November 5th: A Choice We Should Not Have to Make
As a registered independent, I have voted in more presidential elections than I would like to admit. I've voted for Republicans and Democrats alike. During most of those elections, my choice was based on my assessment of the candidates' policy positions and what I believed was in the best interest of the greatest number of Americans. I now recognize that it was a privilege to vote my policy preferences — a privilege because I was able to assume as a prerequisite that each candidate was an ethical person who simply had different aspirations for our country.
November 5th will be the third time that I don't have a choice based purely on policy. This year, I will again have to make a choice based on my ethics, because ethics must always take priority over policy. That is why I say this is a choice that we should not have to make. Ethics should be assumed.
Donald Trump does not meet my ethical test. He has no regard for truth, having been fact-checked over 30,000 times during his first administration, shows little regard for our institutions, and has no regard for the rule of law. He has been charged with 88 felonies and convicted of 34. He encouraged an insurrection on our Capitol on January 6th and took several concrete steps to defy the people's choice. He has been found liable for sexual abuse and defamation. He was impeached twice. Two of his companies were found guilty of criminal tax fraud and falsifying business records, and he settled with the victims of the now-defunct Trump University for $25 million. His charitable foundation was dissolved under court supervision after paying a $2 million fine for various financial irregularities. He has a court-appointed monitor overseeing the Trump Organization's financial transactions. He engages in childish name-calling and uses reckless, irresponsible language about imprisoning his enemies and the "enemy within." In a country of immigrants, he routinely vilifies those less fortunate than he is, having been born a rich man in America.
Like her or not, none of this is true of Kamala Harris.
If we make the right ethical choice, we may have to repair or reverse some poor policy decisions in four years. If we make the wrong ethical choice, we could lose our democracy and the rule of law. During the next election cycle, I would much rather deal with the former than suffer the latter. But most of all, I hope that at that time, we can make the choice we deserve, one based on policy alone.