For undecided voters

Christopher Silverstein

Observer of politics, culture and the world we create

TL;DR

I'll be short and to the point. You shouldn't vote for the Republicans in this year's mid-term elections for four reasons. 

  1. They will continue to take away our rights. They've started with women; they won't end there.
  2. They will not lead the country to a better place; they've had the chance, and they have voted against every measure to help regular Americans.
  3. They will stop our vital support for the war in Ukraine
  4. They will abuse their power and needlessly impeach their political rivals.

If you haven't registered to vote, register to vote here.

Here's the proof.

Abortion

The abortion bans are dangerous.

In the rush to push their extreme ideology on the country, Republican statehouses failed to consider the toll their myopic decision would have on women and girls. The country is already aware of the infamous case involving a 10-year-old girl having to go to a different state to prevent her from having their rapist's baby, but this case is not isolated. 

There are dozens of cases, just from this past summer, that tell similar stories of women and girls refused the basic right to have a choice over what happens with their body. The stories these women and girls are sharing should shock you.

Women have been denied cancer treatments, threatened to commit suicide and are being forced to carry babies that will never live. 

Just think about what that does to a person's mental health. Would you want that for your friend, sister or mother? 

In South Carolina, legislation passed in the wake of the repeal of Roe v. Wade resulted in the creation of a law that put a 19-year-old's life at risk due to an impending miscarriage. In the rush to create vote-winning headlines, a young woman was nearly forced a girl to lose her uterus because of the restrictions imposed by the state. Even though the bill was changed, legislators could not guarantee a similar situation would not happen again.

Women and girls are suffering needlessly because Republicans think that taking away their human rights may win them a few more votes. If you think this will stop with just a few states banning abortion, the Republicans have already proposed a nationwide abortion ban that they plan to pass if they win enough seats in Congress this year.

Lindsay Graham's bill seems to have had as much thought put into it as the others.

The Republican party has succeeded in one of its only goals.

To make women second-class citizens.

That is what is on the ballot this November. 

Since the overthrow of Roe v. Wade, women have lost any semblance of equality with men. Their bodies are effectively the property of the state. If they want to make a decision on what happens with their body, they need the approval of the state to proceed. This is something that men never have to do or think about.

And it will not stop with abortion. They plan to go after other hard-fought gains like contraception and interracial marriage. 

The Economy

If that doesn’t convince you, then think about the economy.

Republicans in Congress have voted against every measure to make your life easier. At the beginning of the summer, they voted against relief for baby formula, veterans benefits, cheap insulin and relief for gas prices when they were high. Now that prices have come down they have tried to complain that the prices have come down too fast!

They want to do whatever they can to keep you angry to vote against your best interests. They have actively worked to make American life harder in the hope that you will vote for them in November.

Don't forget! The Republicans could have tabled serious legislation to help out the economy. It would have put the Democrats in a bad position if they had voted against it, but they chose not to do that.

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Ukraine

The war in Ukraine may be far away from the shores of the United States, but the impact of their loss will be felt everywhere. Without the support of the United States, it becomes much harder for the Ukrainians to stay free from Putin's rule. The war was supposed to take just a few days, but seven months in, the Ukrainians aren't just surviving; they are beating the Russian forces back. 

The west supports Ukraine, but time and time again, the Republican party seems to back Putin. 

 

There is NO reason why any American political party should be on Russia's side. They have invaded a peaceful neighbor and threatened nuclear war to get their way.

Crazy Conspiracy Theories as Policy

If Republicans do get control of either House, they are not going to work for the American people. They will work to impeach the President and Vice President. Then they will try to install Trump as President again. Please note that I said, install, not elect. I’ve written about this before.

Don’t believe me? Watch these videos—all from prominent Trump supporters.

 

While he is wrong about how to trigger the 25th Amendment, he isn't the only one talking about making Trump Speaker of the House. Ten years ago, this concept would have been dismissed as lunacy, but now, it is a distinct possibility. If Republicans say they won't do this, remember, they wouldn't touch Roe v Wade. 

All these things are true, and click the links to learn more. I know you all have a lot to do, and it has taken a lot to keep my thoughts as short as possible, but I think you should know the stakes.

Republicans have lied to you about Covid, leading to a million deaths and nearly 100 million infections. 

Republicans have lied to you about the 2020 election fraud. They knew that Trump lost the election that night, but kept the lie alive, which led to the insurrection on January 6th.

They have proven time and time again that they do not want to govern the country, they want to control the country.

The End?

These people are at the heart of the Trumpist movement. They don’t believe in democracy; they believe in their right to be in charge. They have no answers to these accusations because they’ve admitted their desires publicly.

They plan to waste your time and money getting revenge on those not loyal to Trump. A man who was caught with state secrets, nuclear state secrets. A man who is suspected of having sold confidential information that may have resulted in the deaths of American spies.

If they win, there may not be another chance to undo their damage.

Up and down the ballot, there are Trump supporters who will pledge their alliance to him, not the country. When the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago, armed Trump supporters staged rallies outside of FBI offices, with one being stormed by a supporter.

 

I know I am biased against these people because I can see what they are doing to the country. They are not governing. They are inciting rage, hatred and ignorance, but I'd rather you hear the story of Rusty Bowers.

Rusty is a lifelong Republican, and I doubt I would have ever voted for him. We disagree on a lot of issues, but when he saw the direction of his party heading towards fascism, he did what he could to stop it.

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Bowers, was the Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives. After the 2020 elections he was pressured by senior level Trump associates to "throw out the legal Arizona electors and replace them with Trump electors". This act would have invalidated the votes of the people of Arizona in favor of Trump's preferred outcome.

Does that sound like democracy to you?

A few days before Jaunary 6th, armed thugs came to his house. They shouted abuse at him and baselessly called him a pedophile, all in an effort to terrorize him and his family. One of the people in that house was his daughter who was suffering from liver failure. She died three weeks later.

The following year, he testified to the January 6th committee, and the Arizona Republicans censured him for doing so.

He also halted the progress of a bill that would allow the Arizona legislature to overrule the popular vote in any election. The fact that the bill was even tabled should disqualify the Republican party from standing in any election in the United States, but here we are. 

As you might expect, he lost his seat to a Trumpist Republican who believes the devil had a hand in Joe Biden's victory. After that loss, he gave an interview to the Arizona Central newspaper.

This is how it ended.

“The constitution is hanging by a thread. The funny thing is, I always thought it would be the other guys. And it’s my side. That just rips at my heart: that we would be the people who would surrender the constitution in order to win an election. That just blows my mind.”

Democracy is hard work, and there are always forces trying to bring it down. Those forces who don't care about you, your family or your friends. They just care about themselves. If they get back into power, I can't guarantee they'll give it back.

Voting is a privilege that is rare in the history of the world. Let's take a step forward, not back.

Register to vote here.

 

Christopher Silverstein

Observer of politics, culture and the world we create

October 07, 2022

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