Voting?—we can’t afford to sit this one out—we have to live in this country

By SJ Otto

Tomorrow is Election Day. This is one of the most important elections in a long time. I realize that there are those on the far left, Marxist-Leninists, Maoists and others who believe there is no real difference between the Democrats and the Republicans. Their arguments are sound, but the reality is that the Republican Party, under its leader, President Donald Trump are out to destroy all the rights of workers, the working poor and the poor in general. I don’t agree that there is NO DIFFERENCE between the parties and how they will affect people. Many of us have already voted early.

An example of this is health care. Republicans don’t want poor people or working poor people to have access to health care. They want to help the insurance companies to profit off of the sick. Since Trump came to office, he has worked hard to destroy Obamacare (Affordable Care Act) and he has not made any effort to replace it with anything. The Republicans now have plans to destroy all the protection to those who have pre-existing conditions. They are saying they will protect such people as they stump across the country, but the reality is they plan to get rid of such protections. The truth has suffered under the Republican Party.

Then there are the tax cuts the Republicans are so proud of. They gave big businesses hefty tax cuts, but they took out a lot of tax deductions for people, such as teacher’s abilities to deduct the money they spend on school supplies. What Trump has actually done is to move the tax burden from the wealthy to the poor. Poor people now pay more taxes than wealthy people and some middle class people. There is no fairness to the tax system.

The Republicans have created some issues out of non issues such as immigration. Regardless of what we think of illegal aliens, they are not the major threat Trump claims they are. He is sending thousands of troops to the southern border in a response to poor people, from Central America, who are traveling in a Caravan to the US border to request asylum. What will these troops do?—Shoot unarmed men, women and children? It makes as much sense as using a shot gun to kill mosquitoes.

There is also issue of trade wars, with such countries as China. In the long run, Trumps tariffs may drive up the cost of steal and other materials that we need in this country.

Then there is the general stupidity of Trump. He comes across as an unsophisticated thug. He is one of the most sexist presidents in decades. He has had numerous affairs, and he has been dismissive of sexual assaults of women, such as hispick for Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh.

All of this is a good reason for voters to vote for the Democratic candidates. I realize there are a lot of really bad Democrats who run lackluster campaigns lacking any substantial issues. But the Republicans want to support one of the most damaging leaders this country has ever seen. Voting out his Republican minions is the only way to put the breaks on him. We need to stop him. He may be the worst president since Richard Nixon. Also there some progressive Democrats such as James Thompson, backed by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Everyone is telling us all to get out and vote. Voting is just one tool to try and control and obtain the rights of working people and the poor. We are not just bourgeois democrats. We need to work for the rights of the poor and working poor. Voting tomorrow is just one important tool to help us obtain such rights. By itself voting does little. But this is an important election and we can’t afford to just sit this one out.