Voting Is a Life-and-Death Matter

Vote for LIFE!

Oct 18, 2022

Also, vote as if you recently lost the fundamental human right to have a safe, legal, free abortion.

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BEING INTERESTED IN POLITICS

Novelist and war correspondent Martha Gellhorn wrote, "People often say, with pride, 'I’m not interested in politics.' They might as well say, 'I’m not interested in my standard of living, my health, my job, my rights, my freedoms, my future or any future.'"

Gelhorn added, "If we mean to keep control over our world and lives, we must be interested in politics."

Here's my question for you: How might you upgrade your interest and involvement in the big cultural and political developments that are impacting your personal destiny?

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VOTING IS A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

If you feel that voting is irrelevant or unimportant or a waste of time—maybe because you imagine there's no difference between the two political parties—I regard you as dangerous to our collective welfare.

I wish you well, but can't indulge your collusion with malign leaders. Here in my sanctuary, we proceed with the understanding that voting is a life-and-death matter.

Nowhere is this more dramatically evidenced than in the theft of abortion rights by America's growing theocratic menace. There's no ambiguity: It happened because voters installed Republican presidents who appointed rightwing crackpots to the Supreme Court.

YES, There Are Important Differences between the Two Main Political Parties

and

YES, Voting Is a Matter of Life and Death for a Lot of People.

You say you didn't vote in 2000, or decided that Earth-in-the-Balance Al Gore wasn't green enough for you?

You helped elect George Bush, who then picked two conservative Supreme Court justices. John Roberts and Samuel Alito. Those two are still retrograde fixtures on the court 16 and 17 years later.

You didn't vote in the 2010 or 2014 US midterm elections?

You helped throw the Senate to the Republicans, allowing them to steal the Supreme Court seat made vacant when Justice Antonin Scalia died.

Didn't vote in 2016, or just didn't like corporate Hillary and her emails?

You helped elect Trump, who picked three horrendous right-wing fanatics to be Supreme Court justices.

Now the Supreme Court, fueled by Trump’s henchmen and henchwoman, is putting a Christian Fascist Theocracy in place—stealing basic human rights like abortion and gutting environmental protections.

The bans in abortion that have been authorized by the Supreme Court are already killing people.

The evidence is clear: Making abortion illegal leads to a sharp increase in pregnancy-related deaths.

Banning abortion is leading to a 21% increase in the number of pregnancy-related deaths overall and a 33% increase among Black women. https://tinyurl.com/yduy69vc

Abortion bans lead to more deadly infections: https://tinyurl.com/yejhav86

Abortion bans increase maternal mortality: https://tinyurl.com/muk2a8pn

How many people die from unsafe abortions?: https://tinyurl.com/mtjta5xv

Another life-and-death issue affected by voting or not voting: People are suffering and dying from the climate crisis: https://tinyurl.com/mmk4cdny

And the Supreme Court recently curbed the EPA’s ability to fight the climate crisis: https://tinyurl.com/2p8epude

The legal doctrine that the conservative justices used to limit the EPA’s power is popping up in a host of new legal challenges — some of which further contribute to the climate crisis. https://tinyurl.com/37uafb96

The evidence is overwhelming: Voting is a matter of life and death.

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HOW DO POLITICS AFFECT YOU PERSONALLY?

The actions of your country's political leaders may have direct, immediate, practical impacts on your personal life.

A change in tax law is one example. It might result in you have more or less money at your disposal.

Shifts in immigration policy constitute another. If you're an immigrant or have friends and family who are immigrants, those shifts may touch you deeply.

Here's a third possibility: Laws designed to protect the environment from its many different damagers might limit or expand your enjoyment of nature in your area.

As the devastating effects of the climate crisis rampage, your personal health may be affected.

The World Health organization says: Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250 000 additional deaths per year, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea and heat stress.

The direct damage costs to health is estimated to be between $2 to 4 billion per year by 2030.

More: https://tinyurl.com/mr2ayeeh

Fourth: If the government expands or contracts its involvement in how your medical bills are paid, it might either save the lives and ease the suffering of you and your loved ones, or else result in your death or debilitation.

According to the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, less wealthy Americans without health insurance are more likely to die than wealthier Americans who have it.

Other benefits of health insurance: "improved self-rated health, financial protection, and reduced likelihood of depression. Insurance is the gateway to medical care, whose aim is not just to save lives but also to relieve suffering."

More: https://tinyurl.com/HealthInsuranceBenefits

Some actions by your elected and appointed officials may have little direct, immediate, practical impact on your personal life, while at the same time having huge consequences for people you don't know.

For example, when the American government sells huge amounts of weaponry at bargain rates to the authoritarian nation of Saudi Arabia, that weaponry might be used to annihilate civilians in Yemen.

An astute mythologist or depth psychologist might identify another mechanism by which prominent, notorious, and highly visible politicians wield influence in our private lives. They become major players in our imaginations, embodying the roles of archetypal figures like kings and queens, rebels and fools, gray eminences and sycophants.

We may incorporate them into our nightly dreams as if they were people we knew personally. They may possess an oversized power to inspire or demoralize us, gladden or enrage us. Their numinous images may get entangled with our feelings about our parents or other authority figures we have dealt with.

So when we Americans elect a new president, for example, we choose a character who will be a major force, for better or worse, in our subconscious minds for the next four years. Same is true, on a less intense but still powerful level, for governors and Senators and influe ntial Congresspeople.

In a sense, we are deciding upon fairy tale heroes an villains who will preside over the dramas that are always simmering in our deep psyches.

Our word "idiot" comes from the Greek name for the man who took no share in public matters.

—Classicist scholar and author Edith Hamilton

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VOTING FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL

During his time in the Senate, former U.S. presidential candidate John McCain was a strong advocate for Native Americans.

As chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, he sponsored or co-sponsored seven bills in support of Indian rights.

And yet in 2008, Native Americans voted overwhelmingly for McCain's opponent, Barack Obama, who had no such track record.

When asked why, one Native American author said that unlike most other groups, Indians don't vote merely for their own narrow self-interest, but rather for the benefit of all. They felt Obama would be the better president for America.

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YES, CHRIST WAS A SOCIALIST

What Jesus Christ really taught: "For I was hungry, and you didn't feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn't give me anything to drink. I was a stranger, and you didn't invite me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me no clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn't visit me.

"Then they will reply, 'Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?' And he will answer, 'I assure you, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.'"

- Matthew 25:42-45

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PRAYING FOR THE WELFARE OF OTHERS

Today I speak and feel and act on Cesar Chavez's famous prayer:

Show me the suffering of the most miserable;
So I will know my people's plight.

Free me to pray for others;
For you are present in every person.

Help me take responsibility for my own life;
So that I can feel free at last.

Grant me courage to serve others;
For in service there is true life.

Give me honesty and patience;
So that I can work with other workers.

Bring forth song and celebration;
So that the Spirit will be alive among us.

Let the Spirit flourish and grow;
So that we will never tire of the struggle.

Let us remember those who have died for justice;
For they have given us life.

Help us love even those who hate us;
So we can change the world.

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SPIRITUAL ACTIVISM

A spirituality that is only private and self-absorbed, one devoid of an authentic political and social consciousness, does little to halt the suicidal juggernaut of history.

On the other hand, an activism that is not purified by profound spiritual and psychological self-awareness will only perpetuate the problem it is trying to solve, however righteous its intentions.

—author Andrew Harvey

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THE DELUSIONAL “IT DOESN’T MATTER WHO YOU VOTE FOR” SHTICK

We've seen the "It doesn't matter who you vote for" shtick in recent history, with devastating results.

In the 2000 U.S. presidential election, Al Gore won the popular vote by 534,895 votes. But he lost the electoral vote, getting 266 votes to Bush's 271.

In the state of New Hampshire, Gore received 7,211 fewer votes than Bush.

Ralph Nader received 22,198 votes in New Hampshire.

If just 7,212 of those 22,198 Nader voters in New Hampshire had instead voted for Gore, Gore would have received New Hampshire's four electoral votes instead of Bush.

Gore would have then won the electoral vote, 270 to 267, and thus won the election.

There were other reasons that accounted for Gore "losing" the election, but this one was the most unimpeachable.

So we can accurately say that Bush's ascent to power — which led to the $4 trillion war in Iraq and his decimation of the environment (among all his other bad deeds) — was a direct result of 7,212 Nader voters in New Hampshire.

Does anyone on the left sincerely believe that the United States and the world wouldn't be a very different place if Gore had been president instead of Bush?

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If, however, you are sufficiently prosperous and feel comfortable about donating money to me, I welcome it. Please know, though: I am TOTALLY FINE if you don't donate.

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

Week beginning October 20

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libra poet Wallace Stevens said that the great poems of heaven and hell have already been written, and now it is time to generate the great poems of earth. I'd love to invite all Libras, including non-writers, to apply that perspective in their own sphere. Just forget about heaven and hell for now. Turn your attention away from perfection and fantasylands and lofty heights. Disregard pathologies and muck and misery. Instead, explore and celebrate the precious mysteries of the world as it is. Be a connoisseur of the beauty and small miracles embedded in life's little details. Find glory in the routine.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Here are two top Scorpio pastimes: 1. exploring and deploying your intense, fertile creativity; 2. spiraling gleefully down into deep dark voids in pursuit of deep dark riches. Sometimes those two hobbies dovetail quite well; you can satisfy both pursuits simultaneously. One of my favorite variations on this scenario is when the deep dark void you leap into turns out to actually be a lush wonderland that stimulates your intense, fertile creativity. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, that's likely to happen soon.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): "I don't want to be made pacified or made comfortable. I like stuff that gets your adrenaline going." Sagittarian filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow said that. With the help of this attitude, she became the first woman ever to win an Academy Award for Best Director. Her film was The Hurt Locker, about American soldiers in Iraq who dispose of unexploded bombs while being harassed by enemies. Anyway, Bigelow's approach is usually too hard-ass for me. I'm a sensitive Cancer the Crab, not a bold Sagittarius the Centaur like Bigelow and you. But I don't want to assume you're in the mood for her approach. If you are, though, the coming weeks will be a favorable time to deploy it. Some marvelous epiphanies and healing changes will be available if you forswear stuff that makes you pacified or comfortable.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Author Jan Richardson tells us we can't return home by taking the same route we used when we departed. This will be wise advice for you to keep in mind during the next nine months. I expect you will be attempting at least two kinds of homecomings. For best results, plan to travel by different routes than those that might seem natural and obvious. The most direct path—the successful passage—may be circuitous.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): In the coming days, maintain strict boundaries between yourself and anyone or anything that's not healthy for you. Be ultra-discerning as you decide which influences you will allow to affect you and which you won't. And rather than getting sour and tense as you do this, I recommend you proceed with wicked humor and sly irony. Here are three saucy self-protective statements you can use to ward off threats and remain inviolable. 1. "The current ambiance does not align sweetly with my vital soul energy; I must go track down some more harmonious karma." 2. "This atmosphere is out of sync with my deep precious selfness; I am compelled to take my deep precious selfness elsewhere." 3. "The undertones here are agitating my undercurrents; it behooves me to track down groovier overtones."

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): While asleep, have you ever dreamt of discovering new rooms in a house or other building you know well? I bet you will have at least one such dream soon. What does it mean? It suggests you want and need to get in touch with parts of yourself that have been dormant or unavailable. You may uncover evocative secrets about your past and present that had been unknown to you. You will learn about new resources you can access and provocative possibilities you had never imagined.

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WHY IS IT CALLED "FREE WILL" ASTROLOGY?

It's called Free Will Astrology because my goal is to create horoscopes that support and inspire your free will.

Contrary to what some horoscope fans believe, there's no such thing as predestination. Your future fate isn't fixed. You have a lot of power to shape the unfolding story.

My greatest service to you, then, is not to "predict" your future but rather to help you create the future you want.

If you ever want more support than the horoscopes you read here, try my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES. They're five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.

To listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope online, go to https://RealAstrology.com

The cost is $7 per sign online. (Discounts are available for bulk purchases.)

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ARIES (March 21-April 19): "We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us." Aries mythologist Joseph Campbell said that, and now I'm passing it on to you just in time for the Sacred Surrender Phase of your astrological cycle. Make sage use of Campbell's wisdom, Aries! You will generate good fortune for yourself as you work to release expectations that may be interfering with the arrival of new stories and adventures. Be brave, my dear, as you relinquish outdated attachments and shed defunct hopes.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Plastic bags are used for an average of 12 minutes before being discarded. Then they languish in our soil or oceans, degrading slowly as they cause mayhem for animals and ecosystems. In alignment with current cosmic rhythms, I'm encouraging you to be extra discerning in your relationship with plastic bags—as well as with all other unproductive, impractical, wasteful things and people. In the coming weeks, you will thrive by focusing on what will serve you with high integrity for a long time.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Achilleas Frangakis is a professor of electron microscopy. He studies the biochemistry of cells. In one of his research projects, he investigated how cells interact with the outside world. He didn't learn much about that question, but as he experimented, he inadvertently uncovered fascinating new information about another subject: how cells interact with each other when they heal a wound. His "successful failure" was an example of what scientists sometimes do: They miss what they looked for, but find unexpected data and make serendipitous discoveries. I suspect you will experience comparable luck sometime soon, Gemini. Be alert for goodies you weren't in quest of.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Renowned Brazilian novelist Osman Lins was born under the sign of Cancer the Crab. He wrote, "I will now live my life with the inventiveness of an engineer who drives his locomotive off the tracks. No more beaten paths: improvisation is the rule." In the coming weeks, I am all in favor of you, my fellow Cancerian, being an inventive adventurer who improvises liberally and departs from well-worn routes. However, I don't recommend you do the equivalent of running your train off the tracks. Let's instead imagine you as piloting a four-wheel-drive, all-terrain vehicle. Go off-road to explore. Improvise enthusiastically as you reconnoiter the unknown. But do so with scrupulous attention to what's healthy and inspiring.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In recent years, art historians have recovered numerous masterpieces that had been missing for years. They include a sculpture by Bernini, a sketch by Picasso, a drawing by Albrecht Dürer, and a painting by Titian. I'm a big fan of efforts like these: searching for and finding lost treasures. And I think you should make that a fun project in the coming weeks. Are there any beautiful creations that have been lost or forgotten? Useful resources that have been neglected? Wild truths that have been buried or underestimated? In accordance with astrological potentials, I hope you will explore such possibilities.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The most important experience for you to seek in the coming months is to be seen and respected for who you really are. Who are the allies best able to give you that blessing? Make vigorous efforts to keep them close and treat them well. To inspire your mission, I offer you three quotes. 1. Franz Kafka said, "All the love in the world is useless if there is a total lack of understanding." 2. Anais Nin wrote, "I don't want worship. I want understanding." 3. George Orwell: "Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood."

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Graham Harriman

Oct 24, 2022

I’ve read this newsletter for 15 years. Always helpful and insightful. Thank you

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JEAN'NE

As always an inspired kick ass newsletter. Thank you. I like to say "Voting is NOT a spectator sport." And "Winners Vote and Losers Don't." If you don't vote someone else will do it for you" So if you like the way things are going absolutely, don't vote and nothing will change. Just saying one person can make a difference. English was one vote away from being German as our language of choice.

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