Today is Election Day 2020. "Election Day" has become a bit of a misnomer. More like Election Deadline, the day we stop voting and start counting the votes.
I thought today is a good day to stop and reflect on what this election is really about. But first let's discuss what the election is NOT about.
No, Democrats, this election is not about court packing, Medicare for All, Green New Deal, fracking, abortion, affirmative action, climate change, minimum wage increase, tax increases for the wealthy, free college for all, healthcare, immigration reform, ending the Senate filibuster, or statehood for D.C. and Puerto Rico.
No, Republicans, this election is not about appointing conservative judges to the bench, lower taxes, limited government, tax cuts, reducing the budget deficit (most definitely not about that), abortion, fracking, crime in the cities, defunding the police, tariffs, cracking down on illegal immigration, limited government or building the wall.
This election is not even about Covid-19, the pandemic which has killed over 220,000 Americans.
The issues which typically animate those who occupy the right and left sides of the political spectrum are not on the ballot this year.. Rather what is on the ballot is the character of our nation, who weas Americans want to be. We are voting on whether we want this great American experiment, which began 233 years ago, should continue..
This election is about whether to re-elect a President who is an existential threat to our democratic republic. A President who admires dictatorial power and aspires to acquire absolute power himself. A President who ignores any constitutional limits on his authority. A President who has repeatedly abused the powers of his office to enrich himself and his family, and to go after his whistleblowers and others who dare try to hold the President accountable. Donald Trump is most certainly not a patriot.
The damage President Trump has done to our country during his first term is significant but, for the most party, temporary. The damage President Trump would do to our country during his second term would be substantial, and likely permanent.
As someone who came of political age during the Reagan Revolution, I would like nothing more to vote for a conservative Republican for President. But I will not vote for a Republican or Democrat who does not believe in America's democratic values and institutions. I will not vote for a Republican or Democrat who does not believe in the Constitution or limits on executive power. I will not vote for a Republican or Democrat who does not believe the President must follow laws we ordinary Americans must follow.
During the last few weeks, Trump held rallies across the country during the midst of the worst pandemic in 100 years. Trump does not care that many of his supporters attending those rallies will catch Covid-19 and a some will actually die. But it is not just his supporters Trump does not care about. Trump does not care about the American people, except as to what they can do for him. The only person Donald Trump loves is Donald Trump.
For my fellow conservatives, stop being fooled into believing Trump is the heir to the legacy of Reagan Reagan. Trump is destroying the conservative movement and inflicting possibly fatal damage on the Republican Party. We Republicans did not win on November 8, 2016. The Democrats won. Trump is the greatest gift Republicans could have ever given the Democratic Party, liberalism and, yes, even socialism.
As much as I disagree with Joe Biden on the issues, I have never once doubted he loves America and cares about its people. I have no doubt Biden cherishes American democratic institutions and values. I have no doubt Biden believes in the Constitution and limited government. And I have no doubt about Biden's intelligence, competence, temperament and fitness for office.
Because absolutely none of those things are true about Donald Trump, I did not vote for him. Because all of those things are true about Joe Biden, I did vote for him. The choice was not a difficult one.
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