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I have never posted online before so please bear with me. I have at least four versions of this letter. It has been difficult to write.

Like everyone else, I feel I need to explain my reason for abandoning my lifelong commitment to the Democratic party and going Green. First, I need to say I am not a millennial. However, I'm thinking anyone who does not support Hillary is a millennial, right. We're all millennials now. Damn those millennials.

Actually, I'm a grandma from the midwest and this is just what I think. Hillary recently held a fundraiser in the Hamptons for her very wealthy supporters. The article I read said they discussed Hillary's “commitment” to working towards restoring the middle class. Evidently, those in attendance thought this might be a good idea. Amazing that the very people who destroyed the middle class, sucked the lifeblood out of this country, sent our jobs packing, think it's up to them to give the 99% back some of what they stole.

Well, no thanks Hillary. You've done enough. You can move your mouth Hillary. So can Obama. And evidently so can Bernie. The ability to speak doesn't mean much though does it if there's no truth behind those words. Something about actions speaking louder than words pops into my head. We expect nothing but hot air from Trump and we get nothing but hot air. No surprise there. He's what some people would call a great bullshitter. (He'd make a great used car salesman. You can see that right.) But none of those people would take him seriously.

My feeling is that the republican and democratic party have morphed into one party which I will call the Redemocon party. I'm pretty sure a vote for either Redemocon candidate will mean war and the continued assault on the environment in spite of what they may say. I mean they're already gearing up for it. Think about Hillary's 'the Russians ate my homework' defense.

Mainstream media says the Russians can hack our vote. So, we have a villain here and it's Russia. We will have to go to war. This provides Hillary with someone to blame when she steals the election. Expect Trump to stand down. The pattern repeats itself. Here's what I think about the Russians ate my homework defense.

Any parent knows the proper response to this. You tell your child that if they had put their homework in their backpack when they were finished, the Russians would not have been able to hack their homework. You remind them that it is their responsibility to make sure their homework is safe and to turn it in on time and you remind them that blaming others, even the Russians, is not the right thing to do. You tell them that they must own their own mistakes as well as their successes. You remind them that honesty is the only honorable way to go. I am so sick of these people I cannot stand to look at them.

They all like to say freedom isn't free when they are sending our kids off to war. Well, no shit. Ask a Vet. Vets will tell you that our soldiers pay for our freedom with their arms, legs, minds, with their lives. Years ago I was fortunate enough to meet an older Vietnamese gentleman on a college campus. He was lucky enough to make it out on the last American plane out of Vietnam. I was in my 20's so I had lots of questions. He said to me, “America is the largest manufacturer of weapons in the world.” I had no more questions.

We build the bombs and the planes and the guns. It's big business. It was about money then. It is about money now. Freedom isn't free. We, the 99%ers, pay with our lives, our families, our homes, our bodies. But somebody profits and I'm thinking it's the 1% club. So now they are going to tell us who to vote for. Are you watching this spectacle. How do you know when the country you love has finally reached the bottom of the barrel. When one candidate is a bullshitting con artist whose claim to fame is that he amassed his fortune with taxpayers dollars. This is old news by the way. And he feels superior to the rest of us. You can see that.

The other candidate lies and cheats her way to the top. She doesn't seem to be trying very hard to hide that fact. It's kind of out in the open. We are being told by one person we trust, yes it's bad, but vote for her anyway. We'll change it after the fact. No thanks, Bernie. By the way, when have you ever known the do as I say not as I do argument to work. It has never worked for me.

We need your support Bernie. We can think for ourselves. And we are told by another person I don't trust at all that he will be insulted if the minority community doesn't vote for Hillary. Well, you guys have to do what you think is best.

I just have to say one thing. Since Obama has been in office, it's like it's open season on black people. You can shoot a black person down in broad daylight with his hands up in the air and get away with it. You can shoot a black person laying face down on the ground in the back and kill them and get away with it. Maybe this bothers Obama as much as it does me but I just don't see it. He has the power to actually do something about this but if he is, it's not enough.

To me this all looks like a bad joke. Campaigning for office has been replaced with whining, badgering, scolding, and shaming the people. Losers. Do you really think we believe any of this shit? While the media that the Redemocons control focus on the orange haired one and the woman who does not like to be seen, here is some of what is not being reported. Florida is having two problems: their Atlantic coastline is covered with green ooze and a fertilizer plant sinkhole is leaking radioactive water into an aquifer. Contaminated drinking water people. There is a gasoline pipeline spill in Alabama that is causing fuel shortages in five states. Not to mention the damage to the environment. We have heard nothing recently about the people of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and how they're doing after the flood. The North Dakota Sioux are still fighting for clean water. And North Dakota is covering up oil spills. Plus, I believe they have drones now.

As for me, I have a grandson that I love more than I can say. He is the most wonderful thing in the world. So I speak to the 99% now. Don't listen to what you hear coming from the mainstream media. They're lying and they're not reporting the news anyway. It's your vote. Don't let anyone tell you how to vote. Here's what we know. Hillary will cheat. Then she will lie about it. It's what she does. And then she will blame the Russians or someone else. But we can make it hard for her.

I say no votes for either Hillary or the orange haired one. No votes. Zero. Vote third party. Do your own research. Please. You have two more choices. Gary Johnson, Libertarian, or Jill Stein, Green Party. Me, I am going to stand with the Standing Rock Sioux, with Leonard Peltier, with the planet earth. I want the George Jetson future we dreamed about when we were kids. I am voting for Jill Stein.

I need clean water, air, peace. I like the good stuff. Uncontaminated food and water. I like plants and animals and oceans and fish and bees and flowers. Think hard about this vote. Ten years from now, I may not be around but my grandson will. And so will his friends. We're voting this election to make the world better or even more hellish. To stop the madness or to hasten the end. I want my grandson to have a chance. He is 10 years old. There's no telling what amazing things he and his friends can do. We need to make sure they get a chance. I believe in them.

With this election we have the chance to change the direction of this country. The democratic and republican parties are the past. They are dinosaurs consuming the whole world. They are a joke and they haven't told the truth in so very long, I think they might believe their own nonsense. Think about it. Vote. Don't let them tell you it's a protest vote or that you're throwing your vote away. We can think for ourselves. Your vote is your vote and it's your business alone, nobody else. Just vote. I would like to leave you with a poem I wrote a while back.

Mother Nature
She walked quietly painfully down the hill
Staring over the edge into the abyss
Mother Nature asks herself
Do they really think I will ever come back?

Thank you for listening. We have to step back from the edge of this ledge. My name is Jill Richardson.

Your maiden voyage has started auspiciously. Please continue to contribute to our community--you are part of it. By the way, your message couldn't have been delivered in a better fashion. Welcome aboard.

Glad you decided to post it. I am putting on my facebook and tweeting it!

And Thank You! for writing this essay!

Please do keep in mind that hereabouts, the kind of critiques you're getting are not bashing in any way. We love your material and want it to be as easy to read as it can be, so that your message gets as far as it can as fast as it can.

And for Cat's sake, please do stick around and comment on the essays of others! We need you!

Sean

You touch on something that interests me very much - how completely unaware the Democratic establishment seems to be that they are now reaping the bitter harvest from their years of pretending to be advocates of the 99% when almost all of their actions demonstrate otherwise.

It took us a while, but most of us are onto them now. They are no longer the vehicle in which we choose to deposit our hopes for a better future. The mask was ripped off on this go round revealing a bunch of self-serving con artists. Now that we've seen their true face, we can't unsee it. Like any bad relationship, entreaties that once persuaded us now leave us cold. Guilt is not working. Threats are not working. Promises to do better are not working. Their bag of tricks has been emptied. What will they do? Run down the street after the moving truck?

great essay, great writing. Your first essay made it to the front page, not bad, not bad at all. More please.

Stein isn't a choice because she can't win. The Green party cannot compete with the duopoly, the system and those in control of it will not allow it.
The only chance our grandchildren have to live in a just and free world is to change this political system, remove those who control it from power and start over.
I'm not voting in a system that is meant to keep ruling class in power, a system that does not represent me and my grandchildren. I boycott/reject this system and tell my children and grandchildren to do the same. We live in an oligarchy/plutocracy and no amount of voting in this system is going to change that.
I urge all grandparents who worry about their grandchildren's future to come to grips with what has to be done.

I'm sure my husband won't mind.