I wrote this satirical version of A Visit from St. Nicholas on the eve of the 2016 election. Instead of Santa visiting a family, Abraham Lincoln visited the Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan. In my version of the poem, Lincoln offered a litany of indecencies from then candidate Trump—ending with this warning
In conclusion he said, “What this party sows, so shall it reap”, And as he departed, Lincoln did weep.
As clever and foreboding as the poem may have been, it betrayed that I, along with many Americans, took the election and our democracy for granted. We cannot, and must not, do so again tomorrow.
Four years later, I am not going to write a list of the indecencies that we have all endured over the past four years. You can find that here. Instead, I simply ask:
Vote.
Vote for you.
Vote for your health.
Vote for your friends and family.
Vote for those who perished from covid-19.
Vote for those who simply seek equality and dignity.
Vote for those who live in fear of being removed from this country.
Vote for those who are still seeking the full promise of America’s ideals.
Vote against a leader who has corrupted his position of public trust.
Vote against a leader who has sown division and hatred.
Vote for a leader who will inspire our best.
Vote for a leader who has empathy.
Vote for love and decency.
Vote for America.
Vote.