Democratic Primaries

Things like professional football games and other sporting events are nonessential. So is going to the opera, the ballet, or a show on Broadway. For me, and for a hell of a lot of other Americans, voting is *ESSENTIAL*. We fought the Revolutionary War to get it. Then we fought a Civil War so that eventually Black Americans could get it. Women protested for years and years to get it. People all around the world who cannot vote want to be able to vote. Democracy is at the very heart of who we are as Americans.

Shopping for groceries is essential to most Americans. So is buying soap, shampoo, and a whole host of other things. On Friday, my parents who are in their 80s went to Costco to buy food and it was more crowded than they had ever seen before--all registers in use and lines to the back of the store. Should they have not bought food because there was more than 50 people there?

Around the world, nations are closing bars, cafes, restaurants and theaters, but they are leaving open pharmacies and grocery stores. Why? Because some things are nonessential, and some things are essential. The way Trump has botched this coronavirus thing so far, picking the right guy to make sure Trump is gone may do more to keep people healthy than staying home on election day. I live in Arizona, so I voted by mail weeks ago. My mom who is 84 will be working 15 hours as an election supervisor here in Arizona on election day. She will be voting that day too. She watches Rachel Maddow 5 nights a week, and the NBC Nightly news every night. She reads the newspaper every day. She cannot wait to vote for Joe Biden so he can kick Trump out. To her, voting is *essential*.

The CDC likes to avoid using phrases like "This is safe" and "this is not safe". Instead, they prefer to give guidelines. But things are contradicting each other. The CDC recently said that people should stock up on supplies so that if they have to self-quarantine they can stay at home. Right after that is when the massive lines started at places like Costco because people were trying to do what the CDC said. So, we have people saying "Stock up in case you need to self-quarantine" and we have other people saying "Why is everyone panic buying? Stop hoarding! Food will be there!". It is like the left hand and does not know what the right hand is doing.

My opinion is that everyone should avoid nonessential gatherings of people as much as possible. But some things are essential to me and to a lot of people, such as buying groceries, filling your car with gasoline, and voting. Just because the CDC did not say "voting is safe" (they would never say it was or was not safe, I'm guessing) does not make it "unsafe". We all have to decide what risks to take, and if we prepare for voting, like washing our hands well, wearing gloves, and covering our faces, we can do the essentials while minimizing the risk.

Trump told Americans to come home, and they did by the thousands, and they were in airport lines today all crammed together--no social distancing. These Americans thought it was important to come home before a possible lockdown of American occurs. They thought that coming home was essential. I would think the same thing. This is not the riskiest time to be out in a large group. It will get much, much worse in 4 to 8 weeks, which is why I think two states postponing their primaries is kinda nuts. Odds are things will be much worse in two months, based on the graphs that I have seen of places like Italy.