1. It’s Tuesday, October 31, 2017.

I’m not a Halloween fan. But if you are, enjoy the day.

2. The past nine months and 11 days have been frustrating if you want to believe in the promise of this country.

It seems as though every day that Trump is in office is either another crisis or indignity.

The Muslim bans.

The war on journalism.

The brink of nuclear war with North Korea.

Gutting health care for millions.

Denying the devastation of climate change.

Relegating women to second-class citizenship.

Giving tax cuts to people who have more than enough.

Forcing American citizens in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to suffer through the devastation from hurricanes.

Equating peaceful protests by professional athletes with being unpatriotic.

Giving comfort to white supremacists and anti-Semites.

Using Twitter to insult people.

I might have missed a dozen or so. You can add them if you’d like.

For these nine-plus months, there has been very little those of us bothered by this could do about it.

We’ve protested in various ways, of course, and some of that has proved modestly successful. The campaign to preserve Obamacare has done about as much as it can.

But a week from today, many – not all, but many – of us have a chance to get back at Trump. It’s small, but it’s hardly petty.

3. Vote.

The temptation in off-year elections is to stay home. “Who knows who most of these people are or what they do?” is the general feeling.

First off, that’s wrong. People in town halls and county governments and state legislatures shape the communities where you live. They can determine if they’re welcoming and thriving or self-interested pockets run for the benefit of those who can worm they way in.

Second, local government is like minor-league baseball. Yes, a lot of these people aren’t going anywhere. But some of them go on to state and national office.

Town halls are the class A farm teams of American politics.

So, especially in 2017, especially as Trump, his minions – like the tame general defending treason last night – and the lemmings following him into abyss, it’s important to get out next Tuesday and vote.

I’ll talk more about specific elections tomorrow.