Some days I feel like I’m living in another dimension. How rational, patriotic, morally sound people can look at our two presidential candidates and not see the differences between them, is beyond me. Why everyone is not outraged by the pretense that voting for one is the same as voting for the other, blows my mind! And yet, the polls consider this presidential election a toss up. The few old school Republicans I know (and more than a few privileged white Democrats) keep playing the “equally bad” card in order to justify supporting a third party. There is NO equal anything between these two men.

Young people seem hung up on President Biden’s age–apparently unable to see past Trump’s dyed hair, orange skin, and bombastic rhetoric long enough to recognize, he is not only old, he’s an ill intended wanna be dictator. Seriously, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump–could not be more diametrically opposed. One–Trump–drove us off the cliff into the most lethal and economically devastating health crisis of our life time. The other–President Biden–is leading us out of it.

On a daily basis, my head screams: WTF is wrong with US?

Simply based on: 1. what members of Trump’s own party have said about him, 2. how we’ve seen and heard him treat people, 3. the legal problems he’s facing (including criminal felony charges), 4. his numerous proclamations of the ways he plans to ignore the rule of law and violate the Constitution if he ever gets back in office, and 5. his out right lies, one would expect him to be an asterisk in the history books by now.

If this election is actually going to be as close as the polls predict, and you–

• believe in the right to vote
• think people have a right to make their own healthcare decisions without government interference
• want the super rich to pay taxes at as high a percentage of their income as the middle class (or those making below the medium income level)
• believe climate change is real and we have a responsibility to do something about it
• think asylum seekers ought to be treated humanely, families should not be separated at the border, and Military Personnel and Dreamers should have expedited pathways to citizenship
• want a higher minimum wage
• would like to see reasonable gun laws on the books
• support a cease fire in Gaza followed by a two state solution between Israelis and Palestinians
• believe Russia should be pushed out of Ukraine
• think public funds should go to public education and not unaccountable private education
• are tired of seeing what new book is being banned
• think workers should have the right to form unions
• believe NOBODY is above the law

then there is only one presidential candidate who deserves your consideration–the current president, Joe Biden.

Let’s get real folks! Maybe we are dealing with higher gas prices, but we aren’t looking and empty shelves at the grocery store. Maybe Biden hasn’t pushed Netanyahu hard enough but he isn’t threatening to ban asylum seekers from Gaza which is Trump’s plan. Sure, student loan debt didn’t go down as much as Biden hoped it would. The Supreme Court got in the way, you know the Supreme Court with three justices that were appointed by Trump. Even so, Biden found another way and has slashed student load debt by $147 billion dollars. That’s not peanuts. While it might be a new issue for young voters, climate concerns have been around since the 1970’s. And guess what? Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act provides a biggest investment to carbon reduction in US history. Meanwhile, Trump, who at one point called climate change a hoax and pulled the US out of the Paris Accords when he was president, vows to “drill, drill, drill,” as soon as he becomes president again.

So are we facing a perfect situation? No. Is America healthier, kinder, stronger, under President Biden than it was under the former president? Absolutely! Will we stay safer under President Biden then we would be under a second Trump presidency? Without question! Based on the history. Based on their rhetoric. Based on the facts.

The truth is: we do not have a viable third party. There will be no Convention surprise. Acting in opposition to these facts and ignoring the real threat of a second Trump presidency, exposes an ignorance of history and our deep rooted privilege as a nation. The last time any part of a war was fought on American soil–President Biden wasn’t even alive. Sure, we’ve seen civil unrest, riots, and even acts of terrorism. Yet, over all we have been shielded from the horrors of war, the devastation of world famine, and the hardships of third world poverty. When holding our experiences of life up against the rest of the world, most Americans, at least since World War II, have known nothing other than freedom and prosperity–a life that has gotten better–not worse–under President Biden. That fact is the only explanation I have for why we are so nonchalant about the coming election. We literally cannot imagine what a lack of freedom and prosperity would look like and since we cannot imagine it, it cannot be possible. Wake up woke ones! Our demise is on the horizon.