Today is Election Day here in the US.
I have already voted and I exhort you to do the likewise.
If you've been reading this blog--or simply know anything at all about who I am, in addition to being an avid cyclist--you probably can guess how I voted.
There was a time when I didn't vote because I "didn't think it mattered." I can understand why people--including you, perhaps--might feel that way. After all, your ballot is one of millions. And you might live in a jurisdiction where one candidate or party or another is "safe."
Well, let me tell you, no district is as "safe" as it seems. The past few elections should have taught us that. I can recall hearing, in early 2015, that Hilary Clinton was a "shoo-in" for the Presidency and Donald Trump's candidacy seemed like a joke. Right now, here in New York State, the gubernatorial race is much closer than anyone had anticipated--and I have seen many more signs for Zeldin than for the incumbent Hochul.
Even if you don't think reproductive rights or even bodily autonomy, let alone equality for women, LGBTQ people, immigrants or any other marginalized people are relevant to you, I assume that, since you are reading this, you are a cyclist or have some sort of interest in bicycles. While most candidates don't mention cycling or bicycle infrastructure specifically, there are a host of other issues that relate directly to what we love. They include, of course, the environment and transportation. But cycling also intersects--to borrow Kimberle Crenshaw's postulation--with economic and social justice in all sorts of ways. We need not only to encourage people to trade four wheels and one pedal for two and two whenever possible, we must also make communities--and jobs--safe and affordable so that people who aren't athletes can ride bikes to work or school.
Anyway...these Boy Scouts (confession: I was one in my dim, dark past!) are delivering the message in more ways than one:
