Frankly, when judging someone who is essentially applying for the job of President of the United States, is a debate an accurate measure? It’s a false equivalency; the glib, patently untrue, verbal jabs that make for great media content are hardly the yardstick for judging what it takes to govern. Is it better to choose the one who delights in creating turmoil with veiled threats and sensationalist untruths - the perfect sound byte - or the one who takes the time to think, to collaborate, to deliberate - practices that do not fare well in a high-pressure debate setting? It should be no surprise that the recent Biden - Trump debate viewership was down 30% from their first debate in 2020. Over 20 million people who watched the first chose not to waste their time watching the second. The outcome (painfully) was not a surprise. Biden bumbled. Trump lied. Neither is new, and little changed, so why bother? I, as a Democrat, am among those who wish there were a better choice out there than Biden.There is a disquieting echo of Ruth Bader Ginsburg hanging on too long - with catastrophic results for the Supreme Court - as Biden rides ego and hubris and insists on continuing as our democratic candidate. But if it is Biden, I will vote for Biden. Because this is bigger than Biden. I want women to keep their freedom. I want separation of Church and State. No Bibles in public school. No book bans. No Ten Commandments on every classroom wall. I want corporations and the wealthy to pay their fair share, dammit. My taxes went up thanks to Trump’s business-friendly tax cuts. There is public knowledge of the obscene and ever-increasing compensation being awarded to CEOs, to stockholders, as their companies raise prices on their products and shrink the content of their packaging. Tax them. I want reasonable regulations on gun ownership: no bump stocks, no AK 47s, yes to red flag laws and safe storage of your guns. The Trump-led red Republicans want to create a noose around our freedoms - witness The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, intent upon “rescuing” us from the left, from the “woke” and creating a political system in their own image. We who cherish our freedom to choose, to love, to worship, to vote, to be educated as we see fit - we are their target. Trump is just the loud, glib front/con man for this conservative movement that is intent upon reshaping my country, our country, into a theocratic world circumscribed by their conservative, religious beliefs. Trump said in Las Vegas, “I don’t care about you. I just want your vote.” The Heritage Foundation is banking on that, to ride to victory on Trump’s coattails. Their win is my loss. That is why, for me, there is no debate. It’s bigger than Biden. I am voting democrat. We cannot yield to despots, to those who would spit in our faces for our differing ideals and beliefs. The only way to fight this is at the ballot box. Our votes matter, our votes count. We use it or we lose it.
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