Angry Voter Here

When it comes to voting, I’ve always tried to keep an open mind and not make judgments based solely on a candidate’s age, appearance, race, religion, gender, or political party. To put it another way, I’ve always sincerely tried to pick the candidate who seemed best for the job. Though I am a registered Democrat, I consider myself to be independent and, until recently, I was not averse to voting for people of any party, including Republicans.

But no more. The Republican party has become rotten to its core. It’s not just Trump and his constant attacks against Democrats, the free press, women, minorities, and our allies around the world, while he cozies up to dictators, undermines all sane environmental policies, and takes from the poor and the middle class to give to the rich, himself included. That would certainly be enough, but it’s not all. It’s also McConnell and his dirty tricks, like refusing to vote on a duly nominated Supreme Court justice and showing his contempt for Democrats and for women by putting down Elizabeth Warren (“Nevertheless, she persisted”). It’s Ryan’s cheerful, smug smile as he backs policies that he clearly knows are bad. It’s Flake and (up until his death) McCain, Murkowski and Collins, and other Republican senators who seem like sane and decent people on the surface, but who only take the moral course when it plays to their positions, or when they have nothing to lose. It is all of them, and more. I am done being disappointed in them as politicians, as people, and in the case of Murkowski and Collins, as women. I expect nothing good from any of them anymore.

Yesterday Christine Blasey Ford testified in front of the Senate about her allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. I don’t know if she’s lying, or mistaken, or telling the truth. I don’t know how much her story ought to factor into the Senate’s decision. But she deserved to be not only heard, but to be listened to. Yet, before she even got to D.C., some of the highest members of our government (including McConnell, Graham, and Trump) had already publicly stated that they had no intention of actually listening to her or allowing her story to have any affect on their decision-making. Their minds were already made up. They were going to support Kavanaugh no matter what, because they need him for their agenda, and to satisfy the demands of the Power and Money that backs them. That is wrong. It is rotten, rotten all the way to the core. And as I listen to Senator Grassley right now, at this very moment, explain why they’re going to vote today, without doing a proper investigation, I am so thoroughly disgusted by all of them that I feel physically nauseous.

So, my apologies to any decent, moderate Republicans (if there are indeed any left) who are running for office. I will not vote for you, not in this coming election, and probably not for years to come. Your party is sick. It is misogynistic and anti-science and greedy and racist and dangerous to our democracy and deadly to our environment and even, on some levels, downright treasonous. Until and unless you fix it, I refuse to give you any more consideration than Republicans like Lindsey Graham gave to Dr. Ford yesterday and today. That is to say, the whole Republican party can just fuck off.