I’m pretty certain I wasn’t the only one who thought the Republicans would have the courage to stand up to the outsider making inroads on their well-oiled machine. That didn’t happen, of course. Soon after their moral Maginot Line fell, Republicans fell in line to place their party over their nation. Democrats haven’t fared much better on this score and, with some exceptions, are still suspiciously muted. Silence, though, is complicity, which is what led to my race for Florida State Senate. Loving my nation too much to sit back, I stepped in and framed my campaign on principles Democrats and Republicans should agree on: Common sense, compassion, and compromise. If voters are truly sick of a system mired in stalemates and corrupted by cash, those touchstones should be enough to earn their vote, if not their respect.
It may be a hard sell for some voters here in Central Florida. Obviously, I’m not running against Donald Trump, but I am running against someone cut from the same cloth; someone whose base is Trump’s base. But if my sense of history and skills at communication are as good as I hope they are, I’ll be reaching out to those voters to remind them that their nation and their party should expect more than this. Nothing in our history was designed to accept, support, or tolerate a bigoted demagogue in the nation’s highest office. When it comes to consistency, trust, tradition, and American values these moral and ethical Dark Ages have been absolutely un-American. Above all, I want to remind them that despite the wedges politicians hammer into society, Democrats and Republicans are not enemies. We’re all in this together, and we can only get through this together. A few days ago after a heated debate with my Republican friends, I cooled off and shared with them Abraham Lincoln’s beautiful quote: “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
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That doesn't ignore the reality that some supporters think his bellicose, egomaniacal, bullying posture is worthy of respect. Some swoon over his praise of dictators and cheer when he and his sycophants create and spread lies about tariffs so he can kick American allies in the teeth and destroy relationships with our friends. On this and other episodes, he’s convinced them to praise him simply because he told them they had "won."
Many people who support Trump and, through the political flow chart, my opponent, attend church and contribute to the community. On Sunday mornings they’ll affirm their faith in charity, compassion, honesty, and trust. Yet hours later they'll shake off those virtues to praise a false prophet who peddles in greed, vengeance, lies, racism, and fear. Sadly, temporary virtues hold no value. It’s even more dismal and depressing that people who know better — namely, federal and state senators and representatives — are abandoning their professed principles to test out this toxic approach to governing. Helping prop up one of history’s most masterful snake oil salesmen, they’ve convinced a third of the nation that no lie is too much, no indictment, no payoff, no kickback, no crime, no conspiracy, no slam against a veteran, no denigration of an allied nation, no praising of Nazis, no plea bargain, no self-directed funds from a sham charity, no guilty plea, no recanted lie about paying off his porn star mistress, no harboring of white nationalists in the White House, no attack on the media and the FBI and the Justice Department, no kid being shot, no massive death toll due to his prejudice… None of this is to be considered an issue. It is all to be accepted without question. On the trail I’d like to ask these voters if these actions would be ones their minister would praise in a sermon. Lessons they’d teach their own kids? Characteristics they'd seek in an employer or employee? Accept from a friend or spouse? Admire in a commanding officer? Not a chance. Exalting someone who, on top of the items above, conspired with a foreign adversary to secure the same honored office of Washington, Lincoln, Truman, Eisenhower, and Reagan is misdirected allegiance.
Forsaking 242 years of American history, as well as thousands of years of human history prior, Trump and his supporters in elected office have them believing that the ends justify the means. That might makes right. Might doesn't make right. RIGHT makes right. Care makes right. Tolerance makes right. Might didn't work for Mussolini, Caesar, Cromwell, Napoleon, Castro, or Kim. If they truly believe that approach, fueled by a mainline injection of lies, is what's going to create an America to be proud of, they’ll need to turn off the TV and study history-- because they’re definitely on the wrong side of it.
(NOTE: I won’t win this race without an abundance of moral and/or monetary support. Whichever you can share on social media or via a secure ActBlue donation would be appreciated.)