Tag Archives: StrongerTogether

How steep is the high road?

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Was it really just a week ago?
 
I took a picture of my daughter on election night. Her face is lit with hope and belief that our country could unite under a woman president. That we could cross that threshold into a new era. She’s holding two American flags. I can’t look at that picture without tears in my eyes, because I remember the look on her face the next morning when I told her who our president-elect was. Resigned disappointment.
 
I know why that resigned disappointment bothers me so much. It’s because that’s an adult expression, and I saw it on my nine-year-old daughter’s face. Acceptance when you really want to scream and shout, but you know you have to move on with life in the face of disillusionment.
 
For the past week, I’ve been torn. I half want to go burn Trump in effigy, but the other, cursedly practical half of me knows that’s the wrong thing to do. I want to protest and scream and shout, but I know it’ll do about as much good—and probably look like—a toddler in the middle of a toy section who’s been denied a bauble she particularly wants.
 
I wanted Hillary Clinton to be our president. I wanted it with all my heart. I wanted our country to vote for tolerance and inclusion and love.
 
I didn’t get that.
 
I got President-elect Trump, and the idea fills me with dread. But I’m still not going to say he’s not my president. I’m not going to move to Canada. I’m not going to burn the flag. What I’m going to do is stay informed, read the news, know what he’s doing and what it means for our country. If he institutes policies I don’t agree with, I will protest those policies. And in two years, I will vote again. And two years after that, I will vote again.
 
Persistence in the face of disappointment is what’s called for here. My nine-year-old knows that. I hope the rest of the country gets it too.
 
#GoHigh #StrongerTogether #LoveTrumpsHate

The Case Against Donald J. Trump for President, as seen by a housewife, mother, writer and believer in human rights

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NOTE: I’ve decided this will probably be the last political post I write during this election season. (Did I hear cheering?) Seriously, this is sucking the life out of me, endangering my relationships with people I care about, and eating up time I need to be devoting to my more enjoyable writing. So here goes. Please read.
The Case Against Donald J. Trump for President, as seen by a housewife, mother, writer and believer in human rights
This might very well be the last time I personally post against Donald J. Trump until after the election. I say might because I don’t have a looking glass that allows me to see the future. If, between now and November 8, Donald Trump does something else to enrage me, all bets are off. But lacking that, I’m going to leave it at this.
Here’s my case:
1. Donald Trump is not a successful businessman. In 1995 he lost $916 million and since then he has acknowledged he has paid no taxes. He’s declared bankruptcy four times, and he’s destroyed many small businesses by not paying or by paying less than agreed upon.
2. Donald Trump is dangerously unstable. He’s proven this time and again, inciting crowds to violence, dismantling teleprompters at his speeches, giving in to anger randomly. This weekend he was so angry about his portrayal on Saturday Night Live, he called for it to be canceled. This is not the behavior of an adult, let alone a man who wants to be our president.
3. Donald Trump is a climate denier. In the face of indisputable scientific proof, he says climate change does not exist. This flies in the face of science and the beliefs and desires of the rest of the world, and shows a total disregard for the well-being of other life.
4. Donald Trump is an amoral man. Yeah, I know. Most Trump supporters don’t believe there are any Christians on the Left side of politics, but I’m here to tell you, believing in gay marriage, a woman’s right to choose abortion, and that it’s our duty to welcome desperate refugees from another country into ours hasn’t come between me and my God. He tells me daily to be brave and stick to my convictions. My convictions are that Donald Trump has said and done things that other people would not be able to get away with. He doesn’t think the rules of society apply to him, and that is a dangerous trait in a president.
5. Donald Trump is a coward. His entire foreign policy is based on building walls around our country, pushing the “others” out and locking us in. This is not only impossible in today’s world, it is inadvisable. Tomorrow’s president needs to be a leader who can help us develop beneficial bonds between countries, not push our allies away.
6. Donald Trump has no notion of what our Constitution says or how to support it. He’s already threatened freedom of religion and freedom of the press. His support for human rights violations are well-documented. As such, he is totally unqualified to be president.
I plan to vote for Hillary Clinton. She’s not my first choice for Democratic nominee, but between Trump and Clinton, Clinton wins, hands down. I am hopeful that this election will result in stronger third parties for the next round. With so many varied opinions and feelings in the U.S. today, it is ridiculous that we end up with only two to choose from. However, I am unwilling to chance a Trump presidency on a gamble on a third party nominee this time around. So here’s my case for HRC:
1. Hillary Clinton is the single most prepared candidate for the office of president in the history of the United States. She’s worked her way through the ranks, advocating for children, women, and the less fortunate during her years as an attorney, First Lady of Arkansas, First Lady of the United States, U.S. Senator and Secretary of State.
2. Hillary Clinton has definite policies and plans to capitalize on the nation’s current upward trend in jobs and economy.
3. Hillary Clinton will continue President Obama’s work to save our planet from the threat of global warming.
4. Hillary Clinton supports gun control. She doesn’t want to take anyone’s guns away, but she does want to make it more difficult to get one for people who shouldn’t have one. If you’re a convicted felon, an abusive spouse, mentally ill or a terrorist, you’re probably out of luck under her plan, but other than that, just relax already. Nobody’s gonna be prying anyone’s beloved firearms out of their cold dead hands. Promise.
5. Hillary Clinton has shown herself to have an even temperament in the face of strong opposition. This is a necessary trait in a president.
6. Finally, Hillary Clinton will strengthen our ties with our allies, do her best to improve relations with nations that don’t trust us, and act with strength and bravery when it is required of her. She is well respected by other countries who remember her from her years as Secretary of State, putting her in a good position to step directly into the Oval Office, ready to do the job from Day 1.
So there it is. Can you make as good a case for Trump and against Clinton using actual facts? Feel free to do so. But remember, I will challenge any half-truths, hearsay, or unsubstantiated claims. Do not use Benghazi (lacking additional evidence, that has been laid to rest), emails (even the new ones Russia obtained for Trump haven’t done more than embarrass HRC), and please don’t send me articles from sources that contain the words shoebat or endoftimes.
#StopTrump #StrongerTogether #ImWithHer

Our great-grandmothers are rolling in their graves

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I would like to preface this post by saying, I’m having a really hard time not cussing while writing it. I am so angry, it’s literally hard for me NOT to type obscenities.

Yesterday a poll came out that revealed two things. First of all, if only women were voting, Hillary Clinton would win by a landslide.

The second thing it revealed was the nature of many of Trump’s supporters, both men and (gag) women. Their response? #repealthe19th

If you don’t get that, the 19th amendment is the one passed in 1920, after a 70-year-plus battle in which literal blood was shed by our mostly female ancestors. It’s the one that gave women the right to vote. It’s a right I now take for granted, but it’s a right that was granted extremely reluctantly by male politicians who’d had free reign of our country for its entire history.

Do you think politicians today would take it away if they could? Do you think they’d “#repealthe19th” if we didn’t outnumber them? Some of them would. Look at what the Republican Party has become. They want to defund Planned Parenthood, which is the only reliable source of healthcare for some women. They’re repeatedly ignoring the sexist things their presidential nominee says and does, making excuses for his graphic description of sexual assault. And now, when it’s obvious they won’t win because smart women everywhere refuse to vote for their candidate, they begin calling for women to lose the right to vote. And somehow, there are women going along with this?

I don’t personally care if “#repealthe19th” was said in jest. Some things should never be said. The right to vote was won by our foremothers through marches and tireless meetings and lobbying. During an event that has become known as The Night of Terror, 33 members of the National Woman’s Party who were picketing the White House were arrested for “obstructing sidewalk traffic” and thrown in a workhouse where they were beaten and tortured. They were left tied up overnight, fed food with worms in it and force fed with a tube down their throats when they refused to eat it.

You want to say #repealthe19th to my face?

If you vote for Donald Trump in November, you are spitting in the face of the women who suffered to give us the right to vote.

You know what? Trump supporters are always saying we shouldn’t be politically correct, so here’s how I really feel. If you are one of those people who said #repealthe19th, you should have your right to vote taken away. If you don’t believe Trump described sexual assault or that it doesn’t matter, you should not be allowed to vote. If you are a woman who still supports Donald Trump, you obviously have no concern for the world our daughters will live in. And maybe YOU shouldn’t be allowed to vote either.

Here’s an idea. Let’s administer IQ tests at the polls. If it falls in the idiot range, you don’t get a vote.

Why I am writing about politics

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It’s not a decision I made lightly. Friends and colleagues both warned me not to jump into the political arena this year. “You’ll alienate your reader base,” they said. “You’re a romance author. You’ll sound like you’re trying to be an expert at something you’re not trained in.”

What did I do? I ignored them. And there’s a very simple reason why. This year isn’t about politics at all. Politics are about policies, and there must always be some give and take about policies. This year is different. This year is about defending our country’s values, principles and freedoms. They are in danger, and Donald Trump is the threat.

I started my crusade on Facebook at the beginning of the year, trying to encourage friends and family to truly look at what Donald Trump had said and done since launching his presidential campaign. His off-the-cuff remarks about Mexicans being rapists and drug dealers, his horrible comments about women, his passion for waterboarding and other forms of torture, and the worst of all, to me at least, his advocating for killing the families of terrorists. And let’s not forget his promises to limit both freedom of the press and freedom of religion. Any of the other Republican candidates would have been better for our nation. But they didn’t become the presidential nominee. Trump did. And so I vowed to keep posting until Donald Trump was no longer a threat to my country.

Well, he’s still out there. And I’m still writing my articles for whatever they’re worth. And that’s part of why this blog has been so neglected. I’ve only let my politics sneak on here once or twice before. But with the election less than a month away, I’ve made a decision. I hope it’s not a dumb one.

I hope it doesn’t make you hate me or decide not to read my books. If it does, that’s my loss.

In an attempt to reach more voters, I’ll be posting on here now. You’ll see what I believe in right up front. There’s nothing romantic about politics, but there is passion. Passion for preserving our country’s founding principles. There is love. Love for our country and our fellow man. There is desire. Desire to make our country a better place for everyone.

And that’s why, for the next month, I’m dedicating this blog to anyone who believes that we must defeat Donald J. Trump in the 2016 Presidential Election. I’ll post my #StopTrump articles here and then to Facebook. If any of my other talented, like-minded fellow writers wishes to join me, I will welcome them.