The election is close at hand. In a few days, millions of voters will hit the polling booths. Every four years, there are some voters who time and time again vote on a single issue. Whether this issue is marriage equality, reproductive rights, immigration, gun control-- these are the main issues that take precedence-- or something else, people on both sides have a one-track mind.
This article isn't meant to persuade anyone to vote one way or another-- I know that time is passed-- but it is meant to prompt some to move in a new direction, and that direction is paying attention to multiple issues.
Issues tend to intersect one another, and I can't imagine how I could possibly form an opinion based on one issue alone. I care about so many different things, like wealth inequality, religious freedom, reproductive rights, education, and institutionalized racism.
And guess what? They're all related.
Now, let me explain:
Say Jane Doe is a woman of color and she's born into an area with poor education and a low standard of living. Then, we add that Jane is under the poverty line. Jane has a poor education and because of this, Jane can't get enough scholarship to pay for community college. Jane then gets pregnant due to the fact that she didn't receive a comprehensive sexual health education. Then, Jane is faced with A) putting her baby and herself on the street, B) getting an abortion, or C) adoption. Jane can't find anyone to adopt her baby and she can't afford health insurance for herself, let alone a child, so she gets an abortion because to Jane, that's her only option.
In just this scenario alone, I hit around eight different issues. So, what was the point of this?
By sharing this scenario with you, I'm not supporting a single movement or sharing a political agenda, I'm simply pointing out that had Jane had a better education, she may not have had the abortion, and she also may not have had the abortion had higher education been available to her, but in the current state of things, higher education was unavailable to her because of low wages and her upbringing.
So it doesn't matter what your politics are or how you think we should fix these issues (your opinion is your right), but nobody should be a single issue voter.
Another scenario that often plays out is mental health, domestic violence issues, education, income inequality, and gun rights. It's fine to believe that gun rights are restricted, but that means you have to help solve the other issues. Obviously, something needs to change.
There are so many diverse people in this country, and so many different opinions that it's simply a shame to restrict your opinions to one issue.
So please, I'm begging you. If it's too late this election, in the future, give intersectionality a chance. Please get informed on all of the issues. You may find that you agree with the complete opposite candidate. We all usually have to sacrifice one or two issues, but we can't fix any issues without fixing a whole bunch of other issues first. And that's a fact.