Elections Matter

Donald Trump has effectively blown up the Republican Party of Ronald Reagan and advanced an unapologetically xenophobic, contentious, and nationalistic platform based on dubious promises and unsubstantiated claims.
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.

America faces big choices this coming fall. It's been nearly 40 years since we have had such a consequential national election.

Donald Trump has effectively blown up the Republican Party of Ronald Reagan and advanced an unapologetically xenophobic, contentious, and nationalistic platform based on dubious promises and unsubstantiated claims.

Hillary Clinton has been subjected to yet another harsh round of public vetting and scrutiny, both from her traditional conservative detractors, as well as more left-leaning Sanders supporters.

Though perennially mired in attempts to bring her down, the former Secretary of State and U.S. Senator continues to hold the long-term upper hand in the electoral contest that must be won to gain the presidency in November. Moreover, it is hard to imagine her losing to Trump if Americans merely reflect on and hold close the most basic aspects of our political history and values as a nation.

Trump's every statement and move reflects his lack of preparedness and fitness for the presidency. His ascendance to the nation's highest office would fundamentally diminish our global standing and alliances, and undermine confidence in our continuing stewardship of global economic and security policy.

A Trump presidency would also threaten some of our nation's most sacred civil liberties, and would likely exacerbate the growing violence and civil unrest we have seen play out in recent months all across our nation.

Many Americans are justly outraged about the disproportionate role money, power, and privilege continue to play in our national politics. And we all have a legitimate beef with how little good gets done these days in Congress, particularly for poor and middle class Americans.

But electing Donald Trump would be the worst way our nation could address these concerns. Indeed, tossing aside our best values and traditions to elect Trump as president would be the surest way to make things far worse. His divisive, imperial, and Machiavellian approach is precisely what we do not need during these restless and dangerous times in our nation and world.

Some might say it makes little difference who wins this election, or any election nowadays. But how badly mistaken they would be.

Elections matter. Voting matters.

Elections are about choices. And the choices before us this fall are large indeed.

Will we remain an open, inclusive, and just society, or will we instead shutter our borders and our goodwill relative to the rest of the world?

Will we remain a nation that values civility and inclusion, or will we instead become a nation even more violently divided by race, religion, and ideology?

Will we stand vigilant and steadfast in preserving our democracy and the rule of law, or will we instead succumb to mob rule and reality TV-style governance?

Hillary Clinton is not everyone's favorite person or presidential candidate. But this isn't personal. This is about taking care of our nation's and the world's business. And when it comes to these responsibilities, there is no way Trump can match Hillary's record of competency, service, and leadership.

Any honest observer would have to confess: the former Secretary of State is one tough, smart, steady, hard working, and effective leader--qualities that are key to any presidency's success, and that yet appear to be so sorely lacking in Donald Trump.

In fact, there is no denying that Hillary Clinton has made her life about public service. She has worked throughout her career to make society and the world a better place.

On issues ranging from minimum wage and tax policy to national defense and domestic security, Hillary's thoughtful and in-depth proposals are vastly superior to the paltry few that Trump has offered us to date. She has credible proposals that are sensible and grounded in facts. Trump has none of that -- rather, only a lot of words touting fear and hate.

Hillary and the Democrats know we live in dangerous times, and they also know we can do much better economically if the "do nothing" Republican Congress would just get out of the way.

But, first and foremost, Hillary and the Democrats know they have to roundly defeat Trump in November. All things being equal, it is the Democrats' election to take. If they fail to do so, America's next four years are likely to be very dark ones indeed.

- - -

Henry A. J. Ramos is a California-based social commentator. Follow Henry A. J. Ramos on Twitter: www.twitter.com/henryajramos

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot