To start, here is the quote from the Statue Of Liberty, one of my favorite quotes of all time, and one that exemplifies the spirit of America, the one that welcomes those who enter of great country near the beacon of freedom.
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
I am proud of my faith. I am proud of my country. I am proud to be able to live in a country that allows me to practice my religion. But I am not proud of the candidates that have been presented to me.
While many of my friends in faith are voting Trump because they believe he will best uphold the ideals we strive for, I cannot agree. My religion is love. My Catholic faith and education has instilled in me that God's main message is one of the unconditional love of God. He will not decide to only love the men and women who were born white and American, he loves us all: whether we are black or white, American or Mexican, rich or poor. And Trump does not support this message of God; instead he (wrongly) instills the fear that the Christian faith is somehow under attack, however as Americans, we have the constitutional right to practice whatever religion we choose, and with an increasingly large number of people choosing religions under than Christianity, he preaches that it's under attack.
As people decide to leave one church in favor of another, they are able to say why they made this decision, and for many, those like Trump are the reason: practicing hate in the name of God and giving a bad name to the faithful everywhere. Trump’s America is not my America, it is not the America of the men and women who put it all on the line for us every day.
My faith teaches me to love all. To help all. To help those who cannot help themselves. And I am proud to live in a country that has programs to provide assistance to those in need. And while I am aware that some take advantage of the welfare system, my past experience in a grocery store working with people who would quite literally have starved without programs like WIC (Women, Infants, Children), I am a full advocate of welfare.
Based on my dislike of Trump and my being in favor of welfare, many would assume that I am a Hillary fan. I am not. I do not like the way she has been caught in many lies. The way she adjusts her beliefs to whatever is popular, instead of sticking to her morals. The fact that some of the biggest donors to The Clinton Foundation are Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar. And while the investigation has been cleared, I do not think her innocent in the Benghazi ordeal.
But I admire that she is fighting for women’s rights, as well as the rights of the LGBTQ, and that of the two front-runners, she is the one that is fighting for the Black, Mexican and Asian communities. But she is not constant on this fight, and wavers under scrutiny.
The President of the United States is the most powerful position in the world, the president should neither be an embarrassment or one that trembles in the face of adversity.
Voting third party is an option, but as this is my first election, I want my vote to count. And while voting third party is getting an increasingly large following, the likelihood of a third party candidate winning the election is slim to none, and while I will be able to say that I did not contribute to either Trump or Clinton getting office, I will also not be able to say that I prevented either one of getting into office.
So give me a candidate who embodies the best of America. One who embraces freedom for all: freedom of religion, freedom of love, freedom to make our own way in the world and most of all, freedom to live life in the pursuit of happiness.
