I think the number one for me, because it's what I know the most about and I know how much of an impact it makes on countries is economics and trade. Who were giving deals to and who we are not. With that, I think as a country or any country, the stronger economic indicators it seems, the stronger and more advanced the population is. That's probably the primary thing I vote on.
With that, that goes into tax policy. I said I was a libertarian, but I don't vote libertarian because I know my vote doesn't count when I do that, which sucks. I don't really like the whole two party system. I'm the type to throw five people up there and may the best man win. Let's see a bunch of options. I don't see why we have to put titles on things. I think the political party idea is what separates us even more and I think it is a paradox to the whole idea of equality and diversity of thought because you're still putting yourself in these two pigeon holes.
I lean more towards lowering regulations and having immigration policies. I think one of the hard things with voting now is I vote based off of facts and statistics. I don't do a lot of the feeling thing, which I think is happening a lot right now. Rightfully so for some people. I understand. I think everyone's emotions are valid and if that's how they choose to vote. I think that's their choice and I respect that choice.
In high school, I didn't really give a damn about politics. I didn't pay taxes. I would just hustle cash and put it in my bank account and it wasn't enough on taxable income. My mom is pretty middle ground, but she is a registered republican now. My dad's is very conservative, very Christian, and very republican, similar to my brother. Before learning about economics in college, I probably would have just voted for who my dad told me to vote for, which is pretty naïve. Government has gotten so big and that's what I don't like.
Even though I am a libertarian, I voted republican this election. I still care about the environment and that is a huge flaw in certain campaigns. I think one is super extreme and one is not enough. I really hope that changes on whatever level where we can come more into a realistic goal.
HEALTHCARE
I like the idea of lowering the cost of care rather than upping the federal handouts or coverage. I think if we could just lower the cost, we could get a lot more and the government less involved in it. In our medical care, we have a lot of new entrance into the market. We have a lot more coverage providers. Anytime that we have a lot of competition, that decreases prices and advances the sector as a whole. That's the thought pattern I go off of with almost anything politics or business related.
SOCIAL PROGRAMS
I don't like the idea of trying to control a population. I want to make it so that people have enough freedom and they can at least afford it if they work hard. Obviously, we all start from a different line. Life isn't fair. It just isn't and it never will be fair. I respect the work ethic. I also understand that there will be people who have no ability to do it. Whether they are handicapped, when they are born something chemically happened, or something happens within their life. I think that for people like that in our population, I am not going to say, "oh well figure it out." I think as a government and as taxpayers, that's something we should take care of. We should take care of those types of people, we should have programs for those types of people, which we do to an extent. The idea of giving opportunities to people that have the ability to capitalize on them, rather than handing people a free lunch. That comes from being raised in a very Dutch family. They are the type that when they were little, they were up at 4AM and feeding the cows. They work.
I think that we are in a society that from my parents' generation to my grandparents' generation, our work ethic has just changed a lot. We are sitting on computers. We think we're working really hard, but we have all of these distractions and I don't think that helps us.
RACIAL MOVEMENTS
I think what's really tough about all of this is where a lot of this stuff happens, we are not there. We don't see it. We rely on google. We rely on the media and news articles to tell us what happened. It's really tough to find the truth. I think everybody wants the truth.
With the whole racial movement, I have a ton of colored friends of different minority groups and it pained me a lot. I don't really know what to do. With George Floyd, you watch the video and at that point in time everybody that watched it in America was just heartbroken. I was. I didn't understand how someone could be that way. Then we see the uprising after that. I think people should be able to peacefully protest, it is in our constitution, it is a right. But then we have innocent businesses, big corporations that get looted. The big businesses have the insurance to cover it, but some of these small businesses don't and they are closed forever. This is all on top of COVID, where they are still just trying to survive.
I feel like businesses being destroyed detracts from the purpose of the movement. I think that's not fair to people who are affected by the change that could happen from all of this. It mixes the message. You hear the purpose, but then you see what's happening to people, and people get upset about that. Then you have to separate from the protesters versus the violence. I think it makes me sad because progressively, we need a lot more reform. We need prison reform. We need police reform. I think those are causes that a lot of people care about and have common ground, but we have different solutions on how to get there. It's tough to have conversations about it because different people have been affected in different ways. Everyone just has a different story.
I have signed petitions. I have donated to certain things, but it's tough too because we donate to these organizations and then you read articles of BLM being tied to Act Blue. I go to Act Blue's website and see the donors of that and it's the Democratic Convention. I feel like I should be able to donate and my politics shouldn't have to be involved in it.
LGBTQ+ RIGHTS
Regarding LGBTQ+, I have a gay uncle and lesbian aunts. I call them "guncles''. It's tough to say you're voting for a certain candidate, or voting republican like I am and you lose people.
I think a lot of people voting for Trump have lost friends that are within these social issues because voting republican is different. There's a lot of feelings, a lot of opinions, a lot of facts being circulated. Communication is so important.
I had one of my guncles get really upset that I shared Trump stuff on Facebook. He was telling me that Trump banned gay people from adopting. I told him no, that was the city of Philadelphia and the Catholic church there. Their thing ended and they wanted to have freedom of religion to choose whether or not to have their foster kids adopted by gay couples. I don't think I agree with that, but I also don't know any gay guys that have adopted from a Catholic organization. It's not good, but if we believe in the freedom to love whoever we want to love, we also have to believe in churches and different religions having their own freedom. There's a lot of religions that don't like gay people. It's tough being a Christian. You have these sermons told to you and they say it's wrong, but I am going to love people no matter who they love.
That's their choice and it's none of my business. That's not my room to talk. I was born liking guys, I don't know what goes through other people's brains. With the new justice, Amy Coney Barret and gay marriage, I don't want to see that taken away. It's also tough because I voted for Trump. His words say he won't overturn it, but we don't know.
MENDING THE GAP
There's all these problems, but everyone has different solutions. Everyone has a different perspective on it, and I would listen to anyone's perspective on it because I could be completely wrong. Whatever happens, I hope it helps all of the people. I try and do what I can.
Saying what you feel or what you think can make you lose a friend. That's the level we're at right now at that's what scares me. You don't even have room to be wrong or say something wrong right now. We are all under a microscope of being super socially correct and super politically correct. We're going to have bad days where we're not going to say the right things. People make the decision that if one bad thing comes out of your mouth they are done knowing you. That's so dehumanizing. If we want equality and diversity, we also have to accept the fact that there's going to be people that do not agree with the causes we agree with. I could be into a cause and have a friend that's like , "I don't really like that", but I would hope that they tell me good luck with it and that they still want to be my friend. Maybe that's just something we don't talk about, but we still have all of these other fun things we like to do or speak about.
I wish people could just speak how they feel. We might f*** up a little bit sometimes, but still.
