2016.
I called myself an independent but, more often than not, I voted for conservatives. I really had always thought that was the LDS/Christian thing to do.
I couldn’t bring myself to vote for most Democrats because of abortion and fiscal responsibility and I was swayed by the fact that most Republicans wore their Christianity as a badge of honor. Now I see it more as a weapon to keep the masses in line.
In 2016, I started seeing the cracks. More and more Christians and Republicans began supporting Donald Trump, someone who seemed so obviously to be gaslighting them. If someone tells you they’re Christian and then proceeds to do and say the most dishonest and hateful things you’ve ever heard and not show even a cursory understanding or commitment to Christ and his gospel, that’s a red flag.
He would look at a blue sky and say it was green and all these people I respected would say, “Ooooo it IS green. Thank you sir. We adore your wisdom.” And I’m looking up at the blue sky, like, this has to be a joke.
I kept looking around at my fellow conservatives like, you’re kidding right? You can see through this very obvious farce, can’t you? And no. Many of them couldn’t.
So, after working my tail off on the Evan McMullin campaign in 2016 because, although the Republican Trump-enablers had let me down, Hilary was just “way too liberal.” I started to look deeper into the big bad liberals and their platform.
And I found that I had more in common with them than I had ever thought. There were many deeply committed Christians. Most of them don’t see abortion as a baby-killing free-for-all, but a medical tool that needs to be used carefully as decided on by a woman and her doctor. I’ll do a whole post on abortion at some point, because at this point I see myself as pro-choice but anti-abortion and I am comfortable voting for Democrats because statistics show that abortion rates go down when Democrats are in office, possibly due to their pro-family policies and their openness to discuss sexual health and birth control.
They support families and children. They are interested in balancing the budget by asking millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share of taxes, rather than cutting crucial programs to vulnerable populations.
They have genuine compassion and respect for their fellow humans and a desire to be good global citizens. They believe in education and expertise, scientific discovery, and the need to take a hard look at our history and learn from it.
There is a lot to like on the left and I find that I can’t support any candidates who have supported or enabled Donald Trump and that has left me with few options on the right.
I honestly believe that either side could use their platform to do good, just in different ways, but I currently have no trust in the right to stand up for the truth or govern with integrity. So, I’d rather vote for leaders who do stand up for what they believe and are willing to speak out when one of their own breaks the law or does something unethical.
It’s a “Jefferson has beliefs. Burr has none.” situation at this point.