Why Your Vote Counts!!!

Our current political climate is in a state that we in our wildest dreams could never have imagined.  We have a president and subsequently an administration whose policies don’t help the average American people.

We have an administration that initiates policies that are masked with language like “patriotism” and “America First” that hurt and divide the American People.  We see this on a constant basis at the president’s rallies where he constantly puts forth messages that reflect anger and hatred.  At the rallies, his supporters still shout, “Build the Wall” and “Lock her Up” as if he were still campaigning for the presidency instead of talking about his plans for making their lives better.

Something has gone wrong with our government.  We have been polarized dramatically.  We have been pitted against one another.  Where we never had enemies before, we now have them.  The relationship between Democrats and Republicans have been made out to be adversarial; and the people that belong to these parties respectively are now defining themselves like the “Hatfields and the McCoys” as opposed to people that have differing political viewpoints.  We are angry at one another.  Trump supporters accuse Democrats of being hostile, angry and violent while ignoring the fact that they are hostile, angry and perhaps violent.

Neither side wants to listen to one another.  We put down the other’s view point without lending any validity to what the other is saying.  

Personally, I stopped engaging Trump Supporters because the encounter would become combative.  In speaking my truth to them, the encounter always wound up with accusations of what news outlets I watch, how Obama was so awful, how awful a liberal I am and that my viewpoint doesn’t matter.

I stopped talking to them because I realized that nothing good could come from our conversations.  I would be more than happy to talk to them if I thought remotely that my viewpoint would be acknowledged.

"Neither side wants to listen to one another.  We put down the other’s view point without lending any validity to what the other is saying.  ~ J.L. Whitehead" 

But the problem is that we have been polarized so much to the point that anyone who has a different viewpoint than you are branded as the enemy.  In many ways, you must be for them or against them.  If you are for them then you are loyal and therefore a friend, but if your opinion differs from them, then you are deemed a foe.

Sound familiar?

Now, I am sure that there are Democratic supporters that can be rude and will blast Trump Supporters with the same viciousness that they received in the past and will be just as unwavering in their views.

As a result, this is what I have to say to our Democrats, Progressives and Independents:

It is up to us to stop the anger that is resonating with thirty per cent of the country.  We must normalize our government.  We must reclaim our democracy and vote for candidates that will be willing to work with the Republicans so that we will have the right balance of liberal and conservative ideas and policies.

We must end the greed that is resonating in this current administration and reclaim our democracy so that everyone can have a fair say in policies that will directly impact their lives.  I am not asking for perfection and I am sure that you aren’t either.

We must take a stand for putting a stop to the corruption that seems to have over taken our government.  We know that Russia interfered with our 2016 presidential election.  We know that our current president is aware of the offense and even admitted that they did.

So what do we do?

We vote.  We vote as if our lives depend on it.  We vote to take back what was wrongfully taken from us.

We deserve to have a government which places the American People first and the desire for wealth and corporate interests secondary.

We deserve to have a senate that will make decisions that will make positive decisions that will benefit the majority of Americans instead of the interests of the current administration.

Every vote counts.  You deserve to have your voice to be heard.  You deserve to have an administration that performs better than what we have now.

So get out and vote!

Your vote counts!

~ J.L. Whitehead