Dear Republican voters and officials,
You have a choice facing you in this election. Currently, a man named Donald Trump stands as your party’s front-runner. He has brought a storm of controversy and conflict to the Republican party and the United States and his divisive statements have drawn the ire and condemnation of minority groups and majority groups alike. Yet he is still on top. As an independent and a patriot, I implore you to do the right thing instead of the easy thing: back the Democratic nominee for President of the United States if Donald Trump is the Republican nominee.
WHAT? That might be crazy to those of you reading this. You, a lifelong conservative, voting for Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders?!? Why would you ever do that?
I don’t want to spend this article detailing Donald Trump’s wrongs. There’s plenty of media and commentators and politicians that are all too willing to do that. What they have all failed to do is come to a solution that doesn’t involve supporting him anyways. Here’s my simple solution: a coalition of Americans, not Democrats or Republicans, that come together to support the best candidate for President of the United States.
We all know that Donald Trump isn’t qualified or deserving of the Presidency. Polling among Republican voters suggest that there is a large fraction of the party that abhors Trump’s statements just as the rest of America does. But why do you continually vote for him? Because you see no alternative.
Here’s an alternative: vote for the Democratic nominee. Sure, he or she may support positions you yourself don’t, have a different view of the military and foreign policy than you do, or support a stronger federal government than you would like. That’s understandable. As an independent, I can look at every single candidate and find something about them I don’t like. It’s not hard. But voting solely based on party lines is dangerous. Voting Trump simply because he is the Republican nominee is dangerous.
Why is that dangerous you may ask? Because you give power with your vote. And if you vote for Trump, you vote for hate, discrimination, and conflict. You’ve all heard his rhetoric, his immigration proposals and his demeaning statements. By voting for him, you state that you support those un-American statements of discrimination and division. You might think that he is the best candidate to support your faith. Well, 1 John 4:20 states, “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother and sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.” Do not let his statements against Muslims fool you, they do not help our national security. Instead, they permeate hatred and judgement when instead America needs compassion and healing.
In conclusion, I’d like you, the Republican electorate to truly listen to me. What legacy do you want to leave for your children? Do you want to be remembered as someone who voted out of character and faith, or one who voted in an emotional reaction to recent events and gridlock in Washington? Are you someone who has the courage to do what is right instead of what is easy, one who stands up for the America created in the constitution, not the America consumed by hatred? Are you a voter who is willing to place love over hate, principle over party allegiance? Are you a person who cowers in fear when faced with terrorist threats at home and overseas or someone who takes a stand and refuses to overreact?
“The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression.” W.E.B DuBois
Sincerely,
A concerned citizen
