There is a fine line between begging and groveling. I’m groveling: please do not make the
mistake many of us appear prepared to make.
Yes, I know, you pay too much in taxes. And I know you think we spend too much time
pandering to those who have been left out for, well, centuries. I know you think the science
world is somehow conspiring to save the planet by making you drive vehicles that don’t make
those cool muscle car sounds. You think those who care about our world and its inhabitants
push too many rules and regulations. And, you think the people on “the left” are elitists who
are too educated and too coddled to understand what regular folks are thinking. I get all of
that. But let’s turn down the volume, have a cup of whatever settles you down, and think about where we appear to be going.
You are appalled that the people we used to box out and insult as freaks and degenerates are making too much progress and the straight folks aren’t ready for the tectonic changes that appear to be on the horizon: letting teenagers get sex changes, teaching kids in our schools using offensive books and making “normal” people adjust rather than stopping what the left calls “progress.”
But let’s stop for a moment and think. This country has a history of fighting with itself about
whether to allow anyone but white men to participate. It took movements to let anyone else in. Today, it is second nature, well understood, that society is better off when those left behind are allowed to be educated, housed, employed rather than dependent and disenfranchised.
Yes, we’d rather keep every dime we earn but we have learned that we are all safer when there are stop lights managing our busy intersections, waste water treatment plants that protect our water supply and fighter jets that protect our borders from invaders like the nuts who dictate to their serfs in Russia and North Korea. And we have to pay for them. And, we are all better off when we do.
Here is a fundamental truth: We are all in this together. None of us is going to get everything
we want. We have to find balance, make allies where we can, win some, lose some, some get
rained out. The reality is that every single advance of civilization that has occurred did so because Democrats see a role for government in advancing an improved quality of life. Every step in the right direction: protection of our environment, laws that enable us to sue companies that screwed us, the minimum wage, free medical care for our aging, ailing parents, human rights, women’s rights, and, yes, gay rights. They all made us uncomfortable at some point. Today, you have the Democratic Party standing up for you. And, predictably, the Republican Party trying to protect the privileged few from having to agree, comply and pay.
Another fundamental truth: they are lying to you. Your candidates think you aren’t smart
enough to figure it out. Your presidential candidate has normalized lying. And the party has
followed the tune of his pipe, like lemmings, as they say.
Here is, perhaps, the most fundamental truth: as so many of his highest-ranking and closest
staff have testified, Donald J. Trump is simply not honorable, honest, or qualified; he is a
criminal; he assaulted women, then mocked them when they reported it; he cheated on his
taxes, then let you pick up the tab. He called American heroes who fought and died for their
country “suckers and losers;” he ran up the federal debt; his ego kept him from admitting that
COVID-19 had the potential to be a pandemic and, whistling past the graveyard, left hundreds of thousands to die. He wasted an enormous amount of tax dollars forcing government at all levels to prove that he is lying about the “rigged” election, inciting a riot trying to overthrow our democracy. At every juncture he made the wrong decision.
Shockingly, almost half of you like this wealthy freak. Are you not paying attention? Have you
become so cynical that you will accept such a rogue candidate? Is our democracy not important enough to get the facts?
I’m scared for my country, my kids and my grandchildren. I’m scared for my planet.
I beg you: Look more closely. Don’t buy the lies that will characterize the ads his friends are
funding. Don’t buy his phony patriotism. Don’t let him become the dictator he wants to be.
And if you are fed up with the divisions that now permeate every aspect of our society today,
for God’s sake, don’t elect the most divisive person this country could possibly produce.
Yes, I’m groveling. Like you, I love my country. And I am convinced that Donald Trump is
dangerous and a threat to our 248-year-old democracy and the values we hold dearly. Please join me in saving it.
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