REASON #1) YOU WANT THE BEST POSSIBLE HEALTHCARE. OR, IF YOU ALREADY HAVE IT, YOU WANT THE SAME FOR ALL AMERICANS.
For 6 years we had to listen to Republicans howl “’Repeal and Replace’ Obamacare”. They voted to repeal the ACA (Affordable Care Act – “Obamacare”) 61 times in Congress thru 2016 but couldn’t get it passed Obama himself. One would think they had plenty of time to come up with a much better healthcare plan. In January of 2017 they finally got their chance – controlling both Houses of Congress and the White House.
It was a complete and utter failure. The first House plan was so horrific and draconian that it didn’t make it to a vote. The second try was slightly less horrific and draconian – only 20 million people would lose their existing healthcare within the next 10 years or less instead of 30 million) passed in the House but died in the Senate. The Senate then produced their version of the worst healthcare plan ever, which included a lot of the really awful things from the House plan plus cutting billions of dollars in Medicare expansion payments. It was dead before Republicans could even bring it to a vote. On the Senate’s second try, they did vote on a bill they called the “skinny repeal” because it only cut insurance for 15 million people and increase premiums by 20%. 3 Republicans and all 48 Democrats voted “NO” and the measure failed.
There’s your well-thought out Republican plan for healthcare. If you’re in favor of fewer people with healthcare, higher premiums, less coverage, no protection from pre-existing conditions and going back to a for-profit, insurance company run health care industry, by all means vote for Republican.
But if you want better healthcare for you, your family, friends and most all Americans; at better prices and with better coverage. YOU MUST VOTE DEMOCRAT NOVEMBER 6.
REASON #2) YOU WANT LONG-TERM ECONOMIC PROSPERITY, HIGHER WAGES AND FAIR TAXES.
Republican economic policy has only produced short-term bubbles of economic improvement, not sustained long-term growth. Unfortunately those bubbles have been followed by economic downturns or, in W. Bush’s case, the Great Recession. That is because Republicans rely primarily on income tax cuts and deregulation. The major beneficiaries of those policies are the highest income earners (the higher the better!) and corporations (the bigger the better!). We Joe Blows get a trickle while Wilbur Ross and Donald Trump get a gusher.
I thought (and hoped) the Great Recession was going to bring a long-overdue end to Conservative “Trickle Down” and “Supply Side” economics. The Recession was wholly caused by such policies: tax cuts for the wealthy, concurrent with spending trillions on two wars, amidst an atmosphere of deregulation (look up “Glass-Steagal”).
In the latest Republican tax cut, corporations received a particularly big windfall which was supposed to ultimately be passed down to workers and consumers. Instead, a lot of corporations have been buying back their own stock to increase the wealth of the investors. And haven’t we learned after 2008, that many of these industries cannot be trusted to do the right thing. Lack of regulations and/or enforcement is all but guaranteed to lead to corporate malfeasance. Who else has the power to pass and enforce needed regulation? Unions used to be a counterbalance to corporate greed, but they don’t have the clout they used to. It’s now up to the Government and through them, The People. See my blog: Re: The Republican Tax Scam. Excerpts from my “The American Pluto-Kleptocracy” post 4/17/17
But 8 years into our recovery, just enough Americans have forgotten (or never really understood) what caused this massive loss of American wealth. Thanks to them, the current administration has aggressively rolled back regulations on the very financial industry that brought our economy to its knees. What is worse, they have revived “Trickle Down” economics, which will increase American income-inequality and leave middle-class earners the most vulnerable to the next bubble burst.
Democrats on the other hand believe that long-term prosperity is best accomplished by growing the economy from the middle out: tax relief for middle class earners, quality jobs, infrastructure bills and raising tax rates on the highest income brackets.
If you’re making less than $300,000/yr. and vote Republican, you are voting against your economic self-interests. The 95+% of us who make less than $300k should be more united in demanding our elected leaders protect us from unrestrained and irresponsible corporations.
If you agree, please VOTE DEMOCRAT ON NOVEMBER 6.
REASON #3) YOU WANT THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TO BE A LEADER AND INNOVATOR IN THE GLOBAL BATTLE AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT OF CLEANER, MORE EFFICIENT ENERGIES FOR TOMORROW.
In 2014, 195 nations voted in support of the Paris Climate Agreement that establish common goals to combat global climate change. When was the last time 195 nations agreed on ANYTHING? That proves that the entire world recognizes the threats to human civilization posed by climate change. Except us.
Don “The Destroyer” Trump decided it was a “bad deal” and that climate change is a “Chinese hoax”. He immediately established himself as untrustworthy by pulling the U.S. out of the agreement without negotiation or offering an alternative plan.
Hard to see in the illustration above but besides the U.S., the other holdouts on the Climate Accord were Nicaragua and Syria (Syria has since signed). Nice company we keep!
Concurrently, the Trump administration has rolled back environmental regulations, pollution restrictions and dismantled the Environmental Protection Agency so that fossil fuel companies and mining companies could make higher profits. See my blog: THE #1 LONG TERM CHALLENGE FOR HUMAN CIVILIZATION IS NOT CLIMATE CHANGE…
Not only does this position make the United States an energy pariah in the eyes of the world, but it abdicates U.S. leadership on one of the greatest challenges facing humankind today. That means China, Europe, Japan and others will take over as leaders. They will have a huge head start on us developing technology, distribution systems and other infrastructure necessary to combat the effects of rising seas, carbonized air, weather extremes and pollution. They will then reap the rewards, both financial and societal, of becoming the world’s leading defenders against climate change. Under Republican rule, the U.S. will largely be watching from the sidelines, wearing breathing masks.
If you want the U.S. government to remain a world leader, a partner with private industry, and an innovator of climate change solutions, YOU MUST VOTE DEMOCRAT ON NOVEMBER 6.
REASON #4) YOU WANT HASSLE-FREE, FAIR AND SECURE ELECTIONS IN WHICH ALL ELIGIBLE AMERICANS HAVE A CHANCE TO VOTE.
Democratic countries that consistently have the highest voter turnouts (not us) achieve this by allowing early voting, offering automatic voter registration or same day registration, declare Election Day to be a holiday (or holiday weekend), and don’t have unnecessary ID laws that place a burden on voters.
How do we stack up as one of democracy’s founding countries? Piss poor. Republicans over the past 20 years have used sleazy anti-voting tactics like illegal redistricting (gerrymandering), voter ID laws (even though they have utterly failed to prove significant illegal in-person voting), shortening or eliminating early voting, shortening registration periods, purging voter rolls of legitimate voters, and reducing the number of voting machines sent to certain precincts.
Republicans do not want all eligible voters to vote. Why? Because if American voter turnouts were like France, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, Israel, or South Korea (all consistently above 70% turnout), the Democrats would win most elections. Or as the famous American economist John Kenneth Galbraith said, “’If everybody in this country voted, the Democrats would be in for the next 100 years.” See my blog: The Successful Republican Election Strategy…..Divide and Conquer! Part 2: Voter Suppression.
Republicans know they are the minority party. They are the minority party because their economic ideas have failed; their party leaders are simultaneously arrogant and ignorant (a disagreeable combination); their social policies are both discriminatory and highly divisive; they are complicit of party-wide obstruction of justice in the Russia Investigation; and they have violated their oaths of office to protect and defend the citizens and the Constitution of the United States. Yet they steadfastly refuse to change. Instead they prefer to undercut democracy, lie, cheat, and steal.
Republicans also love dark money. Yes, Democrats use it too, because they have to, to fight fire with fire. But it was a Conservative Supreme Court that upheld the infamous “Citizens United” case which allowed unlimited amounts of money to infest our elections, particularly billions of dollars from Super Political Action Committees (Super PACs) where the donors can remain anonymous.
If you want longer voting periods, Election Day holiday, automatic voter registration, an end to unnecessary voter ID laws, independent, non-partisan redistricting and most of all, better security for our voting systems, you must VOTE DEMOCRAT ON NOV. 6.
REASON #5) YOU WANT REASONABLE PROTECTIVE REGULATIONS FOR CONSUMERS AGAINST PREDATORY BANKS, FINANCIAL COMPANIES AND INSURANCE COMPANIES WHO WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE 2008 GREAT RECESSION.
Leading up to 2008, the largest American financial institutions, insurance companies and ratings agencies were colluding in a high-risk, high stakes shell game using mortgage-backed securities. When the overpriced housing market crashed, the shell game exploded costing the American economy $12.8 trillion in lost wealth. The people hurt worst by the Recession were the middle and lower economic classes. Wage and wealth growth among this group still has not fully recovered 10 years later.
As part of a consumer protection/financial penalty package, the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Bill and established the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Both measures, while far from perfect, were a very serious attempt at protecting American consumers, borrowers and taxpayers from predatory banking, financial market manipulation, deceptive lending practices and high-risk speculation by any federally funded financial institution or agency. For the first time ever, there was a government agency established solely to protect the little guy from immensely powerful and equally unscrupulous financial corporations.
In its first seven years, the CFPB returned almost $12 billion to consumers who were swindled, deceived and otherwise screwed by banks, financial and insurance corporations (an average of $1.7 billion/yr.). Not bad for an agency that ran (in 2016) on a $600 million/yr. budget! You might think that’s exactly the kind of governmental body that Republicans would favor. But you would be wrong.
News Flash: Republicans will side with big banks, big Oil, big lobbyists, big Pharma, big Ag, big insurance almost every time over the other 95+% of us. It never made sense to me that middle-class Republican voters would rant and rave about Welfare, even for those truly in need; all the while they’re voting for politicians who support generous Corporate Welfare for those who truly AREN’T in need.
Once in power in 2017, the Republican Congress gave high priority to rolling back many of the regulations of Dodd-Frank and bringing CFPB operations to a screeching halt. The Trump Administration, in essence, proclaimed that the fast and loose days of Wall Street were back and it was open season on the defenseless, gullible consumer once again.
If you enjoyed the Great Recession and are dying for an even bigger sequel, you will naturally be voting Republican in November.
The rest of us need to stick together and vote for the party that is willing to stand for consumers, borrowers and small businesses. Bring back the effective Dodd-Frank regulations. Re-start the CFPB.
VOTE DEMOCRAT ON NOVEMBER 6.
REASON #6) YOU WANT COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION LEGISLATION THAT PROTECTS OUR BORDERS AND ENFORCES OUR IMMIGRATION LAWS WHILE BEING HUMANE, MERCIFUL AND PRAGMATIC.
Or are you ok with Trump’s policy of “Zero Tolerance” which led to putting “Babies in Cages”?
Our immigration policy doesn’t have to be either “Draconian” or “Loosely Enforced”. Immigration, like Climate Change requires a long-term solution inspired by visionary thinking. This is a problem we will be dealing with for decades to come and it will get worse. This is why short-term, knee-jerk policies are just cruel and will never work.
We need to address all aspects of immigration: offering a pathway to citizenship for immigrants that have already been in the country for many years and have a clean criminal record; improving our visa and temporary worker systems so we can track these immigrants and make sure they are not overstaying their visa; we must protect our border but not with concrete walls or concertina wire – there is a better way using technology and properly trained man power. We need to provide a fair and efficient justice system for asylum seekers and establish reasonable quotas to allow those fleeing violence, famine and injustice to find a safe haven in American.
We can do this. But one political party consistently blocks the way. W. Bush suggested immigration reform and the Republicans shouted him down. Barack Obama suggested comprehensive immigration and the Republicans said “over our dead body”. This country needs a long-term, well-thought-out plan.
Worldwide immigration, currently at levels close to the darkest days of World War II, can only get worse due to overpopulation, climate change, competition for natural resources and a more polluted, toxic environment. It’s only a guess, but it’s not hard to imagine a billion people or more on the move within the next three decades.
The only way to achieve a reasonable solution to our immigration problems now and in the future is to give the Democratic Party a sizable majority in Congress along with a Democratic President. And keep them in power long enough to produce such a solution. That means we must VOTE DEMOCRAT, not just in November, but in every election, local, county, state and federal for many years to come. Start by voting NOVEMBER 6. No more arrests of people taking their kids to school, no more deporting people because they went to a hospital, no more babies in cages.
REASON #7) YOU WANT REASONABLE GUN CONTROL LAWS INCLUDING PROHIBITIONS AGAINST MILITARY GRADE WEAPONS, EXTENDED AMMUNITION CLIPS AND SELLING FIREARMS TO PERSONS WITH VIOLENT, ABUSIVE TENDENCIES OR DIAGNOSED MENTAL ILLNESSES. TODAY’S GUNS SHOULD BE USING SMART ID TECHNOLOGY.
Reasonable gun control does not involve taking non-military style weapons away from legal, responsible gun owners. Reasonable means prohibiting the sale of military grade weapons to the public. We’ve seen the destruction they can cause in the hands of just one irresponsible person. Same applies to extended ammunition clips – do you really need a rifle with 24 rounds in the clip to kill a deer? Meanwhile, forcing an active shooter to reload more frequently increases the odds that his potential victims may escape. It’s just fucking common sense.
We must stand up and call out the NRA (National Rifle Association) on its lies and fear-mongering. More guns do not make us safer. The statistics to support this are overwhelming. Per the chart (left), the states with the highest per capita gun ownership, also have the highest per capita gun deaths. Conversely, most states with restrictive ownership have the lowest gun death rates. Simple. Argument over.
The mental health issue is by far the trickiest. But again, sensible, pragmatic, hopefully bi-partisan discourse can make a difference. But Republicans have to do more than use mental illness as a diversion from making real, lasting changes to the American “gun” problem.
The biggest NRA ruse is “gun control wouldn’t have stopped Parkland “(or insert any mass shooting location here). In other words, let’s not pass any type of gun control because it wouldn’t have stopped a particular mass shooting. Brilliant logic!
The fact is, we really don’t know how reasonable gun control laws might affect gun violence crime because, with the exception above, we’ve never tried it nation-wide for more than a limited period of time. Do you want to try it and see?
Then VOTE DEMOCRAT in November and for many elections to come. We can save lives and spare the suffering of survivors AND hunt deer at the same time! Last spring we Marched For Our Lives. Now it’s time to March To The Voting Booth!
REASON #8) YOU WANT WOMEN TO RECEIVE EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK; HAVE FULL CONTROL OF THEIR BODIES AND REPRODUCTIVE CHOICES; AND BE ABLE TO HOLD MEN ACCOUNTABLE FOR ACTS OF SEXUAL ABUSE, ASSAULT, VIOLENCE AND PREDATION.
I’ve covered the reproductive issue in prior blogs (Hot Button Issue: Women’s Reproductive Rights Part 5: Solution and Conclusion Equal pay for equal work should be a no-brainer. Why do so many Republicans refuse to support this? It is a not-so-subtle way of saying women are inferior and not worth what a man is worth. That’s just not okay. Finally, the sexual abuse, assault, rape and violence issue has been brought to the forefront thanks to President Pussy-Grabber. How is it possible that a presidential candidate is caught admitting that he is a sexual predator…..
“Trump: Yeah, that’s her. With the gold. I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
Bush: Whatever you want.
Trump: Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”
….and he still gets elected President? That should have been an automatic disqualification! He should not have gotten 1 female vote, not even from Melania (who probably didn’t vote for him anyway!). Instead, 52% of white suburban women voted for this disgusting scum-bag instead of Hillary. Ladies, what’s up with that? Obviously, there are still a lot of women who still believe that a man can do what he wants with a women because that’s what God intended. Need I say more than “Brett Kavanaugh”?
Are you sick of this treatment? Then stop voting for chauvinists, predators and abusers! Reproductive rights hang in the balance because of a minority of mostly white, pig-headed men. Do not enable them. Force them to change by defeating them, over and over, at the ballot box! Come on Women of America. VOTE DEMOCRAT for equality and respect!
REASON #9) YOU WANT THE UNITED STATES TO HAVE THE BEST PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM IN THE WORLD; OFFER QUALITY PUBLIC EDUCATION TO ALL CHILDREN REGARDLESS OF RACE, ETHNICITY AND PARENTAL INCOME; AND MAKE COLLEGE AFFORDABLE TO ALL WITHOUT THE BURDEN OF MASSIVE STUDENT DEBT.
Public schools educate 90% of American children. So why are Republicans so enamored with cutting public school budgets and teachers pay? They cut taxes and when revenue falls, they are “forced” to cut school spending. We’ve recently seen teacher’s strikes over this very issue in the red-states of Tennessee, Arizona, Oklahoma and W. Virginia. Thanks to Trump picking “only the best people”, we have as our Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, massive Trump donor and for-profit college promoter, who had never stepped foot inside a public school prior to her nomination but was instead a big advocate for diverting public educational funds to private charter and religious schools. She calls it “expanding school choice”. I call it an “assault on public education”.
If our public schools we’re already the best in the world and there’s education money left over, I’m fine with experimental funding programs for private (not religious) schools. But we don’t enjoy either luxury. 
American public schools have been declining both physically and in national test scores against other countries for a couple of decades. We must first raise the quality of public schools, improve teacher’s pay and build new schools in many (most) inner-city areas.
DeVos has also moved recently to eliminate Obama-era regulations on rip-off, for-profit colleges (think Trump University) and drop student debt-forgiveness programs that were offered in exchange for student public service. Thank you Betsy for making the American education system more profitable for corporations and more burdensome on American students.
Why do Republicans have so little regard for public education? My theory? REPUBLICAN LEADERS WANT LESS-EDUCATED VOTERS. The higher the level of education that a voter has, the more likely they are to vote Democrat.
Conversely, the lower the level of education (especially among white voters), the more likely a voter is to vote Republican. The exceptions are private and religious school graduates. They tend to vote Republican because wealthier families are more likely to send their children to private schools and more religious families support religious schools. I think we’ve figured out the Republican/DeVos strategy.
If you want to improve American public schools, insure they are better funded, offer state-of-the-art educational opportunities for all American school children and pay our teachers and administrators based on the importance of their jobs: VOTE DEMOCRAT ON NOVEMBER 6 and for every election until we reach those goals. Smart is better.
REASON #10) YOU WANT A CONGRESS AND COURT JUSTICES WHO WILL PROVIDE A CONSTITUTIONAL CHECK ON A CORRUPT, MENTALLY UNHINGED, MORALLY BANKRUPT, NARCISSIST, MAN-CHILD WHO SOLD JUST ENOUGH OF HIS SNAKE-OIL TO BE ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
All of the previous issues are of vital importance to this country but let’s not kid ourselves, this mid-term election is a referendum on Donald Trump, his policies, his temperament, his mental fitness, his cruelty, his divisiveness and his conduct. We can’t change Trump, so we have to check his power as much as possible.
It seems clear that Mueller isn’t likely to drop any huge bombshells about the Trump/Russia investigation before Election Day. Once again voters are not getting the full scoop on Donald Trump. Read my previous blog: An Open Letter to Robert Mueller from the Democratic Majority. But before the election in 2016 the FBI was quite public about its investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails – even announcing a re-opening of the case 11 days before the election. Meanwhile the FBI was undergoing a secret investigation into the Trump Campaign for commingling funds from the Trump Foundation as well as collusion between numerous Trump campaign staffers and Russian operatives close to Putin. Why weren’t those investigations made more public? To make one candidates investigation public and keep the other one secret borderlines on criminal. I think the voters had a right to know. It may have made a difference.
Now, 2 years later, we know a whole lot more about this con artist we now call our President. Enough I hope, that even without Mueller’s help, it should be enough to neutralize this maniac and put him on a mild sedative. But this nation really deserves more. It is very unfortunate that the voters don’t know what Mueller knows. We cannot therefore fully judge this President. If this man is guilty of just a small fraction of the allegations against him: for conspiracy against the United States, for obstruction of justice, for tax evasion, for money laundering, for campaign violations concerning the payment of hush money, for sexual assault, for violating the emoluments law, for pathologically lying to the American people every day about almost everything: we should be voting to impeach him while we vote to flip Congress.
Instead all we can do is send a message to Washington that we don’t want any part of Donald Trump’s agenda. We refuse to enable him. His job is to answer us, The People. A job at which he has failed miserably. Oh, I know that Trumpians love him and feel he is their answer. But his approval ratings have been in the toilet since he was inaugurated…lower than almost any other modern President at anytime in their first two years. Only 35-40% of people think he’s doing a good job. That’s only a sliver of America. The rest of us are angry, embarrassed, outraged, nauseous, dumbfounded and just plain worried about the near future of this country. Trump doesn’t represent patriotism, only ugly nationalism. It’s not fake news, it’s pathological lying. He clearly “says what’s on his mind”, but it reveals a serious mental illness. This isn’t greatness, this is decadence.
Are you an Independent? Libertarian? Moderate Republican? Did you vote against Hillary the last time? We need you to help us check this President for the next two years. If Republicans keep Congress, Trump will feel vindicated…and that should terrify everyone. He will be fully unrestrained and there may be no limit on how crazy shit gets.
For ALL the reasons and beliefs above, but especially this last one, I urge you to make sure your ballot is counted on or before November 6th, 2018.
We’ll talk again after…….
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** APPLY FOR AN ABSENTEE BALLOT IF YOU CAN’T VOTE IN PERSON. **
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** PLEASE VOTE ON OR BEFORE NOVEMBER 6. **
La Resistance American 