At 88 years old, I’ve participated in a lot of Presidential elections; 16 of them them to be exact, but who’s counting? And if memory serves me correctly, I voted for a Republican in all of those elections … except one.
It’s worth noting, that while I did vote for a Republican in 2016, that Republican was not Donald Trump. Instead, I wrote in my own Republican candidate. Then in 2020, after watching four years of the “The Trump Show”, I decided that protesting Trump via a write-in candidate was not enough, so I voted for Biden who appeared to be a decent man, even if I didn’t agree with all of his positions.
This November, I will vote for Kamala Harris. Again, I do not agree with all of her positions, but preserving democracy in the US is now my highest priority when I vote.
It may be worth mentioning that even though I was raised to vote Republican, as early as nine years old, I admired President Truman, a Democrat, for having the courage to end World War II with the atomic bomb. If we had needed to invade Japan, the American death toll would have been horrible. (And I know that threat was real, because my wife’s cousin was on a ship headed to invade Japan). I also admired President Eisenhower, a Republican, for staying cool during the Russian invasion of Hungary in 1956. I was serving in the Army at the time, and on standby to go to Hungary, while still not old enough to vote myself at age 20. After that, I liked Ford, Carter, Reagan and Obama, even if I didn’t vote for all of them. Basically, I am more interested in the person rather than the party.
Maybe you’re like me and have voted for Republicans in the past, but have had enough of Trump. If so, I encourage you to join me and cast your vote for the pro-democracy candidate, Kamala Harris. At the end of the day, preserving our democracy will ensure we can discuss all the other issues in future.
Post submitted by Don Calder, a volunteer with The Union who lives in Michigan.
Note: The views and opinions expressed by volunteer contributors are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of The Union, a single-issue organization that welcomes all and is dedicated to protecting democracy.
If you’d like to help defend democracy in the US, we invite you to join The Union and check out The Union Volunteer Action Center.
Thank you for your service & for a great perspective! :-)
Thank you for your service.