A Letter to My Kids on the Eve of the Election

HI, my loves.

You're sleeping at the moment. Usually, I take this rare quiet time in my day to relax a bit, read a book, do a crossword puzzle, watch a take-your-pick-of-any-sport game on TV with your dad. But it's hard to relax right now. So I'm going to write something to you.

Many years ago, I talked with your Geps about voting. I asked him how he decided whom and what to support when he entered the booth. He told me that he always thought about us—me and your aunt. He thought about the kind of future he wanted us to see, the kind of opportunities he wanted us to have, the kinds of things he wanted to protect us from.

One man's vote, of course, couldn't guarantee that the change he wanted to see would come to pass. But it was the most important thing he could do to make it happen.

I've thought a lot about that conversation over the past eight years, especially since the two of you were born. Now, I know how he felt. In this election, I'll be voting for the future I want you to see, the kinds of opportunities I want you to have, the kinds of things I want to protect you from.

I want you to live in a country that:

• Grants you and the women in your life access to reproductive medical care without worrying that, in an emergency, a doctor might balance the value of your life against their fear of the law.
• Takes seriously the environmental and geopolitical threats posed by climate change, and takes meaningful steps to mitigate their effects on your lives.
• Values the safety of the public—especially children like you—above people's unfettered access to assault weapons.
• Allows you to grow fully into who you are destined to be, regardless of whether it directly reflects to the gender on your birth certificate, and ensures you all the rights you're entitled to as a citizen.
• Makes it affordable for you to raise children of your own (if you choose to) without taking on crushing debt to get childcare or keep a roof over your head.
• Understands that public education is an essential part of an equitable and thriving society and invests accordingly to provide children like you a foundation to succeed in life.
• Recognizes the value of science and subject-matter experts when making critical decisions about legislation and regulations that will impact your everyday life.

In a couple of years, you'll both learn about (and probably be asked to memorize) the Preamble of the United States Constitution. I won't make you decipher through that paragraph now. Instead, I'll share with you something that Sharon McMahon, one of my favorite writers and podcasters, shared in the introduction to her recent book.

The text of the Preamble imagined America at its finest:

Just. Peaceful. Good. And Free.

With astonishing regularity, Americans have held fast to these ideals, despite the clickbait stories that portend calamity. And America has too often fallen short of these standards. Both of those things are true at the same time. ...

Such is often the experience of any government run by fallible human beings. Sometimes we surprise ourselves in our capacity for greatness, and sometimes the weight of regret wraps around us like a chain.

The ideals outlined in the Constitution represent our national purpose, the raft we must cling to in the storm, the breath in our lungs, the beat in our chest:

Just. Peaceful. Good. Free.

That's the world I want for you both. That's what I'm keeping in mind as I vote this year. That's why I'm voting for Kamala.

Love,
Mom