Recently, I came across an article on Facebook. This was written by Kelly Quelette on Wordpress. The article is linked here.
Personally, I really like this article. It has well-reasoned arguments based on commonly-accepted reasoning. It makes assumptions based on what the writer thinks the majority of Americans thinks matters in this upcoming election. I would highly recommend the reader to read that article first, as it will ensure this article makes more sense.
The first point that Kelly thinks is important is national safety. And I completely agree. We all have a right to be safe in our home, in our community, and in society. Kelly says that she believes that Trump will be a better President because he wants to close all borders and create a border wall. While she does not agree with the wall, she can understand why it may be necessary. However, something that is never said is that building a wall is a waste of time and money. This is because Immigration Control Acts (and the Chinese Exclusion Acts before that)that were signed by President Reagen are the main reasons behind our current immigration problem. Before these acts, Mexicans and Chinese used to come to America to work at the farms. When harvest time was over, they would collect their earnings and go back. When they heard that immigration was getting stricter and they might not be able to come back to work next year, they decided to stay and became illegal immigrants. Building a wall will not address this problem. Rather, it will just waste resources now, and in the future, because manning the wall will cost us more than building it in the long run. Kelly also talks about terrorism, and how she really wants to help the Syrian refugees. However, it is impossible to know which of them may have malicious intent towards America. And while I agree on principal, in practice this is completely different. We still don't know what the "extreme vetting" that Trump keeps talking about is going to be. Another important fact is that while we talk a lot about terrorism and the danger it poses to Americans, it actually doesn't. 10 times more Americans have died from gun violence in the last decade that terrorist attacks on Americans, both domestic and foreign. Toddlers have killed more people with guns than terrorists in the last year. For example, Jamie Gilt , a pro-guns advocate from Florida was shot by her own 4-year old son because she kept a loaded gun near him. She was one of the strongest voices that loaded guns are completely safe around kids. Guns do kill a lot more people, about 30,000 a year. However, it is surprising that even the most basic common sense laws (like keeping records of people who buy/sell guns online) get shot down in a Congress that has spent over a trillion combating terrorism. (It could be that this money was extremely well spent which is why the number or terrorism deaths are so low.) But of course, tracking Muslims is a completely obvious thing to do. And for the last time: no one is taking away guns.
Kelley's second point is regarding bringing about economic stability. While I do agree that Donald Trump is a successful businessman, not a good one. If you bet blindly enough times, you will win. The fact is that much of his success was built on the backs of lower and middle-class Americans. While the tax loophole he used was legal, it was unethical. This is because he claimed losses on his businesses thereby not paying taxes for two decades. However, he never paid his workers for the work they did so his actual loss was lower than he claimed. How can we expect he will actually look out for the middle class, given that he has never done so in the past? And yes, the wealthy people have gotten success because of hard work. However, if you give money to a poor person, they will spend it which will help the economy. If you give it to a rich person, they will just put it in the bank. Reaganomics does not work. And these wealthy people do employ other people. In other countries. Like Trump does.
Kelly talks about the Supreme Court next.The Supreme Court is important. However, the fact is that the vacancy there should have already been filled. Keeping a seat on the highest Court vacant for over a year should be unconstitutional, and the members of Congress who are not willing to see the nominee should be barred from office. This is because it says in the same Constitution that Republicans hold so highly that the Senate has to vote on the nominees. They should not be just ignoring this process.
Kelly's last point is about pro-life. To her, I have a simple question. Why are you not willing to accept that people want more control over the bodies? Why is it your or anyone else's business when a couple decide to bring another life to this world? If people want to have a baby, they should. If they want to wait, they should have access to the right knowledge to make sure they are ready for it when it does happen.
Kelly also mentioned that she likes Pence. However, he is also the person who believes that the LGBTQ community should have zero rights, is against any sort of funding to fight HIV/AIDS, doesn't believe in science, and wants to get rid of freedom of the press(1st Amendment). He also uses Mulan, an animated kid's movie, as a reason why women do not belong in the military.
However, the biggest reason no one should vote for Trump is because of what happened after 9/11. While the entire country was trying to deal with the tragedy, he came on a phone interview where he talked about, and I am not making this up, how his building was now the tallest in Manhattan.
And he said that he saw Muslims celebrating?
