What If

We’ve been enveloped in fighting the good fight. We’ve been fighting for equality, judicial fairness as well as the civil rights of women and various demographic groups in this country.  We’ve been fighting for impartiality in our justice and judicial systems.  In some of these fights, we have won and others we have lost.  But we keep fighting because the ultimate battle is not just for everything mentioned above.  It is for our very livelihood as well as democracy as we know it.

But what if the powers that be really are winning?  What if the Republican base has been energized to the point where what they want is greater than what we want?  And what if that base turns out to vote for not just this current administration but for all the policies associated with it?

The installment of Justice Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court was a definite win for the Trump Administration because simply put, it means that Trump has someone who represents the law in this country who believes that a president cannot be indicted for justifiable crimes while sitting in office.  Still, he is but one of eight associate justices which also includes Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch.

But what if this proves to be too much for us?  What if the tactics that Trump utilizes to energize his base guarantees to keep him in power…power that he has grown accustomed to having and will be more reluctant to give up?  What happens then?

We as a people must do and be better.  We must show up at the polls in record numbers to make our voices heard ~ J.L. Whitehead

 What if we take these ideals and push them forward several years?  What if Trump were to institute policies that would ban a woman’s right from access to health care?  What if the rights of the LGBTQ community to marry and co-habitat were suddenly stripped away because certain demographic groups that support Trump deemed it necessary and prudent to do so?

What if the civil rights of African Americans, Mexicans, Hispanics and Native Americans were suddenly under siege and policies were implemented making it perfectly legal to discriminate against these groups?

What if the proverbial clock is turned back to pre nineteen fifty where the ideology of white supremacy is the law of the land and inter-racial marriage is not only frowned upon, but down right illegal?

 

These are some of the policies that Trump has proven himself to stand for.  He has proven himself to be a white supremacist with selfish tendencies who has no intention of relinquishing the power of the presidency.   He has shown himself to be a representative of the worst in America.

We as a people must do and be better.  We must show up at the polls in record numbers to make our voices heard.

We unequivocally do not stand for racism, sexism, misogyny or any hateful rhetoric.  We are smart enough to know that people from other racial and ethnic backgrounds are not responsible for our hardships.  We know that at the end of the day, our government can make it easier or challenging for the American People.  We know that times are changing, and we must change with them.  As technology moves us forward, it would be ridiculous for us to move backwards.

We recognize that women have the right to make decisions regarding their own bodies and that a smaller group of people from differing religious backgrounds does not.

We recognize that there is a need for our laws to change an our police force needs to be trained to use deadly force only when necessary as too many unarmed black and brown people are being killed senselessly in our streets.

We should be allowed to live with and marry who we love because at the end of the day, that marriage or cohabitation does not impact anyone else aside from the people involved in that union.

Now more than ever, we must put aside our political differences and vote with our hearts and minds.

We cannot afford to sit on the sidelines and not take a stance at all simply because our candidate of choice may have no chance of winning the Whitehouse.  A vote cast for someone that has no possibility of winning is a wasted vote…or worst yet, it is a vote for the Republican Party.

We know that the Republican Party has morphed into the party of Trump, and Trump does not represent all of America.  He embodies the worst of America.

This is a fight that we all must participate in.  We must win this because so much is on the line.

If you are a Progressive, Democrat, Independent like me or have no party affiliation…if you don’t like the direction that this country is going in, it is time for you to do your part and cast your vote in November.

~ J.L Whitehead