You Need “Permission” to Vote for Kamala Harris?
Wake Up Moderate Republicans and Independent Voters
There is little so cowardly as the phrase “Liz Cheney’s endorsement of Kamala Harris gives Nikki Haley voters and other Republicans ‘permission’ to vote for Harris.”
“Permission?”
Women (and men) are enslaved in archaic cultures of darkness in the Middle East; the flickering light of hope from pro-democracy heroes is barely visible beneath the veil of political oppression in Hong Kong and China; martyrs like Alexei Navalny are murdered in Russian political prisons; soldiers lose their limbs and lives defending our way of life in Ukraine. Do you really need “permission” as a comfortable American “conservative” or “independent” to speak out against the candidate who “fell in love” with the North Korean dictator who murdered Otto Warmbier and whose soldiers now fight side-by-side with Vladimir Putin’s?
Are your values so unclear and your courage so nonexistent that you cannot stand up with those on the front lines of freedom by exercising your voice from the comfort of a sofa or easy chair in America?
After too many years of hearing about “terminating parts of the Constitution” or “retribution,” we shrug off that former generals should be court-martialed and that political opponents should face public tribunals as “the enemies from within” as “yesterday’s news” and “Trump being Trump.”
You Have the Right to Say What Donald Trump Says – But He Doesn’t
Donald Trump has the right to say what he does as a private citizen, but he does not have the right to say them and expect you to vote for him to become president of the United States. In fact, you need to not just “not vote for Donald Trump,” you need to vote actively AGAINST him.
When John Bolton and others from the former “Republican establishment” say “I’m not voting for Trump, but I’m not voting for Harris either” they define the issue within the narrow confines of American partisan politics. You are giving Trump “one-half of a vote by default,” just as a Democrat who votes for Jill Stein does so, and thus raising the possibility that Trump will be reelected.
The issue before you ABSOLUTELY IS “fascism versus non-fascism.” I use the word “fascism” reluctantly, and not pejoratively nor even precisely because the word has dimensions of meaning that don’t necessarily apply to Trump. But enough of what it means DOES apply to Donald Trump to disqualify him from holding the office of the presidency.
Somebody seeking office in the American political arena should not be allowed to casually “joke” about authoritarian impulses, or to toss around comments and tweets about them lightly and so often that they eventually become numbing bromides that go unnoticed as “just another outrageous remark by Trump.” A presidential candidate must be held to a level of seriousness worthy of the office. That candidate must be disqualified from your vote and not be excused by or allowed to hide behind his past as an “entertainer” if he is unable or unwilling to transcend that part of who he was and to elevate how he speaks to you as a serious leader (as both Ronald Reagan and Volodymyr Zelenskyy so majestically did).
Trump’s campaign has been a combination of insanity, vulgarity and fascism. It is not how we as Americans should comport ourselves, nor indicative of the values we hold.
YOU can hold Trump and those who seek election with him accountable minimally with your vote, but more urgently and effectively with your voice.