I was surprised this weekend when I looked out my window and did not see masked marauders carrying clubs, knives, or guns. My neighbors were not cowering in fear, trying to reach their cars or go to the mailbox. Teens were not armed to the teeth, and adults were not screaming in fear. Some crazy-brave went to church, bought groceries, and dared withdraw money from their local bank. The weather was so lovely the naïve ate at sidewalk cafes.
I found people’s participation in these activities astonishing because I have been inundated with some of the most horrid campaign ads I have ever seen. Meant to stoke the worst fears, the GOP has blanketed the country with racially charged campaign ads—filled with armed blacks and browns, having you believe that every breath is your last. If you believe the country is in as bad a shape as the GOP would have you think, we do not need conservative legislators; we need to elect John Wick. I know it is political suicide to say things could be worse, but things could be worse. Inflation is a global issue with many causes; Ukraine, supply chains, wage hikes (Yes, more money in your pockets and nearly full employment), and, ashamedly, the avarice of big business America using corporate greed to gouge the public.
Over and over, the media reminds us that inflation in America is at a 40-year high, but they fail to say that corporate profits are at a 70-year high simultaneously. More people have worked for more money in America than in nearly 50 years. When last I looked, President Biden was not the ruler of the EU, Mexico, France, and another 100 countries with higher inflation and gas prices. The Democrats have reduced the deficit, lessened childhood poverty, strengthened healthcare, and started us on the road to new roads, passing an infrastructure bill. On crime, eight of America’s top ten murder rates are in reliably red-Republican-controlled states.
I know financial statistics ring hollow while you shake your head at the price of a pound of ground round or ordering your favorite pizza to watch a ballgame. Those stats ring even more hollow if you have been the victim of crime. As citizens, we are allowed exasperation and even anger over prices, corruption, and crime, but elections are about evaluating the evaluators.
Listen to the people who are evaluating what your needs are. GOP candidate J.D. Vance in Ohio told you Trump was like Hitler—until he needed him. “I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical a****** like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler. How’s that for discouraging?” wrote Vance.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Republican senatorial candidate from Pennsylvania, said about women’s rights, “I don’t want the federal government involved with that at all. I want women, doctors, local political leaders, letting the democracy that’s always allowed our nation to thrive to put the best ideas forward so states can decide for themselves.” Let us be thankful Dr. Oz was not a candidate when women could not get credit cards or sign contracts in the 1950s.
In Georgia is the GOP candidate for the Senate, Herschel Walker. Walker is wrapped up in his lies so tightly about graduating from the University of Georgia and being his high school valedictorian, an FBI agent, or a Georgia police officer—with a badge to prove it. He speaks like a man who believes in his fantasies.
You may not always agree with every Democratic proposal, but they are legislating. Democrats have passed bills to fund the police, put money in the pockets of struggling Americans to help recover from the Covid epidemic, and plans to unburden our children from mountains of college debt. Mr. Biden recently announced building a computer manufacturing chip plant in Ohio. Republicans are good at describing democracy as an impediment to power, but when was the last time a Republican told you how they would fix problems? America first is not a policy; it’s fascism.
Tomorrow America has a chance to evaluate the people who want to evaluate our future. Make the left decision.
Continue to Vote for Change.
