It’s an election year in the United States. These are always stressful years in our country. Every where you turn, someone is screaming, “Vote for me!” It’s as if we haven’t gone past high school and you’re trying to get the student body to vote for you as class president. The only thing different is I don’t get a new pen out of any of this or even a piece of candy.
This election, you would think, has a clear and conscionable answer. We can elect someone who knows the justice system, has tried numerous cases, has served as an Attorney General, has served time in the Senate, and has been vice-president. On the other hand, we can vote for a person who has already been president once and shown was incapable of the job, left this country in a horrible state in a worldwide pandemic, and has since become a convicted felon on at least 34 counts. As I said, this should be a clear choice to the citizens of the US, but alas, we still see tons of people who would rally behind a detestable person instead of someone whose character and past makes them a worthy candidate.
Like the person in the picture above, I feel like some people have sank so far into the murky water to see clearly. There’s multiple reasons why, but none of them really make good sense to me. The first reason would be that some people can’t get past the party being represented, whether the person is a member of either the Democratic or the Republican party. I fully understand that there is a clear division between the two. They have different platforms with different stances.
For instance, Republicans have become vehemently against abortion. This is a religious issue in the eyes of many. All they see is death. “We have to protect the life of the unborn child!” A heartbeat can be heard at least 5 1/2 to 6 weeks after conception by a vaginal ultrasound.1 Most women don’t know they are pregnant until that time. Also, brain activity can be detected through the mother’s abdomen by the seventh month of pregnancy.2 Democrats believe that government, especially the president, has absolutely no say in the decisions women make about their bodies. On this topic, I have to completely agree with Democrats. NOTE: I do not have a vagina! I do not have a womb. In the end, I have absolutely no room to make any decisions about any pregnancy. If you do not have one of these sexual organs, you do not have the room to make those decisions and should therefore keep your mouth shut and out of other people’s business.
Another topic of debate is what to do with social assistance programs. Our programs in this country can be linked back to the wonderful president who led the US through the majority of World War 2…Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It was his wonderful character and drive that caused the government to form what we have today in the way of social assistance programs. including social security and housing assistance. With the Social Security Administration created, people could feel secure retiring at an age where they could still have a productive live without the hassles and hardships of employment. In 1965, Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the programs of Medicare and Medicaid to help those needing assistance with their health and cannot afford the high prices of private healthcare insurance.
If it were up to Republicans, social security, medicare, and medicaid would no longer exist, even though, their platform says that they want to protect it.3 That hasn’t been their MO for quite some time. These are seen as handouts to citizens and that, of course, is seen as charity which the US has never been highly regarded for having. Democrats, on the other hand, are adamant about keeping these programs running to help the people this country should be serving. We pay taxes to help this country survive. Why not use that money to help the people paying it? I will never understand how people who vote Republican can do this with a clear conscience, especially a person who’s voting that way and is over the age of 65 while drawing from a program your candidate would love to end. It totally blows my mind.
Granted, I do believe that this country spends more money than it should. One of those is defense spending. Between 2014-2020, the US spent more money than all the other thirty NATO nations.4 Why? It’s explained by “those in the know” that it’s because we have interests around the world to protect. Well, that’s great. If the US spent a large portion of that money helping its own citizens, we would be a much better off society. I am a true believer that if you want to make money, you have to invest money. That should be how the US government looks at its own citizens.
If you invest in their educations, those educated people will go into the workforce and contribute to architecture, education, investing, and the medical and scientific field. There is no reason that citizens in this country should have to pay thousands of dollars a year simply to attend a university. For example, the average yearly tuition for the University of Alabama is roughly $12,000. That’s not including all the other fees like boarding, books, and a meal plan for which most universities require of freshman students. Smaller colleges, such as the University of Mississippi, have a yearly tuition of around $9,000.5 Some will say that isn’t bad, but given the average household income in Mississippi ($74,149 with the median income being $52,985), it’s hard to think about sending a child to college without a large amount of aid.
Regardless of how I feel, millions will still run to the voting stations and cast their vote for the Republican candidate. I hate saying or typing his name. I hate seeing his face. I hate hearing his voice. When I see his face, only because it pops up on the TV screen like a horror movie, I feel a deep feeling of dread, sadness, and, weirdly, evil. I’ve never been a deeply religious person, but when I see T’s face, I don’t see a man or human. There’s something I can’t really explain. My heart hurts, my brain goes crazy, and I have to avert my eyes. I’m sure someone out there would have an explanation, but personally, I do not.
After the debate this week, I’m hoping that citizens of the US will see who they should vote for to better our nation and keep it out of the hand basket going straight to hell.
Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash
References
1Healthline – How Early Can You Hear Baby’s Heartbeat on Ultrasound and By Ear
2National Institutes of Health (NIH) – The Development and Shaping of the Brain
3CNN Digital; The Trump Campaign – The 2024 Republican Party Platform
4USA Facts – How Much Does The US Spend On The Military?
5US News and World Report – University of Mississippi Tuition & Financial Aid