"This sums it up pretty nicely...done by some else. I just think this election, apart from corruption stuff comes down to these issues. We get to decide!"
- Anonymous
I wasn't going to say anything. Jumping on Facebook to comment about various Trump antics that go on daily has become tiresome. As one commentator said, "Nothing surprises me anymore". He is like a "Shock Jock" on the radio who no longer has any sizzle. It's boring.
Then, this picture below came across my news feed today -
And the person who sent it, I know well. I thought they knew better.
It was so flagrantly false and cartoonish that it got under my skin this afternoon. I started to write back on Facebook but I knew that would be pointless. However something needed to be said. So I thought about the response I would give if I was given the opportunity.
I wrote -
If you are going to share something like this you should at least understand what you are saying and at least make some attempt to separate truth from fiction. You are using a public platform. You cannot say just anything and not expect a challenge.
To your points -
(1). Biden does NOT support “Killing babies”. No one does. He does support the legal concept that a woman has sovereignty over her own body and should have a choice in the matter.
(2). Biden has said on numerous occasions he DOES NOT support defunding the police. In fact he advocates increasing funding in many problem cities
(3). Biden is not opposed to the right of an American to own a gun. He is opposed to someone owning a machine gun or assault weapon that has only one purpose, killing people.
(4). “Riots and Violence. This is absurd on the face of it. No one is “For a riot” Biden has publicly advocated for peace
(5). Illegal immigration - Biden does not support illegal immigration. He does support a humane treatment of immigrants. Remember Trump’s approach? He separated children from their parents and put them in detention centers as a form of deterrence. It is true we should have immigration reform and that will take serious work. Remember the Statue of Liberty? The poem on it says , “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore”. It doesn’t say, as Trump so eloquently put it. only come from countries that are not “s**tholes”
(6). Higher Taxes. — This is true. Biden has publicly endorsed repealing the trump tax cut’s and has advocated people who make greater than $400,000 a year to pay a larger percentage.. Trump’s tax cuts - almost all of it when to people who make greater than 7 figures annually. Trump himself, who professes to be a billionaire, paid only $750 in federal taxes in 2018. Does it seem fair we live in a country where a rich man can pay less in taxes than a school teacher?
(7). Weak military - This is nonsense. Biden has not said anything that would advocate a “weaker military“. However, as long as you bring it up, consider this fact - The United States has 10 Nimitz Class Super Carriers and 2 Gerald Ford Class Super Carriers. Each of these vessels cost billions of dollars to build and maintain. Our closet rivals - Russia and China have one carrier each - both of which do not work well. We spend more on defense than the next 26 countries in the world combined. Twenty five of them are our allies. Imagine what we could do with the money if we had one less aircraft carrier. Just one.
(8). Over regulation - As a former Republican there are areas here to which I agree. I imagine it is a constant job trying to balance the need for regulatory laws that govern the the way America does business. The vast majority are protective. We want clean water and air. But a consistent survey of what is needed and what can be done away with is always a good idea.
(9). Let anyone vote — Yes! That is the point. If you are of a certain age, and are a citizen of the country then you should be able to express your right to vote and and have a say in how the government is run. We should make it easy to vote, not harder. Republicans like to raise the ugly specter of voter fraud. Every study on the subject has shown the same thing - the incidence of voter fraud in the United States in less than 0.0001%. We have a good system in place. What should be recognized is that we have a long history of trying to deny certain people groups the right to vote. Women, People of color, naturalized citizens, indigent people have shared a long and ignominious history of voter suppression. Voter ID laws, the way they are used in certain states, is a form of voter suppression.
(10). Welfare State’. I do not even know what this means. If you are saying Biden supports a social safety net to help the poor and suffering in our country, then yes this is true. Are you saying you do not? There is a common trope that “The poor just don’t want to work”. This has been shown to be untrue in numerous studies. There are always outliers just like most members of the KKK are also Republican. That doesn’t mean that speaks for the population as a whole.
(11). Suppression - Of what? We have a dizzying array of platforms for information. Are you referring to some Social media platforms who block stories that are untrue and misleading? It is a little like your graph. Almost all of it is untrue - yet you found a way to post it. Yes we have free speech. It is still illegal to yell “Fire” in a crowded theater.
(12). Liberalism - Yep that is true
(13). Communism and Socialism. I am fairly certain the author of above graph does not know what these terms mean. They are competing political philosophies that cancel each other out. The main difference is that under communism, most property and economic resources are owned and controlled by the state (rather than individual citizens); under socialism, all citizens share equally in economic resources as allocated by a democratically-elected government. They are not the same thing and Biden has not advocated either view. It is nonsense.
(14). Defiance? — What does this mean? If you mean resisting tyranny and objecting to wrongs in society, then yes Biden is defiant. So am I. When George Floyd was murdered in front of all of our eyes, people rose up defiantly and said “enough!” Patriotism has never been defined as blindly saluting the Flag and simply accept all wrongs. We have a country that has a bill of rights and embedded in those rights is the ability to seek redress for wrongs. And America has a long history of seeking redress with defiance.
(15). Bonus Round - No matter what you may feel about Hunter Biden, Biden’s son, he is not running for president. His father is though. Do you really want to compare the outlandish behavior of Trumps’ children to Hunter?
If you wish to vote for a conservative politician, by all means do so. You have every right to speak your piece and seek policies you advocate. There have been a number of conservative leaders that are worthy of respect and contributed to the nation.
Trump is not one of them.
If you are against Biden’s policies , that is fine. But, be accurate in your characterization of them. Then make your choice.
If you profess to being “Pro-life”, do you live this creed in all its forms; do you care just as much about the downtrodden, the immigrant, the poor, the elderly, and people who do not look or pray like you as you do for the unborn? Do the 210,000 plus dead from the pandemic count? They had lives as well.
I have said this before, but it bears repeating. My closing argument is this - There are many reasons not to vote for Trump. Here are ten that are well documented. -
(1) He is vulgar.
(2) He is unlettered.
(3) He is prone to nepotism with disastrous results.
(4) He is unusually susceptible to venality.
(5) He is the most racist Chief Executive since Woodrow Wilson.
(6) He has led the way to our loss of global leadership.
(8) He has been impeached by the House of Representatives for crimes violating his oath of office - (he freely admits he did these things).
(9) His gross incompetence has led to the deaths of thousands.
(10) And through all the chaos he is guilty of serial mendacity.
These are not the virtues that Christianity advocates.
I love you the person who posted the graph above. - but I cannot agree with you here.
If that means I am now a liberal snowflake then so be it. But be warned-
Winter is coming.
Vote!
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