The Nov. 6 midterm elections are fast approaching. For many of us, including myself, this is the first midterm election we are even eligible to vote in. Lucky for us, this is probably the most important midterm election in modern history.
If you are angry over what the Trump Administration and the Republicans who control Congress have been doing, get out and vote.
They cut billions of dollars in taxes for the wealthy, diminishing the middle class. Prices for healthcare, college and renting a home have continued to increase, but our wages haven’t. According to the Pew Research Center, after accounting for the strength of the U.S. dollar, wages have only increased $2.38 since 1964.
Because of the tax cuts, Republicans have greatly increased the deficit. They promised the bill would be deficit-neutral, but it wasn’t. The Congressional Budget Office estimated $1.9 trillion would be added by 2028 because of tax cuts. How have Republicans offered to fix this? By slashing our entitlements: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Republicans have voted multiple times against healthcare protections for people with pre-existing conditions, allowed insurance companies to sell junk plans and thrown millions of Americans off of health insurance.
Trump and Republicans in the Senate rushed Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court and treated Christine Blasey Ford and the numerous other women who accused Kavanaugh of sexual harassment horribly.
Trump has continuously attacked the U.S. intelligence community, whether it is about Robert Mueller or Jamal Khashoggi.
He separated children from their parents and put them in cages at the U.S.-Mexico border. He still has not reunited hundreds of families, even though the court-mandated deadline to reunite them passed months ago.
Trump has called the free press the “enemy of the people.” He has made it very clear that he does not believe in climate change and will not do anything to combat it. He has profusely complimented dictators Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un while distancing us from our closest allies. He called African countries “shit holes.” In the wake of an act of terror committed by neo-Nazis, he called some of them “very fine people.”
Republicans in Congress have been quiet through all of this. They refuse to speak up against Trump. There is a lot to be angry about right now. But there is hope with the blue wave.
Democrats support us. They want to protect the middle class, raise the minimum wage, promote education, protect the environment, fight climate change, provide access to affordable health care, fight against discrimination, promote equality for everyone, expand entitlements, reform gun control, reform the criminal justice system and protect the rule of law and due process.
They want to promote the common good and they are not afraid to fight for what is right. A Congress controlled by Democrats will stand up to Trump and will stand up for us.
If you are angry and tired with our government the past two years, get out and vote. Make your voice heard. Trump won the 2016 election because people did not turn out to vote.
Now, we have a government that does not represent what U.S. citizens want. If you vote, the government will represent you. Democracy does not work if we do not vote.