More the Same Than Different

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

It seems the country is in a tug of war, but it’s not a game. It’s become much more serious than that because we’ve lost sight of one of the most important things we have—the right of each citizen to cast a vote for the candidate of their choice. Every citizen has the freedom to vote for what they believe is the right path forward based on what they’ve seen, heard, and read. Nobody has the right to tell them their decision is wrong because it’s their decision to make, whether you agree with it or not.

Nobody needs to justify their vote

Long-term friendships have been terminated, and family relationships have been severed because one side can’t understand the other. But oftentimes, it isn’t an inability to understand, it’s an adamant unwillingness to try. But here’s the rub, and it’s the most important part: Nobody should have to justify their vote. This country was born out of a need for freedom and that includes making a choice on voting day. Somebody wins and somebody loses during every election but aren’t we blessed that we have a choice? Some citizens in other countries do not.

Our country’s founders viewed political parties as dangerous factions, but after the elections of 1824 and 1828, political parties were beginning to be seen as good forces because conflicts of parties were expected to be noble. But nowadays, the conflict seems far from noble. Has the United States of America lost its True North?

We all love this country

It's fair to say that each of us sees the world through a subjective lens colored by life experiences. That means our priorities are different. What’s important to you might not be important to me and that’s okay. In the last election, some women were so set on a woman becoming president that they berated women who didn’t vote for Kamala Harris. Did the women who didn’t vote for her see other issues as more pressing? Some voted for an open border for humanitarian reasons, while others saw the open border as a national security threat and viewed the fentanyl and human trafficking at the border as humanitarian issues of their own. Some voted to protect abortion, and others didn’t care about it. Some simply hated one candidate and saw the other as ineffective. Sadly, some didn’t vote at all.

No matter what side of the fence you’re on, everybody has a right to an opinion and shouldn’t be punished for it with finger-wagging, name-calling, death threats, death wishes, assaults, or property being burned. Abhorrent hate speech and hateful actions are in no way protected by our Bill of Rights.

It's disheartening but I haven’t lost faith because I believe that all of us love this country, we just have different ideas about how to make it better, stronger, and safer. I also believe that the citizens of the United States of America are better than this. What happened to our integrity, dignity, and grace?

Peace begins at home

Citizens from many cultures and countries all over this world would die to have the fundamental rights and freedoms that we take for granted, and members of our military have lost their lives defending and honoring those rights and freedoms. If a political vote is the only thing that divides you, try to remember that we are much more the same than we are different. Peace begins at home.

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Elizabeth Beatrice Hall

Until next time,
Jean
AKA The Strategic Chicken
- Making life’s journey one strategic step at a time.