I was immersed in blue on Thursday night. Fictional cops trying to solve a kidnap/rape case. Erin and Jay mixing it up for some romance at the end.

One of my favorite episodes of Chicago PD.

Simultaneously much of the country was watching the presidential debate, which was apparently a rough go. The Lying Felon vs. a shaky voiced President Biden.

I still haven’t watched it and don’t plan to. I’ve read a lot of the fallout, though, and there is one thing I can state confidently at this point:

I’m voting blue.

Not a big revelation. I’ve been saying that all along.

Blue.

So, let’s review.

If Biden stays in the race – blue.

If Biden is replaced – blue.

If it’s Kamala Harris – blue.

If it’s Gavin Newsom – blue.

If it’s Gretchen Witmer – blue.

If it’s Pete Buttigieg – blue.

If it’s Hakeem Jeffries – blue.

Blue, blue, blue, blue.

I mean, if it’s a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the Democratic side of my ballot, I’m casting the vote for blue.

It requires no thought. I like my country with its current rule of law, fair elections, respect for court systems. I feel strongly about the advances made by marginalized groups and want them to continue. I like separation of church and state. I want more restrictions placed on gun ownership. I want the Jan. 6 insurrectionists in jail to stay there. I don’t want the Supreme Court to take an even more conservative turn.

Blue.

Infrastructure progress. Employment gains.

Blue.

I was dismayed to read this from the noted historian Heather Cox Richardson:

“It went on and on, and that was the point. This was not a debate. It was Trump using a technique that … has a formal name, the Gish gallop, although I suspect he comes by it naturally. It’s a rhetorical technique in which someone throws out a fast string of lies, non-sequiturs, and specious arguments, so many that it is impossible to fact-check or rebut them in the amount of time it took to say them. Trying to figure out how to respond makes the opponent look confused, because they don’t know where to start grappling with the flood that has just hit them … It is a form of gaslighting, and it is especially effective on someone with a stutter, as Biden has.”

Blue.

And while columnists and news outlets are entitled to their opinion that Biden should step aside – something I can’t opine on without seeing the debate – it is galling when those same people never called for the ousting of the sociopathic felon on the other ticket.

Blue.

There’s a line of thinking going around that we’re voting for an administration, not one person. Let’s say the naysayers are right and the White House is currently being run by a team, not Biden. The results have been stellar thus far. Not saying it’s desirable or ideal, but if we got through Reagan’s mental decline, we can certainly get through a situation where such a competent team is in place fighting for the right things.

Blue.

I vowed I would bring my full-throated voice to this election. I don’t believe it’s something we can mess with. Too dangerous. I don’t know when I’ve experienced such precariousness in my voting duty.

I’m here and clear.

Blue.

That Chicago PD episode I was watching, if they remade it now there are a whole bunch of states where the pregnant rape victim wouldn’t have to make the wrenching choice of whether or not to bring the pregnancy to term. Unless she had the means to travel, there would be no choice. It’s baby or jail.

Blue.

[Editorial Note: This is my 23rd installment in a series I began in order to give my writing some flow after being in a healing phase from knee surgeries for a year (2023-24).]