"Don't Let Them Take Your Power."

The American people ARE the U.S. government. If you have not already voted, use your voting power on Tuesday November 5 to preserve all our freedoms and choices.

“My greatest fear is that one day we may wake up and our democracy is gone.” — John Lewis

I was this week year old when I learned that one of my favorite singer-songwriters did not cast her first vote in a U.S. election until she was 70 years old.

In a brave and revealing interview with Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Nicks admitted she did not become civically active until six years ago — this means she did not vote in the 2016 election when convicted felon and adjudicated rapist inmate # P01135809 ran against Hillary Clinton (who was right about everything) in the U.S. Presidential election. Nicks now regrets her apathy.

Roe V. Wade was overturned in 2022 several years after inmate # P01135809 had three new Supreme Court justices installed who voted to overturn Roe. This meant the conservative justices who overturned Roe perjured themselves when they testified in their confirmation hearings that Roe was settled law.

Not only am I glad Nicks has taken responsibility and held herself accountable but that she has turned her tough lesson into artistic resistance. These lyrics in her powerful and galvanizing song “The Lighthouse” produced actual goosebumps that traveled up my right arm to the right side of my face the first time I listened to them. As I continued to listen, tears fell down my cheeks:

I have my scars, you have yours
Don't let them take your power
Don't leave it alone in the final hours
They'll take your soul, they'll take your power
Unless you stand up and take it back
Try to see the future and get mad
It's slipping through your fingers, you don't have what you had
You don't have much time to get it back

I wanna be the lighthouse
Bring all of you together
Bring it out in a song
Bring it out in stormy weather
Tell them the story

(Oh) I wanna teach 'em to fight
(Oh) I wanna tell 'em this has happened before
(Oh) Don't let it happen again

I have my scars, you have yours
Don't let them take your power
Don't leave it alone in the final hours
They'll take your soul, they'll take your power
Unless you save it and that's that
Unless you stand up and take it back
Try to see the future and get mad
It's slippin' through your fingers, you don't have what you had
You don't have much time

You gotta get in the game
You gotta learn how to play
You gotta make a change
You gotta do it today

The overturning of Roe is more about abortion health and reproductive rights. It is about self-respect, empowerment, independence, thinking of other women who are of different races, sexualities, genders and abilities and and ultimately reproductive justice. No woman should be told what to do regarding her reproductive health or made to do something regarding her reproductive health that she does not want to or cannot do. This happened to me.

In the first month of my own pregnancy, I told two friends I was pregnant. They both implied I should get an abortion because I live with multiple sclerosis. Their thoughts though they would say otherwise fell into promoting eugenics and demeaned my choice to have a baby.

Their words made me angry. Their words hurt me. Their words disrespected me. Their words changed the way I viewed them as friends and changed my interactions with them.

Instead of them saying to me “I will support you. Do you need anything from me?”, they rejected my choice and intellect. I thought a lot about my choice to have a baby knowing my health issues and discussed it with my husband. Like when I learned I had multiple sclerosis, my pregnancy and new life stage of motherhood showed me who my true friends are and who I could trust.

What I appreciate about Nick’s video is that in addition to the protestors holding up signs for “choice” and “feminism,” she has two visibly pregnant women with the word “choice” written on their bellies.

While Nick’s “The Lighthouse” addresses the loss of Roe and reproductive justice, her song also emphasizes the importance of using our civil power. If the 2024 Presidential election goes sideways, every one of us will lose our first amendment and civil rights. If the horrific election of inmate # P01135809 occurs, it will make Project 2025 go into full effect once he's inaugurated. It also means inmate # P01135809 will escape trial and imprisonment— these are the only reasons he is running for President.

Best selling novelist and memoirist

Andra Watkins

has done an incredible job letting her readers know about Project 2025 and Christian Nationalism’s dangers in her Substack How Project 2025 Will Ruin YOUR Life. Like her, I’ve addressed how Project 2025 will go after pornography — especially works of art that are not pornographic but works of art that make MAGA, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts who is a member of the Catholic Opus Dei cult and the Christian Nationalist Speaker of the House Mike Johnson uncomfortable because those works address race, sexuality, nudity, sex and gender.

I am well aware that civic education is often not taught in public middle or high schools now. I am grateful my daughter’s high school does offer a civics course during her junior or senior year. I took civics and The Constitution test in eighth grade and my junior year of high school. Though it was in eighth grade, I remember the preamble:

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

The first three and most powerful words are “We the People.” We all too often forget that the American people are the government and necessary components for local, state and federal governments to work effectively. The late and legendary George Carlin in his stand-up comedy claimed he did not vote. I hope he was being sarcastic and that he did in fact vote, but he did bring up a point I have meditated on since the 2016 Presidential election:

He passed away before social media began dominating culture and society. While we see the worst of humanity on the internet and on social media, I have also seen a lot of intelligent, empathetic, informed and active people on both. This gives me hope though I am sure Mr. Carlin would perhaps respectfully but passionately disagree with me. I don’t know if the chaos and destruction and divisiveness that has occurred since inmate #P01135809 has dominated the news cycle since 2015 would have changed Carlin’s mind or developed his positions.

Our former yet forever first lady Michelle Obama echoed the words of Vice President Kamala Harris’s mother Shyamala Gopalan Harris in her 2024 Democratic National Convention speech. She rallied that we just shouldn’t complain but do something. Nicks asserts in “The Lighthouse,” “Don’t let them take your power.” By using our power, U.S. voters living in the country or outside the country can preserve their first amendment rights, their civil rights and their freedom. Only by voting can change be made in local, state and national government.

But our power doesn’t end at the ballot box. It continues by communicating with our government officials through letters and phone calls, by organizing, by protesting and, perhaps, running for office ourselves.

If you need any more convincing about who to vote for, keep in mind that inmate # P01135809 threatened former Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney with execution by a firing squad during an Arizona interview with Tucker Carlson. One more example of his love a violence; it’s a love that according to the curated journalism of

Seth Abramson

’s Proof Of Cruelty: Donald Trump’s Decades of Violence began when inmate # P01135809 was child — he hurled stones at a next-door neighbor’s baby resting in his playpen.

We also can’t forget that last night inmate # P01135809 simulated fellatio on his microphone during his recent rally. You can view it at the 3:07 mark.

None of this is normal and is not a good look for the United States. The rest of the world sees this and judges us by it.

Use your power and vote early this weekend or next week on Tuesday November 5.

For my readers in the United States and my U.S. readers living abroad, check your voting registration at IWillVote.com If you are not registered to vote or you have not voted in years, you can also register to vote at IWillVote.com.

If you have any problems when you vote, you may request a provisional ballot at your polling place. Learn how to request one below:

If you want to add to your vote’s power, consider a volunteer opportunity at mobilize.us.