Election Essay 2024

There are so many things about this election season that are so serious for us as a nation that I went back to school at sixty-nine years old. I am taking a few courses online. I initially did not get to college until age forty-five. I enrolled in my local state college and attended classes nights and weekends. I majored in American Studies and Political Science. During the day, I spent fifty-three years earning a living as a steelworker.

I’ve been interested in how government works since I took mandatory civics classes in grade 5. I also feel that the study of history is essential for anyone. I’m an American citizen and take this responsibility seriously, so I decided to study the Constitution, especially now. How else can anyone make intelligent choices concerning our democracy?

I reject what I hear from so many people who are too busy to get into politics. Those candidates are all the same, so what difference does it make to who gets elected?

Please don’t take the word of one side or the other that they have all the answers. Check it out for yourself. Read a history book. Find out what it takes to live in a democracy. Our votes count, but if it feels like they don’t count, find out why and do something about it. Or someone like Donald Trump, who is in it for all the wrong reasons, ends up with all the say about your life and liberty.

I fail to see how anyone can sit and listen to this man speak without knowing he’s only in it for himself. We don’t have a king in the United States. No man is above the law. Please look at what has happened in our past and why the nations we call friends and allies. They are just that.

Yes, George Washington warned against becoming involved in wars beyond our borders unless these conflicts directly threatened us. He also warned that political parties meant more to people than their liberty and freedom. He cautioned against electing a ruler with avarice and greed as their guiding light. This scoundrel would sacrifice the lives of the people only for the cause of his vanity and his thirst for power and adulation.

I have to remind myself that when Washington and the other authors of our Constitution were here, there was no such thing as intercontinental ballistic missiles. There was no such thing as an atomic bomb. So yes, I believe we need our allies. We must stand with people in other countries who share our love of liberty. This is not an autocracy where the “Dear Leader” is in control of our lives. We fought a revolution to shake off the rule of a king. Now I hear friends of mine talking about this election as though it doesn’t matter who gets elected. This kind of talk scares me. It’s that they don’t see the danger we are in.

In the South, there are places where my daughter, or yours, is having a miscarriage; she wakes up one morning, and the bed is full of blood. Her husband calls 911, but the operator asks them what is happening. He tells her his wife is pregnant, and there seems to be a problem. As soon as the operator hears the word pregnant, her attitude changes. She tells them she’s sorry, but the ambulance won’t come. According to Texas law, Doctors are forbidden from interfering in a pregnancy.

In a panic, your daughter asks them what she should do. The operator says you must wait and see if the situation becomes critical. Then maybe you can be admitted to the hospital for treatment. If the baby miscarries and she loses the fetus, there is a good chance the mother will be charged with manslaughter or even murder. Her husband will be investigated to determine if he aided his wife in any way, causing the termination of the pregnancy. Any Doctor who is involved in the miscarriage will be charged with malpractice and could lose their medical license.

Neighbors are encouraged to inform the authorities of pregnant women who they suspect may be considering terminating the pregnancy. If it turns out they are, the informer can collect up to 10,000 dollars for their efforts.

As bad as this sounds, it’s not the end. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas spoke at a conservative convention where he said now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned, the time has come to ban the sale of contraception devices, especially when Medicaid is paying for them.

The Republican Party is working to deny American Women from having access to reproductive healthcare. As a result, Republicans in state houses across the South have made it so a woman must drive sixteen hours to receive healthcare. In more than one state, any woman who leaves the state to get an abortion for any reason is liable to be prosecuted. If she lacks the means for transportation, anyone aiding her by loaning her the money for a bus, train, or flight out of state is liable to the same penalties.

Republicans are working to take away the rights of Americans on a twisted religious or moral pretext. Elected officials are replacing medical professionals concerning reproductive healthcare. They manipulated the rules in the Senate under the Advise and Consent clause in the Constitution. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell invented a rule that no Judicial Candidates can be considered in an election year even though the election is nine months away.

After President Trump replaced President Obama, another seat in the court became vacant. In this case, voting in the general election has already begun; McConnell, breaking his own rule, rushes the candidate through the interview process. This is another place where I have severe difficulties with the Judiciary Advise and Consent process. Every Democratic Senator on the Judiciary Committee questioned the candidates of Roe v Wade. Justice Amy Barrett is the third conservative Justice appointed during the Trump Administration. All three were asked if they considered Roe to be settled law. In other words, a woman has a Constitutional right to neonatal healthcare, including abortion. They all agreed that Roe was settled Constitutional law.

Then, as soon as right-to-life groups in several southern states with Republican legislatures sent a case to the higher courts, instead of denying to hear the case, which rested on the question of abortion as a Constitutional right, they chose to take the case. In no time at all did the Court overturn Roe.

Immediately, pro-life states began testing the boundaries of the new post-abortion landscape. They passed legislation banning abortion after a week or two of pregnancy, not enough time for someone to even know that they are pregnant. Some states banned the procedure under various circumstances. It was resulting in women bleeding out in hospital parking lots, waiting for the case to be “serious enough” to warrant treatment.

Soon, these draconian restrictions on women’s healthcare spread to fourteen Republican states. The Right to Travel and Freedom of Speech is also restricted, but the so-called pro-life movement remains unsatisfied. Now, they are coming after contraception and the abortion pill. The pill is the most common way a woman can end an unwanted pregnancy. The pill has been safe and used worldwide for decades. Because a few religious healthcare workers and pharmacists have moral objections to abortion of any kind, conservatives are once again going back to the courts seeking further action.

This is what Tyranny of the Minority looks like. It’s also what religion overstepping its bounds is all about. If it appears the Bill of Rights is shrinking, that’s because it is.