THANKS IN ADVANCE

A More Perfect Union / 2019 / Mixed media painting / Russell C. Smith

Thanks in advance, for not completely destroying our democracy.

Thanks in advance for understanding that we don’t elect dictators, in the year 2024, in the United States of America.

Thanks in advance for showing us how not to behave in a democracy.

Thanks in advance for building a time machine, so a group of us carrying history books and mobile phones can travel back to the 1780s and convince the politicians who conceived of and adopted the Electoral College amendment at the 1787 Constitutional Convention, that it is extremely harmful to democracy, will be dangerous in the future when changing the outcome of several key elections, and can eventually become a major factor in destroying America. We’ll tell them with a unified voice – they must stop this ill-considered amendment. Instead, keep voting in the hands of the voters. One vote for one citizen. Keep our country a true democracy.

Thanks in advance for bringing an end to systemic racism, hatred of women, senseless homophobia, and a fear of books.

Thanks in advance, for not advancing fascism and helping to let loose people’s worst impulses, since it’s not an option in any conceivable way for the United States of America.

Thanks in advance for telling us in advance exactly how many things you’re going to try taking away from us.

Thanks in advance for putting forward only the most qualified, and least conspiratorially-minded candidates for the highest levels of the new administration.

Thanks in advance, for acting with empathy, compassion, and care for human beings – no matter who they are, or where they come from.

Thanks in advance for not giving any credence to the ongoing insanity promoted by anti-vaxxers, climate-science deniers, and believers in hate as a way of life.

Thanks in advance for saying no to all forms of authoritarianism, on day one, or any other day.

Thanks in advance for being spiritual and not religious.

Thanks in advance for striving to create a more informed, knowledge-seeking, and book-loving populace.

Thanks in advance for doing all that We the People can do to prevent the further slide into living in the Dystopian Divided States of America.

Thanks in advance for putting our tattered and damaged democracy in a top drawer in the hall closet, so we can easily find it. So we won’t have to go searching for it when we truly need it again.

Thanks in advance for always promoting kindness first, as a way of leading our nation during this troubled and divisive moment in world history.

You can pick up a copy of my book The New Now on Amazon. In paperback or eBook.