My fellow Americans. Because I care, I am about to do something I have never done before, and because you care, I hope and pray you will.

I do this because never before in the history of our nation has the candidate of one of the two major political parties displayed the principles and followed the playbook of America’s worst enemy, Adolf Hitler. And not just now, but from the time he entered the national political stage.

And I do so because there is a superb alternative in Vice President Kamala Harris, who stands for the traditional American values that have led us to victory over such fascist enemies and made us the beacon of hope to a weary and waiting world. She exudes class, compassion, and pragmatic policies that economists, business leaders, top military brass, and former Republican Vice Presidents applaud. Therefore, I respectfully and humbly pray you will vote for Kamala Harris in this election.

The long list of “Never Befores” should give you pause: Never before has a candidate like Donald Trump promised to terminate the Constitution, our nation’s hallowed founding document. Never before has one so demonized sitting Vice Presidents and Congressmen, calling them “the enemies from within” and unmentionable expletives. Never before has one praised enemy dictators of America and said he would be a dictator on day one if elected. Never before in America has one so consistently and unrepentantly spewed lies and heaped contempt on the poor and powerless, some of  the least among us: migrants, immigrants, minorities, and even those of his party for nothing more than righteously stand up against him. Never before has one heaped contempt on our veterans, calling those who made the ultimate sacrifice “suckers and losers.” Never before has a candidate promised to imprison his political opponents and use the American military against Democratic citizens. Never before has one supported a Project 2025 agenda guaranteed to destroy our nation’s 250-year history of checks and balances and giving the president unchecked supreme power. Never before has one held hate-filled rallies like the one at Madison Square Garden.

Never before have such esteemed military leaders like General Stanley McChrystal, General John Kelly, and General Mark Milley (who called Trump “fascist to the core”) opposed a candidate and supported his opponent. Never before have former Republican Vice Presidents (Dick Cheney and Mike Pence) and other Republican leaders anxious to rebuild their once-grand party united against the Republican candidate and solidly for the Democrat, Kamala Harris.

As the New York Times concluded, “Donald Trump says he will prosecute his enemies, order mass deportations, use soldiers against citizens, play politics with disasters and abandon allies. Believe him.”

I do, and that’s why I make this plea. I realize this is a big ask in a state like Kentucky, where more than 60% of Kentuckians voted for Donald Trump in 2016. Still, I am called to do all I can with the light given to me. When I meet my maker and am asked what I did during the most pivotal moment in our nation’s history, I do not want to be found lacking.

Beyond Trump’s historic unfitness lies Vice President Harris’s winning platform, celebrated by business leaders, economists, military leaders, and over 700 national security officials. Her platform includes actions that will cut taxes for middle-class families, make rent more affordable and home ownership more attainable, grow small businesses and invest in entrepreneurs, take on bad actors and bring down costs, strengthen and bring down the cost of health care, protect and strengthen social security and Medicare, support American innovation and workers, provide a pathway to the middle class through quality, affordable education, invest in affordable child care and long term care, lower energy costs and tackle the climate crisis, and support bi-partisan border control and immigration reform.

Contrary to Trump’s false propaganda, America is surging upward. For instance, our economy leads the world and continues to improve, with interest rates and inflation going down, now at 2.4% as consumer price growth slowed to its lowest pace since February 2021, and surging job growth, “The economy right now is firing on nearly all cylinders,” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at the accounting and consulting firm RSM.; immigrants are far less likely to commit crimes than native-born citizens, violent crime rates are down and continue to drop. Unlike their counterpart, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz lead with compassion, kindness, and fairness to all, committed to protecting our freedoms and the American Way.

We are the United States of America. The souls and spirits of our founders breathe upon us now. The humble, steady strength of George Washington and the wisdom of Thomas Jefferson, joined by Benjamin Franklin and James Madison, in penning our Constitution with its Bill of Rights. Their souls ring out for leaders in their mold, with an unshakeable commitment to strengthen this solid foundation and America’s noble calling as the world’s city on the hill.

We must heed these “Never Befores” today, to avoid the necessity of saying “Never Again” tomorrow.

Richard F. Dawahare October 31, 2024

 

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October 11, 2024

                                We must Stop, Look, & Listen at the tracks to our future

My fellow Kentuckians, I care and so do you.

Our political allegiances threaten to divide us as never before. The tragic ‘brother against brother’ phenomenon of the Civil War is becoming uncomfortably relatable, and it hurts.

This is especially true for us Democrats. Good people we love, and respect still support Donald Trump and his party, today’s Republican party, and what it stands for—not yesterday’s Grand Old Party and what it stood for, but today’s authoritarian, anticonstitutional, freedom and democracy-destroying party of Donald Trump.

This is why many Republican leaders, including former Congressmen and women and two former vice presidents (Dick Cheney and Mike Pence), business leaders, including Mark Cuban’s rousing endorsement, and former judges and military leaders, including retired General Stanley McChrystal, are joining the Democrats and endorsing Kamala Harris time around. To be sure, support for Donald Trump in 2016, while disappointing (for he already displayed a character unbefitting any leadership, much less the presidency), was not yet a five-alarm fire.

But support for him in the 2020 election was shocking, after Charlottesville, after aiding and abetting Putin, after separating immigrant children from their parents, after dissing veterans and people with disabilities, after a delayed response to Covid, then urging us to drink bleach, and after four years of ever-worsening behavior proving out our pre2016 fears.

But NOW, after his two-month post-2020-election quest to “find votes” in Georgia, after he created an army of false election deniers across the country to toss the vote and reverse the results, and after he incited an insurrection to stop the peaceful transfer of power– even putting vice president Mike Pence in the sights of his horde’s crossbows, NO, the bunk stops here! Support for this gentleman is tantamount to supporting his criminal and traitorous acts, pure and simple.

Forget mere “angst.” Now, the impulse is avoidance. We may love, but we don’t like. We may put up false fronts and smile, but inside, we know if that guy wins, what then? Because we know Trump’s way is so contrary to America’s ideals and to basic human decency that a new Trump administration would harm, if not destroy, America as we know it.

B-u-u-u-u-t. Love, the teachings from above, rule our hearts, or should rule our hearts, we remind ourselves. So, how do we do this? How do we both love those who support that which is so contrary to the Way from above–the way of love, truth, compassion, mercy, and justice–while also honoring our God and His Way from above by confronting and preventing that evil from retaking power?

Former President Obama gave the answer: we must listen and learn. He said, “To make progress on the things that we care about, the things that affect people’s lives, we need to remember that we all have our blind spots, contradictions, and prejudices and that if we want to win over those who aren’t yet ready to support our candidates, we need to listen to their concerns. And maybe learn something in the process.”

I HAVE LISTENED, and this is what I have heard (stripping away their emotional and untrue “you’re Marxists, Communists, etc.” comments).

Trump will:

1. make us safer
2. make the economy better for me, lower prices, higher wages, lower inflation
3. stop immigrant criminals from pouring over the border
4. stop giving the gay, lesbian, and trans community equal rights and remove any good housekeeping seal of approval on the LGBTQ+ lifestyle “choices” they make, for we “love the sinner but not the sin.”
5. protect unborn babies; Trump will prevent women from controlling their bodies to terminate unwanted pregnancies.
6. keep males out of female restrooms and vice versa.

While these are legitimate concerns, misperceptions abound. For instance, violent crime rates are down and continue to drop; our economy leads the world and continues to improve, with interest rates and inflation going down, now at 2.4% as consumer price growth slowed to its lowest pace since February 2021, and surging job growth; immigrants are far less likely to commit crimes than native-born citizens; 69% of Americans support equal rights for LGBTQ+ citizens; and consistent with this American ethos, the Harris-Walz ticket supports treating all people with basic human kindness, empathy, compassion, and decency.

The good news is that we do share common interests: We all want to be safe, we all want a good economy that works for everybody, we all want to eliminate crime, we all want a just immigration policy, and we all want to treat and be treated with kindness and respect as we strive to achieve justice for all.

But first, we must reach a shared understanding and agreement on the facts. We must also re-examine the sources of our pre-held opinions—where we have been getting our information, our “facts,” that have informed and colored our long-held viewpoints.

We can then work together through our time-honored democratic process—sharing, negotiating, and compromising our way to better solutions for all.

But this only works with earnest, honest, and fair-minded folks in the White House, the Halls of Congress, and our State Houses who commit to following our hallowed national heritage with humility and humanity. The current Republican slate does not.

Therefore, just as we must not let our friends or family drive drunk, we must also implore them to please, PLEASE, not vote for Donald Trump and, miracle upon miracle, see them vote for Kamala Harris instead.

And in the process, reconstitute a Grand NEW Republican Party for the next election.

Richard F. Dawahare, October 11, 2024