I'm so tired. I'm so tired of being told one predator is more acceptable than another, because one is in a Party that will destroy our nation quickly and the other is in a Party that will destroy our nation a little less quickly. I'm tired of being told I have to ignore this 1/

Mental and emotional pain I feel every time I consider using one of my most basic rights to freely give either of these predators any more power than they already have over me, over women, over my country, over my children. I have never and will never pull the lever for a 2/

Republican, unless somehow Progressives takeover the Party one day in magic futureland. So that leaves one lever to pull, and that's where the turmoil comes in, because I am told if I do not pull this lever, I am ultimately pulling the lever for the Republican. But the images 3/

And feelings this has brought back, that I had locked behind a door in the deepest, darkest recesses of my mind, kept hidden for decades behind a firewall of compartmentalized personalities, fractured emotions, shattered peace, and wasted potential, flood my very existence. 4/

They permeate every inch of my being and pour out of me and onto my loved ones, poisoning our moments and stealing our time. These memories have escaped before in times of inebriation and trauma, so they are not a stranger to me. But when the wound is reopened, the pain I feel 5/

Is fresh and remembered, like an old enemy with poisonous kisses. Every time the wound is reopened, I use a piece of myself to heal the wound. It's a balance I maintain. This time is different. These feelings are being ripped from their hiding place and lingering like a mirage 6/

Just out of the corner of my vision. I do not control them like I normally do. I can not use them to help mend the wound, because I do not control them. That control has been taken from me, yet again, and left me powerless. This is what you do when you tell me my choices are 7/8

One predator or another. You take away my power; my control. While I am broken by a moment in time, by a predator with power and control, I will not be broken this time, and I will not allow these predators to have power or control over me. My vote is mine, and it is all I have.