Submitted by Lucy Krasnor, Riverside
This November 8 election is not just a local election. It is a referendum on the whole Republican party.
Connecticut Republicans have chosen Trump and the MAGA policies by either their direct support such as with Leora Levy or their silence and evasion on critical election issues. And based on what their national leaders are saying these days, fire alarms need to be sounding everywhere.
Republicans said repeatedly that they were going to take away our abortion rights. Remember Trump saying he would only appoint justices who would take away Roe V. Wade? Well, they did it. So, when they say they are going to take away your Social Security, Medicare, gay marriage, LGBTQ rights, and birth control, BELIEVE THEM!
Republicans brush off anti-Semitic and racist remarks. They have submitted over 300 pieces of legislation to suppress our vote. They harass election workers and threaten their families until they are forced to resign. 1 in 3 have left their office since 2020. They want to talk about how horrible crime is. Well, guess what? Murder rates are 40% higher in red states.
Republicans by their own account have no actual agenda and no plan to govern should they take power. The only agenda item they have is to hold investigations on everything and continue to waste millions of our tax dollars on childish, vengeful actions. All they plan to do is wreak chaos and turn our government into a zoo where nothing gets done. They could care less about American citizens and governing. All they want is power.
Republicans certainly don’t care about fixing the economy, which is a top priority for Americans. They would make the Trump tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations permanent, a move economists say would increase inflation. They have threatened to tank the economy to stick it to President Biden. If Republicans take over Congress, they say they will not agree to raise the debt ceiling (payment for bills already incurred) unless Democrats agree to huge cuts to Social Security, Medicare and other social safety net spending, which they have always sought to curb or abolish. Who knows if they would replace them and with what. They certainly had no ideas to replace the Affordable Care Act.
Republicans are willing to force a global economic crisis and wash away our financial might leading to catastrophe. Our life savings and jobs would be thrown into jeopardy but they don’t care. What kind of people would do this on purpose to us? How could you possibly vote for someone who cares so little about your well-being? A functioning democracy is essential to a healthy economy. Autocracies and flourishing economies do not co-exist.
Now let me contrast Republicans with the Democrats. In their year and a half in power, Democrats have passed widely popular legislation. A few highlights include the American Rescue Plan which kept people in their homes and cut child poverty by 50%. The Infrastructure Act is so popular that Republicans who voted against it are now taking credit for projects in their states. The Inflation Reduction Act allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices, caps drug expenses, including the cost of insulin, and finally addresses climate change in a big way. But Republicans say they will repeal the Act.
The Chips Act is bringing jobs back to the US and includes training in the high tech industry. Then there’s the first gun control legislation passed in decades, relief for educational debt, and making hearing aids available over the counter which Trump sat on and never signed. While Democrats are lowering costs for seniors, Republicans are planning to raise the retirement age and put Social Security on the chopping block.
Republicans always like to say that social welfare spending racks up government debt. But the deficit fell this year by $1.4 trillion. This was the largest-ever decline in the federal deficit and last year’s drop was $350 billion. In contrast, the deficit climbed every year of the Trump presidency, including in the years before the pandemic. Trump and the Republicans added $400 billion to the deficit, primarily because of their $2 trillion tax cut for the wealthy and for corporations.
Democrats are fighting for you, the voter. They are fighting to protect democracy, to allow you to vote and for it to be counted, for a balanced and fair economy, reproductive rights, to keep your kids safe in schools, to show respect to migrants, and dignity for every American. They have accomplished more than any other administration in recent history, and they did it with a very slim majority. Promises made have actually been kept.
Republicans are fighting to restrict voting rights, not accept the results of elections, take away your reproductive freedoms, control the press and social media, ban books, control our school curricula, bully LGBTQ children, eliminate Social Security and Medicare, hold onto power at all costs, increase taxes on working people, let our infrastructure crumble, reverse actions taken on climate change, isolate the US from the global economy and make us a white Christian nation.
The difference could not be clearer. The Republicans are fighting for their own power, while Democrats are fighting for you and your individual rights. Will we let a minority rule us or will we say enough is enough on November 8? I’m exhausted and want this chaos to stop. The only way to maintain a democracy is to vote for Democrats on both the state and local level. It is really that simple.