This is Who I am Voting For on Nov 3rd
I am an Independent. I vote for the person who I believe can do the best job for the country based on facts.
I have voted for Republicans and Democrats over the years. I have great admiration for Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt; Ronald Reagan and Harry Truman; George H. W. Bush and Barack Obama; Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. Four Republicans and four Democrats. The party doesn’t make the difference, the person does.
What do these eight presidents have in common?
- They all cared more about our country than they did about themselves.
- Integrity. Carved into the mantle above the fireplace in the State Dining Room at the White House is a quote from John Adams, taken from a letter he sent to his wife Abigail in 1800 on the first night anyone ever occupied the White House: “May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.”
- They were “learn-it-alls,” not “know-it-alls.” All these presidents were great at asking questions and were good listeners.
- They took responsibility when things went wrong. They did not blame others.
- These presidents put together great teams of people to run the government. They did not do it by themselves and they gave the credit to the people doing the work.
- These presidents led the Free World. They had an optimistic view of the world and believed that if America made decisions that were good for the world, it would be good for America.
As I went through my decision-making process for whom I am going to vote for on November 3rd, I judged both President Trump and former Vice President Biden on each of these 6 character traits.
President Trump fails on every one of the six traits above.
Joe Biden is not the perfect candidate. No one ever has been. However, based on his 47 years of service, I believe that Biden cares more about the country than he does about himself. I believe that he is a good person and when confronted with choices, he would pick the one that is in the best long-term interest of the American people. I believe that Joe Biden would tell the American people the truth. I believe that he would ask questions and would be a good listener. I believe that when things go wrong — and they will — that Biden will take responsibility. I believe that he will put a good team on the field. And I believe that Biden understands that America only makes up 4% of the world’s population and that we have to work with other nations to get things done.
Based on these character traits, I will be voting for Joe Biden and I am recommending that you vote for Joe Biden. I don’t think that there has been a presidential election in the last 100 years where America has had a clearer choice.
I am not only supporting Joe Biden based on his strong character. I am also supporting Joe Biden because I think he is on the right side of five of the biggest issues we face today:
- Management of the coronavirus. The facts say that we have lost more than 223,000 lives to the virus and our economy has been brought to its knees, with massive unemployment and ballooning government debt. President Trump knew in January how potent the virus was and yet he told us that “it is not a threat” and “it will go away like magic.” None of that was true and the president knew it. Other countries dealt with reality and they have the numbers to prove it. We have 65 deaths per 100,000 in population, Canada has 26 per 100,000, and Japan and South Korea have 1 death or fewer per 100,000. Because of poor leadership with the coronavirus crisis it was announced on October 15th, that the U.S. debt tripled to $3.1 trillion and that federal spending rose by 47%. If Donald Trump were the CEO of any American company, he would be fired for his handling of the coronavirus. President Trump’s failure of leadership during the pandemic should give all of us concern over how he will handle the next crisis. Because, chances are, there will be another crisis.
- Global climate change. If you think the coronavirus is bad, wait for climate change. If we continue along our current path, it will be 1,000 times worse. The temperature of our planet is up 2 degrees over the past 140 years. This doesn’t sound like a lot, but if you increase your temperature by 2 degrees, you are sick. Well, so is our planet. We see it with Australia’s bushfires last January and February. We see it with the record-setting fires in California this fall, and a record number of hurricanes this year. We see it with 3 500-year floods in Houston in a period of 3 years. When a frog is tossed into a boiling pot of water, he jumps right out. This is Covid-19. When we see a major problem with the immediate threat of death, we do something. However, if you put a frog in a pot of water at room temperature and increase the temperature one degree every minute, the frog gets used to the environment and ultimately, he boils to death. This is climate change, and we are currently behaving like the second frog. As the temperature rises, we are sitting in the pot with President Trump denying there is a problem while 97% of global scientists are screaming at our leadership to do something. Joe Biden will do something.
- Increased opportunity in America for everyone. Ronald Reagan, in his first inaugural address, said, “How can we love our country and not love our countrymen, and loving them, reach out a hand when they fall, heal them when they are sick, and provide opportunities to make them self-sufficient so they will be equal in fact and not just in theory?” The facts tell us that our middle class is shrinking. The top 1%, who from 1950 to 1980 received 10% of the country’s income, now receive 23% of the country’s income and the bottom 50% of Americans have seen their share of pre-tax income almost cut in half from 20% to 12.5%. President Trump’s tax policies have continued to favor the rich over the poor. Our society is at a breaking point, and if we don’t increase the fairness of the system, at some point in the near future, there will be a revolt. Joe Biden will do a better job of restoring the “American Dream” for all our citizens.
- Improving health care. We have the most expensive health care system in the world and yet we have the worst results. It would be like the Milwaukee Bucks outspending every other team in the NBA by almost 2-1, year in and year out, and then finishing in last place every single year — but the owners do nothing. This is what we have in America today. The health care industry spent $5.36 billion between 1998 and 2012 lobbying Washington to keep this crooked system in place. In the last four years, Donald Trump has done nothing to change the system. The effectiveness of our health care system affects millions of Americans. Joe Biden will do a far better job providing health care for those who can’t afford it.
- A responsible foreign policy. The mission of the State Department is “to advance freedom for the benefit of the American people and the international community by helping to build and sustain a more democratic, secure, and prosperous world composed of well-governed states that respond to the needs of their people, reduce widespread poverty and act responsibly within the international system.” This has been the active policy from Franklin Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama. Donald Trump has fundamentally changed American foreign policy for the first time in 100 years, away from the legacy of Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan and away from the mission of the State Department to a new foreign policy of “America First.” President Trump’s view is that the world is an angry place, and our nation is a place where immigrants are not welcome, where we treat reliable allies like adversaries, where we build walls and where we isolate ourselves. I believe that Roosevelt and Reagan had it right and that Trump is wrong. I believe that Joe Biden will bring America back to the international community and that the United States will once again provide the leadership that this world so desperately needs.
We need a president who can bring people together, not tear people apart. We need a president who can lead the world, not divide the world. We need a president who can work with lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to get the people’s work done. We need a president who cares more about the country’s future than he does about his own.
And at this moment in history, we need Joe Biden.
