The latest polls leading up to Election Day - which is today, for most of you reading this, show that people are starting to lean Republican based on certain issues which they feel Democrats are weak on. Issues like crime, the economy, inflation, immigration, losses in our children's education due to the pandemic, and so forth.
But here's the thing, if our democracy falls, and Republicans are currently VERY blunt about wanting exactly that, all those other issues won't matter worth jack. And there's a good bet the net result for all those issues will be worse.
Take inflation, for instance. If Republicans overturn democracy, what do you think will happen to inflation? That's right, it will go through the roof! Republicans are also campaigning very bluntly on the platform of denying any more funding for the defense of Ukraine. That means prolonging the war Russia has unjustly waged upon it, which increases economic uncertainty for the rest of us. Meaning, that too will vastly increase inflation.
So much for that one.
And the economy? It absolutely floors me that so many people think that Republicans are better at the economy than Democrats are. Republicans have been the direct cause of the last two economic crises, and not ambiguously, either! Reagan was the last beneficiary of a thriving economy, and he inherited that from the last-minute desperation efforts of Jimmy Carter. How do we know? Because it takes at least three years for a president's policies to be felt. Carter invested the time. Reagan dared to take credit in February of 1981. There simply wasn't time for him to have done anything, yet people think his policies saved America from inflation once before. Bullshit!
And just what is the Republican plan for dealing with inflation and the economy this time around? Why, it's the same one it's always been: cut taxes for the ultra-rich, deregulate banks, and say a goddamned prayer!
Why would anyone assume Republicans are better at the economy based on that? Don't we remember the economy absolutely tanking under Sonny Bush? And tanking even worse under Trump?
Is your issue crime? Well, then you'll want to avoid Republicans like the plague. Because their idea of fighting crime is to increase the likelihood that jail will take a small-time criminal and turn him into a big-time criminal. Republicans keep hammering Democrats about no-cash bail, but setting bail high doesn't deter crime. It sends people to jail more frequently, and jail, as we all should know and recognize, is Criminal Training Camp.
Do we really want to increase the bail on criminals so that they can have even more time in Criminal Training Camp and be an even worse criminal after eventual release? And if someone is locked away after a minor offense in this manner, what will happen to his family who must now do without his income and financial support? Won't that father's absence make it far more likely that any children he has also become criminal?
Net result: Three times the criminality out on the street. All just to keep bail high.
I call bullshit.
Oh, and let's wonder aloud why Republicans should care about crime when they themselves are criminals? Ron Johnson, as prime example, had paperwork for alternate electors go through his very office! He's a seditionist and a traitor, which is so much worse than your common crook!
Republicans say they're tough on crime? Ask them why they nominate criminals as candidates!
And again, if our democracy falls, as Republicans openly want it to, crime in the streets will go up, not down!
Is your issue immigration? Then ask yourself: how will we be able to stem the flow of illegal immigrants when our democracy falls and the amount of immigration policing and processing goes from insufficient to none whatsoever?
The only issue which might get better after a fallen democracy would be gun rights, and that only because there would be no central government to enact any background checks at all!
So you see, preserving our democracy is the only issue. All other issues are of secondary import, because they are utterly and completely dependent upon our government surviving.
Oh, and don't forget, our own personal survival is at stake too.
Eric
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