By Tom Burke / Herald Columnist

“Which side are you on Boys?

Which side are you on?”

So asked Florence Reese, an American social activist, poet and folksinger-songwriter in Harlan County, Ky., as she rallied coal miners during the brutal 1931-39 Harlan County War; which pitted members of the United Mine Workers against the mine owners and operators.

The “war” (also called “Bloody Harlan”) was fought by the union for better working conditions and wages, and by the mine owners who wanted to crush legitimate union activity (collective bargaining) and retain total control over those who “Dig Coal.” It was a series of pitched, armed battles after the owners enlisted the sheriff, J.H. Blair and his mercenary union busters to (literally) fight to destroy the union. (The union won in 1939).

In the song, written in 1931 as the “war” broke out, went on to posit that,

“They say in Harlan County There are no neutrals there; You’ll either be a union man; Or a thug for J. H. Blair.

“Oh, workers can you stand it? Oh, tell me how you can; Will you be a lousy scab; Or will you be a man?”

Now as I’ve written here before I am a great fan of old-timey music and an old union stiff; and this song is one of the great rallying cries of the union movement of the 1930s.

But, without stretching too much, the song could have been written about what’s going to happen over the next thirteen days in voting booths and on kitchen tables as millions of ballots are completed all over the U.S.; and where I think there are darn few “neutrals” left.

Because the essential question of, “which side are you on?” — the side of democratic government or a quasi-dictatorship implemented under the guise of Project 2025 by a narcissist grifter — forces us all to face whether anyone in America can still be “neutral” (or undecided) after watching Donald Trump since 2015.

So I ask, how many people will man up and vote for our first woman chief executive?

OK. I know I said I wasn’t writing anything more about the election until after Nov. 5, but Trump’s recent comments about using the military to attack, “the enemy from within” (who he defines as anyone who disagrees with him) compels me to speak out one more time:

• As former Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley has spoken out calling Trump, “a total fascist,” “a fascist to the core” and the country’s “most dangerous man;”

• And Mitch McConnell!, stating on tape in a new biography that, “then-President Donald Trump was “stupid as well as being ill-tempered,” a “despicable human being” and a “narcissist,”

• And I am red-zone alarmed after Trump called for ABC and CBS to lose their broadcast licenses because both networks had the temerity to fact-check his lies.

I’ve never forgotten his Jan. 6 insurrection, unleashing a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol; and how he’s repeated over and over again he will not accept the outcome of the coming election unless he wins.

And what’s also driven me back to the keyboard is Trump’s recent town-hall musical “interlude,” where he spent over a half-hour dumbly bopping and “dancing” to Pavarotti’s “Ave Maria” and The Village People’s LGBTQ anthem “YMCA,” after taking only five questions.

Frankly, it frightened me to death, especially after realizing that J.D. Vance could go all 25th amendment on Trump and move into the Oval Office.

So gentle reader, which side are you on? Will you be a MAGA or will you be a “man?”

Now, in-so-far as the rest of the ballot in Washington state is concerned, here’s my take:

Elected offices: President and VP: Harris and Walz; U.S. Senate: Maria Cantwell; 2nd Congressional District: Rick Larsen; Governor: Bob Ferguson; Lt. Governor: Denny Heck; Secretary of State: Steve Hobbs; State Treasurer: Mike Pellicciotti; State Auditor: Pat McCarthy; Attorney General: Nick Brown; Commissioner of Public Lands: Dave Upthegrove; Superintendent of Public Education: Chris Reykdal; Insurance Commissioner: Patty Kuderer;

Initiatives & Propositions

I-2109: Vote “no” as it repeals the capital gains tax only individuals with capital gains over $250,000 pay. (If you vote yes, you’ll be cutting $2.2 billion in funding for K-12 and higher education, school construction, early learning, and childcare.)

I-2117: Vote “no” as it repeals existing carbon credit trading and programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and decrease funding in transportation, clean air, renewable energy, conservation and emissions-reduction.

I-2124: Vote “no” to eliminate WA Cares; let’s keep the state program that provides a long-term care services benefit.

Snohomish County Proposition 1: Vote “yes” for a sales tax increase for new and expanded public safety programs in Snohomish County focusing on reducing violent crime and the impacts of the drug epidemic.

I doubt there is anybody, anywhere, still “undecided” about who to vote for president. Same for governor.

And the Initiatives are the brainchild of a hedge fund millionaire calculated to help him and his wealthy friends, not you and me, and deserve a “no” vote while Proposition 1 puts the small increase in the sales tax to good use and deserves a “yes.”

My final plea here is simple: Vote! And remember Florence Reese’s question, “Which side are you on?”

Slava Ukraini.

Tom Burke’s email address is t.burke.column@gmail.com.