I'm a Republican and I'm Voting for Biden in 2020

 I'm a Republican, and I'm voting for Joe Biden. 

Some Republicans get very angry with me when I share this information, but the truth is, I'm not alone. There are a lot of us who are frustrated with POTUS and the Republicans who follow him, excuse his behavior, and defend his dishonesty. It goes beyond policy for us --it goes to the heart of democracy, morality, and decency. 

But beyond this, I've found that as I get older, I'm leaning more liberal. I've always been a moderate, politically (voting for people, rather than parties), and so I haven't been too surprised by the way my politics are changing. 

I wish we had a political party that actually embodied the things that I believe and hope for in a government. The Libertarian Party sounds like a good idea, but even they don't have all the right components and take their ideas of freedom too far, in my opinion. 

The three major reasons why people want to vote for Trump (outside of the crazy rabid fans of Trump, including (but not limited to) racists, rapists, and fascists) seem to be these: 

1. Socialism is evil 

2. Abortion: they want it illegal, no matter what

3. Freedom of Religion

I want to take the time to address each one of these --and the reason I'm doing it here, rather than on Facebook, is because discussing anything on Facebook digresses into a hailstorm of idiotic rantings (and not just from me! Ha!):

1. Socialism

Nearly every first world country in this world (and I would argue it's all of them) has a form of Socialism. There are socialist and social programs available in every government because the voice of the people want the government to help society. Taxes are collected in exchange for services. A small example would be roadwork. A large example would be education (public schools from preschool through University). We have welfare and medicare, social security, WIC, and federal parks. What most Democrats are wanting now is universal healthcare. People panic when they think about this, but after doing extensive reading on the subject (which doesn't make me an expert, just informed), it seems that if it's done correctly, socialized medicine can be a really great thing! The idea of paying a fixed rate based on my income in exchange for healthcare is amazing to me. Right now, we get to pay nearly $400 a month to have the privilege of paying a $6K deductible. This is off-set by paying into an HSA (mostly our own money), and when I remember to use it (I always feel so dumb when I forget!), it doesn't cover everything. Dealing with insurance, pre-existing conditions, whether it's been a full year or six months between visits, ER vs InstaCare vs Office visits, etc. etc, and by the end, I want to scream. What if we paid that $400 a month towards socialized medicine and then I wouldn't have the rest to worry about? That would be incredible to me! 

I know it might not be as easy as I'm making it sound, but a hybrid model of socialized medicine (or at least getting rid of insurance and making doctors/hospitals charge for what things actually cost) would be a good start. Sweden is a good example of having a very broken socialized medical program that became better once some of it was privatized, again. Our systems don't work right now --why not trying something new? Something that will hold pharmaceutical companies responsible for withholding life-saving medicine and doctors/hospitals for giving care to everyone, regardless of economic status (and race --but gosh, that's another subject for another post). 

Some people who understand economics better than me might be able to argue that socialized medicine could ruin us forever. But England, Canada, Australia, Germany, Norway, New Zealand, etc. all have socialized medicine and are doing just peachy. I don't see their economies collapsing over medicine and their people seem to be healthy. In fact, they've recovered from the Global Pandemic while we... have not. Just sayin! 

2. Abortion

I think abortion is awful. I really hate it, to be honest. But I also know that it needs to be legal, because without the legality, abortions continue in unsafe conditions. What we need is to have legal, safe, and rare abortion, and loads of educations and programs to help women. We need a society that is so enamored and grateful for human life that the idea of allowing a teenage mom, poor mom, desperate mom, or a raped mom to abort her child would be horrifying, and so we do everything we can to help her. We educate, we provide birth control, and we encourage abstinence. We make adoption services more affordable. We make maternal healthcare more affordable. We honor and respect women, we honor and respect children.

All these people screaming for Roe v Wade to be overturned are forgetting that if abortive services were illegal, then the women with ectopic pregnancies will die because the procedure to save them is abortive.  Women who have miscarriages and need D and C services will be denied them, and they will die. Most forms of birth control are abortive --how far would the law reach? What is considered an abortion? The legal ramifications wouldn't even begin to highlight the personal traumas that could ensue. Women would be terrified, men would be, too. And the truth is, it wouldn't stop abortion. It would just make it a crime, and that means putting women and doctors in jail. It would be a legal can of worms that could leak into all kinds of common-sense medical procedures. 

Abortion needs to be a last resort and it needs to be during the first trimester if at all possible. I've never met a person who truly believed all abortion should be illegal in every circumstance with zero caveats. And you know what? Most Democrats don't like abortion, either. They just don't like the results of illegal abortion, more.  

3. Freedom of Religion

Joe Biden has been a practicing Catholic his entire life. POTUS never goes to church and when he does, it's to placate and pander to the evangelical right. 

Freedom of Religion is so enmeshed into our American psyche that I can't imagine anything taking away the freedom to exercise the right to practice it. Allowing others to practice their religion, as long as it doesn't infringe upon the rights of others, is one of those freedoms that most (almost all?) Americans would die fighting to protect. This conspiracy idea that moderate liberals want to take away all religion is about as realistic as moderate conservatives wanting to force everyone to be a Christian. Americans value religious freedom and we will keep it --I have no doubt. 

I know not everyone agrees with me on these subjects, and that's okay. I don't struggle with differing opinions about policies, and I don't struggle with differing opinions about how to go about solving societal ills (like racism, sexism, etc.). What I do struggle with is justifying immoral and narcissistic behavior. I have never believed that the ends justified the means, and so where I get frustrated the most is watching people excuse POTUS and his behavior. His crimes (which are many) are irrefutable and the proof is found everywhere (quite easily found, too!). But for whatever reason (the ends), people are willing to die on their moral hills in order to elect him, again. This is where I worry and where I have lost respect for people. Some of the greatest people I have ever known have fallen all over themselves to justify and excuse POTUS and the way he speaks, thinks, and acts --just because of his political party. I find it so bizarre and it's honestly very confusing to me. And, well, it is what it is. People are going to vote for who they want to vote for --and honestly? I'm just so grateful people are voting! GO VOTE! 

Who are you voting for? Is it based on policy, personality, or morality for you? (It's okay if you disagree with me, but please be respectful. I don't expect very many comments, since I'm still not advertising my blog on social media, but just in case you decide to comment, dear reader, please be kind. I'm not above deleting comments at this juncture. The end. )