Right Now It’s Bad.
For most of my life, I’ve heard the Republican Party spin doomsday scenarios should Democrats gain political control. They’ve claimed the economy would suffer due to higher taxes and big government. Affordable Care Act death panels would hand out death sentences to those unworthy of healthcare. Al Qaeda would gain influence under Obama. And yet when Democrats won, none of those things happened.
Today is no different. If Biden wins, they say Communism would take root in our country. If people vote by mail, they say voter fraud would undermine our election. We’re all sick and tired of hearing this false rhetoric.
The reality is, the Affordable Care Act has saved hundreds of thousands of lives simply by making healthcare available and affordable to more Americans. And Bin Laden was taken down during Obama’s administration. And Democrats pulled us out of the Great Depression and the Great Recession.
It seems that Republicans have found themselves caught in a “Chicken Little” loop – if anyone they disagree with is in power, a mysterious and terrible “threat” to their idea of America is at risk.
But the irony is that while Republicans wallow in the doom of what “could be,” a different dystopia is already here: our for-profit healthcare system of “haves” and “have nots” is already choosing who lives and dies. Our citizens are being kidnapped or killed by law enforcement officers and plain clothed para-military. Our economy is in the tank because of the uncontained spread of COVID-19. And right here in Georgia we elected a woman to Congress who is willing to show off military-grade guns in preparation for acting out against other politicians who simply disagree with her ideas.
These atrocities against our Constitution, our human rights, our human decency, and our democracy have happened because of Republican fear mongering.
But the future has yet to be written.
In Georgia, Republican budgets have cut ten billion dollars from our public schools over the last decade while offering tax credits for private and religious schools. Our Governor is proposing to dismantle access to the national Affordable Care Act website, replacing it with for-profit brokers selling plans directly, including junk plans that rip-off hard working Georgians, leaving them with huge gaps in care in the middle of a pandemic.
By submitting your ballot, you can do something about it.
We can rebuild Georgia’s economy by ensuring that people are safe when they venture out to do business. We can make sure our unemployed have the money they need to live, and the training they need to re-enter the workforce.
We can make sure every Georgian has healthcare.
We can protect our school children from gun violence with gun safety reform.
We can treat undocumented immigrants with dignity, and protect their human rights.
We can end police and criminal justice system brutality against Black citizens through greater social services funding and stronger measures to hold law enforcement accountable for abuse of their power and malpractice.
Any one of these is reason enough to build a better now… and the future will take care of itself.
Give what you can. Make a plan to vote. Volunteer your time, if you are able. We have until November 3rd to save our country.
