclear chain of events! Much still available via FOIA, but alas, the words that were chosen remain false, fraudulent and corrupt down to the last period and watermark embedded in those documents.
Whatever. It is what it is and my history of interactions with Midlothian will always be one of those burdens the Village will have to bear far greater of a burden than I ever will.
For they may have the title of Government providing words designed to cover for their actions, but I retain my title of Human Being, as formally confirmed by a different former police chief at a public meeting, which means I will always have far larger of an arsenal of words and definitions to work from…
And it looks like I still know how to use ‘em when I am bored.
There. I think I’ve done it.
I’ve wasted enough time to pass enough time to where it will at least be a little bit warmer so I can start my walk.
Therefore, henceforth and Here ye, Here ye!
I, Midlothian Valerie Weiskirch, do hereby suspend my protest against all members of Government and all members of society who think that just because I didn’t cast a vote, I deserve to loss a list of basic human rights, including the right to dignity, mistrust and disappointment in a system I am still willing to trust.
Not because of who is or who isn’t in office at this time.
But because I remain willing and able to embrace the trust and courage millions upon millions put on full display, sometimes by force, along side of the millions upon millions who I will never hear of that chose to believe that words like “We, the people” is perfect in its simple truth and it’s all of the other bullshit that makes this so perilous of a time in the history of mankind.
“We, the people” established a woman’s right to vote the moment they were written. The rest of the stuff, in my opinion, remains unconstitutional and/or unnecessary. The three fiths theory? Unconstitutional. Denying women the right to vote until words were written down “giving them permission”? Unconstitutional AND unnecessary. Denying anyone the right to marry another human being? Unconstitutional as our reproductive organs are not a decision made by anyone, no matter how many petrie dishes have held experiments attempting otherwise.
“We, the people” covered all of that.
As we all know, I could go on and on, because quite frankly it feels good to write in this voice after such a long retirement.
But I’m getting out of here for now so one other thing.
Don’t bother me with questions of who I will vote for, let alone who I ended up voting for.
NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!
Just be content that I voted.
Or scared, if you are afraid of how people will hear my words once I am a card-carrying member and your path might be interfered with.
I leave that up to you.
Lastly, there is one part of my protest that will not be affected by the suspension.
It’s my protest against The Voters who don’t do anything to truly educate themselves on the issues, yak for weeks as if they were experts on who should be elected….and then do nothing but complain once the election is over about whatever they are unhappy about and whoever is lodging a grievance against their beloved officials.
I get it that no one is obligated to volunteer their time for anything. Our time IS valuable. In fact, it’s our most precious commodity all are in possession of.
That’s not it.
It’s that whole circular illogic thing and what happens to their arguments once I am a registered voter.
According to them, I’ll have earned my right to complain and call for action.
It’s as if I will have been bestowed this PhD level smarts so great that I can now be allowed to speak out with credibility and sometimes condemnation…
All with the pull of a lever.
Okay. I think I lied, but I’m not sure.
I don’t think voting booths come with levers anymore.
Oh I so don’t want to do this walk…
So much to learn and so little time.
But I’m going to not only do the walk…
I might even dance my way down the street.
Not to be confused with dancing in the street.
When I take over a street, it’s for protest purposes only and I have always walked slowly and even stopped for pauses along the way, like the way it was at the last protest I attended in Midlothian over the death of Jemel Roberson.
Time for me to walk away from this thought stream and at least take a shower before I go.
Thankfully it’s still warm enough where I won’t have to worry about catching a cold with my wet hair.
This has been Midlothian Valerie finishing a personal check in for mental health purposes.
Yup.
I’m still okay to go.
Until the next post…
I heard that current Mayor Gary L’Heureux might have some competition this election season. Not necessarily a Midlothian household name, but it’s been said that movement to change that has commenced.
Just call me at 708-872-0404 if you have any tips on this one. I’m back to journaling in public again and I am all in on getting facts out to the public via this method.
Just remember.
I need to be able to see some level of facts before I rock ‘n roll with something for this online setting.
X Midlothian Valerie's GenX Notes 
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