It's been about a month since Donald Trump shocked the nation with his victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. During this time there have been protests, calls for a recount, statements of "landslide victories," talks of a mandate, questioning the electoral college, and everything in between. Those are separate issues for a separate time, because right now what's done is done. The problems of the electoral college, long lines while trying to vote, voter ID laws, etc, have been an issue for years and should've been addressed before Donald Trump got elected, not in President Obama's lame duck session.
To the people who didn't vote or who voted for Donald Trump because he was an "outsider," elections do mean something and have inherent value even though people claim that "it doesn't matter who gets into office, they're all the same." It's a lazy way of thinking and lacks nuance. There are real differences when electing our leaders despite claims that there isn't. Donald Trump ran as a Republican and across the nation you can tell what the agenda is for Republicans.
It's easy to figure out the differences in political parties and what they stand for if you go state by state. Little minute details that people brush under the rug, but have large consequences, are seen when you dig deep into certain state's policies.
The thing that Mike Pence, Governor of Indiana and Vice President-Elect, might be most known for is his signing of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. In broad layman's terms, it's that bill that allows people of religious faith to legally refuse service to people of the LGBT community. For example, if two males or females are having a wedding and the person who is making their cake is against the marriage of those individuals, they can say no. Kind of mean, to say the least, but okay.
In Kanas, Governor Sam Brownback decided it would be a great idea to employ huge tax breaks in his state, and sure enough, the plan didn't work so well. Kanas has a $600 million budget deficit. To fix this problem Governor Brownback has decided to raise taxes on alcohol and cigarettes, overhaul school funding, and move money from the state's highway fund. To pay for these tax cuts that didn't create jobs, like they were supposed to, Governor Brownback has decided to cut programs for middle-class families in Kanas need.
In Florida, a state that is known for sanity, Governor Rick Scott decided not to take free federal money to expand Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act. The consequences of this action as left 975,000 people without health insurance. That's right, a sitting governor of a state willfully decided to leave around a million people in the dust without health insurance. It's always hard to predict causation and estimates are hard to nail down, but one study showed that 45,000 people a year die because of a lack of health insurance. On top of that, the number one reason people go bankrupt is because of medical bills.
I know Donald Trump isn't any of these people, and who knows what he is going to do, but he is in the same party as these people. He has Mike Pence as his running mate, he talks about cutting taxes all the time, and he wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act. All of his ideas that he ran on have severe effects on everyone across the nation. So next time someone says "all politicians are the same," tell them elections have consequences.
