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Espresso and Ambition

A not-so-serious gal with some serious dreams.

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Why You Should Care About Politics (and Go Vote Today!)

November 7, 2017 by Taylor 1 Comment

Let's Get Political - Espresso and Ambition

For any American readers, today’s a significant day. It’s election day. While it may not be a big-time presidential or congressional election, there are a ton of important elections being voted on today, from state house seats here in Athens to gubernatorial races in places like Virginia and New Jersey.

Elections are a big deal. They’re the foundation of democracy – they allow the average person to have a say on the issues being decided on local, state, and federal levels. Democracy thrives on participation in the system and dies when people are silent.

Despite this, there are huge numbers of people that don’t show up to vote in elections, particularly in years like this where there isn’t a presidential candidate on the ballot. Voter turnout is consistently declining, and that’s a scary thought if you’re trying to keep democracy alive. I regularly hear friends say that they “don’t care about politics” and “just aren’t political people” as justification for not participating in the political system.

For some reason, a huge part of our culture has decided that politics doesn’t affect us and that our time is better dedicated to issues where we can more clearly see the direct ties to our lives. This is, quite frankly, an egregious error in judgment. Politics plays a role in basically every facet of life, even if you don’t notice it.

 

So Why Should You Care About Politics?

Let’s map out a normal day. You wake up, drive to campus, sit through a few classes, grab lunch with your friends, order a few things online, and hang out at a local coffee shop to study.

  • The quality of the roads you drove to campus on, as well as how much you paid for gas, are determined by government spending on infrastructure as well as foreign relations with the countries we get oil from.
  • For your college classes, you pay tuition. The government can play a role in that rate (or not), and states may offer scholarships to students. After you graduate, you may be paying off student loans. Politics has a say in the interest rates of those loans.
  • When you get lunch with your friends, you pay a certain level of tax on your food – guess what? That tax rate is determined by politics.
  • Ordering things online? If it’s shipping from a foreign country, the government plays a huge role in global trade, which may impact the prices you pay for certain items. Not to mention that you’ll likely receive your items through the US Postal Service, which is, you guessed it, a government agency.
  • Finally, your local coffee shop. They pay taxes, and tax rates that are too high and prevent the shop from paying their expenses may cause it to close down, while the chain coffee shop that you may not like as much is able to find loopholes to pay less.

Let’s look at the bigger picture too. If you want to be a doctor, the health insurance debate will have a huge impact on how you do your job and how you make money. Want to be a civil engineer? Government funding for infrastructure will affect how you’re able to build bridges and roads. If you want to open your own business, tax codes and regulation will dramatically impact your business decisions.

Notice a trend here? In the most basic day, your actions have been impacted by a huge variety of government actions, or politics. There’s a good chance you have an opinion on at least one of those issues, so you should be voting for people that support your beliefs.

 

I Promise, You Have Time

The excuse of not having time for elections is also a completely incorrect one. Researching candidates has never been easier – all you have to do is google the candidates and you’ll be able to find their position on a wide array of issues within a few minutes. You can’t tell me that you don’t blow at least 15 minutes a day on social media – you can use that time to do a little political research instead. And yes, voting can involve standing in lines at times, but most places offer early voting, so if you plan ahead and vote before Election Day (I know, not helpful if you’re trying to vote today) you can be in and out within a few minutes.

While many of you probably know that I have my own strong political beliefs, I’m not advocating on behalf of those today. I don’t care what you believe, or if you’re a Democrat or a Republican – just go out and vote. The whole point of a representative democracy is that the balance of beliefs in the American public is represented in a close-to-equal distribution in government. If my views truly are in the minority, that deserves to be represented in government, just as they deserve to be represented in the majority if the majority of Americans hold those beliefs.

Don’t be silent. Get out and vote today.

xo, Taylor

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Filed Under: Etc., Thoughts

Comments

  1. Lynsey says

    November 18, 2017 at 12:43 am

    Love this. Thank you for taking a voice, we all need to start talking!

    Reply

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Meet Taylor

A real-life combination of Elle Woods and Hermione Granger. Recent graduate of the University of Georgia, currently living and working in DC. New blog posts every Monday, new YouTube videos every Thursday. Subscribe by clicking the link below for post updates and exclusive content!

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tayy_kay

📍 dc
🔥 nasm certified personal trainer
✨ self-love + balance
🎥 2 new workouts per week!

tayy_kay
without heavy weights, it’s sometimes a little c without heavy weights, it’s sometimes a little challenging to really feel like i’m working at my full potential on leg days 😶 enter: single-leg movements. since all the weight is in one leg, you’re putting way more emphasis on it than you do during two-leg movements - and you’ll definitely feel that 🔥 you also get some added bonuses in the form of ensuring you’re working each side of your body equally AND a balance challenge!!
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you can add in weights or bands to up the challenge level, or do it all bodyweight like i am here!
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1️⃣ 15 single-leg box squats per leg (use other leg as a kickstand for an easier modification!)
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2️⃣ 15 bulgarian split squats per leg
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3️⃣ 15 single-leg hip thrusts per leg
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4️⃣ 15 single-leg deadlifts per leg
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throw on at the end of a longer leg day workout or do it 3-4 times as a workout all on its own!!
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👚 @girlfriend 🎧 numb - neffex
🖤 go easy on yourself 🖤 this is a weird time 🖤 go easy on yourself 🖤 this is a weird time to be alive, and it’s more important now than ever to listen to your body and stop being so hard on yourself. motivation is a fickle thing and working out when you don’t have all the equipment you love is weird. give yourself permission to take a break when you need it. don’t beat yourself up for missing workouts - exercise should be something you do because it makes you happy, not because you feel like you have to punish yourself. if it doesn’t make you happy that day, that’s okay. give yourself a break, come back and try again tomorrow. 💪🏼
circuit-style upper body workout 🖤 honestly not circuit-style upper body workout 🖤 honestly not kidding about how much i love this long resistance band, it’s so versatile! definitely worth getting your hands on one for home workouts 😊 (although almost all of these can be completely with dumbbells or heavy objects if that’s what you’ve got in hand)
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also please watch to the very end of the fourth video for quality footage of greg 😂
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1️⃣ 12 long band shoulder presses to standing chest presses
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2️⃣ 12 upright rows to bicep curls
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3️⃣ 12 overhead triceps extensions per arm (the one leg stance is some bonus balance work!)
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4️⃣ 12 rear flies, featuring greg trying to fight my shadow
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5️⃣ 12 commandos
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6️⃣ 12 side-to-side pushups
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repeat 4x total!!
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👚 @underarmourwomen
🎧 best of me - neffex
giveaway 🔥 we’re all handling this weird, cra giveaway 🔥 we’re all handling this weird, crazy time in the world a little differently, and for me, it’s looked like a lot of establishing to and sticking to routines (seriously, sometimes it feels like my skincare routine and workout split are the only thing still giving meaning to days of the week, lol). my morning smoothies have been another important one - there’s a recipe in my story highlights and surprise surprise it uses this protein powder 😛
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anyways, onto the real reason you’re here! i’m giving away 25 $20 giftcards for @310nutrition with NO STRINGS ATTACHED 🤯 you hear that? you ain’t gotta do a thing to win - the first 25 people to use the code KAYGC20 on their order automatically win. get your hands on some fire plant-based protein powder, courtesy of me and 310 😋 (p.s. if you’re still seeing this caption, there are still giftcards available!!)
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#310gc20 #310shake
sometimes you just gotta get hella dressed up and sometimes you just gotta get hella dressed up and hold a fake photo shoot just to prove to yourself that you’re still a real human
posted a new youtube video. this picture is tangen posted a new youtube video. this picture is tangentially topical. link in bio.
upper body circuit ‼️ i’ve been gravitating upper body circuit ‼️ i’ve been gravitating towards circuit-style workouts lately, because they really work up a sweat and home workouts just don’t feel as legit to me unless i’m hardcore sweating 🤷🏼‍♀️ i don’t mind not breaking much of a sweat at the gym, but it feels weird not to when i’m working out at home - anyone else feel this or am i just weird?? 😅
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do all exercises back to back with no rest in between!
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1️⃣ 10 push-ups to renegade rows
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2️⃣ 12 alternating bicep curls
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3️⃣ 12 diamond front raises
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4️⃣ 8 sets of 3 tricep pulses to this lil cross-body weight move that doesn’t have a name {keep your core tight to feel it on your obliques!}
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5️⃣ 15 bent-over rear delt rows
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6️⃣ finisher!! 🥵 10 burpees with 2 shoulder taps and 2 toe taps in the middle of each rep
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repeat 🔁 for a total of 3 rounds!!
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👚 top from @gymsharkwomen, shorts from @nike 🎧 dangerous - neffex
would be nice if both sides of my head could agree would be nice if both sides of my head could agree on whether my hair is wavy or straight, but apparently that’s a little too much to ask of it 😂
got a circuit-style leg workout for you today! 🥳 there are 3 sets of 3 exercises that you’ll complete back-to-back - once you’ve done those three moves, rest for 30 seconds before repeating them all over again 2 more times! rest for 1-2 minutes in between each circuit - keeping your heart rate up is the goal here, i was driiiiiiipping sweat by the end of this one 🥵
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circuit 1️⃣: 10 step-ups to reverse lunges per leg
10 reverse lunges to curtsy lunges per leg
20 lateral lunges
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circuit 2️⃣:
10 squats to surrenders (stop in a squat position before standing up at the end to really feel this one)
10 stagger-stance rdls
20 criss-cross squat jumps
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circuit 3️⃣:
15 leg lifts per side
10 single-leg glute bridges per side
15 frog pumps
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👚 top from @fabletics, joggers from @gymsharkwomen
🎧 watch me - neffex
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