Quote for the day…

Every election is determined by the people who show up. ― Larry J. Sabato

Today’s independent commentary deals with these issues:

• Woke, Woke, Woke
• Campaign Lit Update
• Pelosi Attack

WOKE, WOKE, WOKE:

The word “WOKE” is the new battle cry for the MAGA Republicans. The term has been around for a few years, but since Montana is a little behind it’s finally being used here.

It’s being used by some of the more backward-thinking folks in Montana. I’ve heard it used by MAGA talk radio hosts, a constitutional MAGA sheriff, an uneducated city commissioner, and several MAGA candidates. When they use it, they sound like they are in second grade and Billy told them the meaning of a swear word they never heard before.

Ironically, the people (above) trying to use “Woke” disparagingly are all white.

I looked up the meaning of “WOKE” in several dictionaries and here is what I found:

Merriam-Webster: aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)
Merriam-Webster: often used in contexts that suggest someone’s expressed beliefs about such matters are not backed with genuine concern or action

Dictionary.com: having or marked by an active awareness of systemic injustices and prejudices, especially those involving the treatment of ethnic, racial, or sexual minorities.
Dictionary.com; Disparaging. of or relating to a liberal progressive orthodoxy, especially promoting inclusive policies or ideologies that welcome or embrace ethnic, racial, or sexual minorities.

Even Fox News did a story about “Woke,” if you can believe it. Check it out HERE.

As a moderate, I don’t know if I am “Woke” or not. That will be for others to decide. I do know that I care about societal issues and want to see people treated equally.

For the readers who believe in religion, I think we could say that Jesus was “Woke.” Jesus is a good example to follow.

CAMPAIGN LIT UPDATE:

So far this election season, I have received about 80 pieces of campaign literature in the mail. The last few pieces have been from local MAGA candidates who won’t get my vote.

One of the pieces I received over the weekend includes a flier from America First Legal Foundation that tries to tell me, as a white person, that Joe Biden and left-wing officials are engaged in widespread racial discrimination. The President of AFL is none other than Stephen Miller, who was Donald Trump’s senior advisor.

Check out the FRONT – BACK of the flier.

Please vote!

PELOSI ATTACK:

The New York Times is reporting that within hours of the brutal attack last month on Paul Pelosi, the husband of the speaker of the House, activists and media outlets on the right began circulating groundless claims — nearly all of them sinister, and many homophobic — casting doubt on what had happened. Some Republican officials quickly joined in, rushing to suggest that the bludgeoning of an octogenarian by a suspect obsessed with right-wing conspiracy theories was something else altogether, dismissing it as an inside job, a lover’s quarrel or worse.

There were social media posts from #MTPOL folks that spread these groundless claims. We should be better than this.

Check out the NYT article HERE.

## DON’T FORGET TO VOTE ##