Tex-s

Once upon a time, I had a really hard time deciding how to vote. My father cooked, cleaned, did laundry, and was an elementary teacher, none of which were common among heterosexual men in the 1950's (when he began his career). I was never indoctrinated to gender roles, religious doctrine, or any other particular avenue that fosters intolerance. I'm a white male, but my first serious relationship was with a Hispanic female. Her ethnicity was never a point of discussion in my home. Her family norms, religious affiliation, and cultural expectation were, but only because I was not 'taught' to disparage those who valued traditional 'women's' roles and actually discouraged higher education and independence of girls. My parents, because I did not disparage 'Mexicans', had to educate me on certain truths about cultures AFTER I became involved.
Therefore, I'm asking no one disparage my parents for what follows. They taught me both tolerance AND logic, qualities that seem to be mutually exclusive in our modern day political parties, and if you care, that girl and I are great friends to this day. She admitted, even in the 80's that her family was WAY more opposed to her being involved with me than vice verse. Also, if you DON'T care, that girl and I are great friends to this day.

Even before I became and educator and a girls' / women's athletics coach, before I had a daughter of my own, and before I established lifelong relationships with students and families of markedly different melanin content, I was sure of two things: First, that government should NOT be legislating personal choices (excluding the life and death of others) for individuals and second, that government could never spend my money to my benefit better than I could for myself. That, once upon a time, meant I had no obvious choice when I entered the voting 'booth', but that day has past.

Modern Democrat policy, on the average, is a direct diversion, whereupon the stated objective is DIRECTLY opposed by the actual policy espoused, promoted, or enacted. I've made the argument here and in other places that all of us need to evaluate EFFECT (what is actually done) instead of AFFECT (personality and promises) so here is my bottom line. I may not prioritize particular policy in the same order as others, and I'm REALLY open to good-faith debate of priorities and policy, but for me, the radical leftists and their sway on Democrat policy, coupled with my pre-existing beliefs/priorities has left me bound, for the foreseeable future, to vote GOP, regardless of the candidate, and regardless of the level (local, state, national).

Democrats SAY they are for the minority. ACT to be a dictatorial majority of 50.0000000001%.
Democrats SAY race based policy is terrible. ACT to institute or defend race-based policy like Affirmative Action, quotas and reparations.
Democrats SAY "police are bad" or "guns are evil". ACT by hiring private, armed security.
Democrats SAY "Trump-Russia collusion". ACT by paying for fabricated 'intel' supplied by Russia-affiliated assets.
Democrats SAY "Republicans are would-be dictators". ACT by openly proposing to pack the courts.... the most direct route to a dictatorial regime.
Democrats SAY "Black lives matter". ACT by defending, funding, and promoting abortion, the single greatest loss of life in the black community.
Democrats SAY "Black lives matter". ACT by ignoring thousands and thousands of black lives lost to black killers.
Democrats SAY "Black lives matter". ACT by looking to abolish police forces, the single greatest defender of black lives against those actually taking black lives.
Democrats SAY they wish to empower the poor, the uneducated, the single mom, to provide opportunity for their kids. ACT by defiantly blocking EVERY measure that might offer competition for failing public schools.
Democrats SAY they support women. ACT by promoting policy that allows biological men to infiltrate bathrooms, dressing rooms, and athletic competitions to the detriment of women.
The last also gives lie to the Democrat SAY that women and homosexuals deserve protections. Democrats ACT to grant legal protections to some in ways that actually erase the definition of 'woman', thereby erasing the protection of 'women' and of homosexuals, who are either 'men' or 'women' who prefer those of he same gender as their own.
Democrats also SAY gender is not binary. ACT by demanding a 'female' President, of course, assuming gender......
The list is far longer, but these are the most blatant and most consequential......and the least negotiable for me.

As I said, my parents gifted my with a training in both tolerance and and logic. The GOP might be, sometimes, intolerant, and in fewer cases illogical, but the left have surged 'behind' in the field of intolerance by consistently engaging in character assassination over opinion, and have REALLY fallen into a series of talking points utterly devoid of logic. Therefore, to protect the freedoms and security that allowed a nation to TWICE elect a leader from a 13.4% minority to the Presidency, I'm obligated to vote against the Democrats and their illogical, divisive, even racist, agenda. I lose no sleep over this choice.

Please, if you have a point of policy you believe I'm missing, dismissing, or misrepresenting, call me out. But also remember, character assaults are actually making my argument for me. As the title says, I believe people can disagree without either being evil, and I'm not wishing death, disease, or even leg cramps on those who disagree.

I simply believe that honest debate doesn't lend itself to supporting Democrat policy and that emotional appeal is NOT sufficient.

dakotacheryl Loc: Near Mt Rushmore

Really well written Tex!!