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Gendo
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Posting this to Facebook soon; feedback?

Post by Gendo »

Why am I, a pro-life, conservative, evangelical Christian, who has never voted for a Democratic president in my life, voting for Joe Biden?

It has been weighing on me for a while to answer this question in written form like this; it's not an easy thing to write. The intent is not to start arguments or debates; I would be shocked if anyone's mind is changed, or even if anyone reconsidered based on anything I say here. But I feel that some explanation and clarity is in order. I will do what I can to keep it brief. I don't consider myself a great writer, and I know that there are plenty of better writers/speakers out there who have said all of these same things. David French, Tim Keller, Gregory Shane Morris to name a few.

I suppose I should talk about abortion first, because it is the biggest reason I hear for people voting Trump. I am pro-life and believe Biden and the Democrat party are in the wrong on this issue. But I feel like the pro-life movement has strayed far from its core mission of preventing abortions and saving the lives of the unborn. Reversing Roe v Wade, passing various legal restrictions, etc.; should be considered one means to an end. And it should be weighed along with many other means which have a proven track record of working to prevent abortions. Thankfully, the abortion rate in this country has been in steady decline for quite a while now. And the statistics clearly show that the largest declines happened during the Clinton and Obama presidencies. The fact is that the rhetoric of the Democratic party being "the party of abortion" is a flat-out lie. It is essentially the same as calling the Republican party "the party of racism" due to the fact that they seek different means to prevent racism other than criminalization. The Democratic party has different ideas of how to prevent abortions compared to the Republican party; and even if we don't agree with them that those means do enough, they have proven successful compared to what the Republican party has accomplished. Republicans have been paying lip service to the pro-life movement for decades; all the while not actually accomplishing anything of significance on the issue. We can celebrate Trump nominating a pro-life judge like Barrett, but don't lose site of the fact that the goal is to save the lives of the unborn; not to simply overturn Roe. Yes, it's good that Trump spoke at the March for Life and that he's using pro-life words about protecting the unborn. But I care so much more about actual results; actual lives being saved. If you praise Trump for speaking like a pro-life person and nominating a pro-life judge; don't be a hypocrite and neglect to praise Obama for drastic reductions in abortions during his terms. And as a segue into the next paragraph, I should mention that under Trump, Planned Parenthood has received MORE federal funding than they had previously.

So how about small government and debt? Us conservatives are against government debt and large centralized government, right? Under Trump, the federal deficit has risen every year. (Not just the debt; but the deficit). The last time we had a surplus rather than a deficit was under Clinton. While I generally supported Trump's tax cuts as a whole, as they did reduce the tax burden for the vast majority of middle and lower income workers, the cost wasn't offset with a reduction in spending; it is simply a loan for our children to pay back. Obama literally reduced the deficit during his tenure, and still Republicans to this day blame him for increasing the national debt while he was in office. We simply cannot allow ourselves that sort of hypocrisy. While I have no particular reason to believe Biden will reduce the deficit; I know pretty well that Trump sure isn't.

Trump's businesses and financial status - I keep hearing how Trump "works for free" and how he donates his salary. I mean, yes, it's nice that he donates his salary every year, but it should clear that $400,000 means nothing to Trump, who owns businesses that have raked in $1,900,000,000 since he's been in office. That's $1.9 Billion, with a "B". It would be like me donating $25 of my salary this year and claiming that I am working for free and getting praised for being so charitable. Luke 21:1-4 clearly applies here. The very fact that he refused to put his businesses in a blind Trust, as most presidents have done, is very concerning. It is on its face a conflict of interest; when he makes decisions that affect the country as a whole, how can he possibly be expected to not allow those interests to affect those decisions? He takes our tax dollars and spends millions of them on his own properties. Why do we put up with this? What he is doing may well be legal, but that doesn't mean we have to think it is ok.

Ironically, one of my main reasons for voting Biden is largely the same as one of the reasons most conservatives have historically voted Republican: The belief that character in a presidential election is important as much as policy. I often hear how we "aren't electing a pastor". I find it suspiciously convenient that the time when republicans collectively decided that character wasn't important in a president is exactly the same time when Trump won the nomination in 2016. But pastor or not, how the president acts and speaks matters. He sets the tone for the way Americans act towards one another. We cannot simply say "well, just don't listen to the things he says"; not when his position means that when he speaks, the country hears. When the President of the United States frequently hurls childish insults at those with whom he disagrees; this affects the mindset of those who hear it. We cannot simply tell our children "oh, just because the President of the United States calls other people names doesn't mean that you can do that; you need to be better than him." Of course Biden, like any other adult, does not perfectly pass this standard. But one only needs to read Trump's Twitter page, or listen to his interviews and press conferences, to know that he takes it to a very different level.

It is very important that the president work for the good of all Americans, regardless of political affiliation. Republicans rightly gave Hillary Clinton a hard time when she said that you could put half of Trump's supporters into what she calls a "basket of deplorables". This gave us reason to believe that she wasn't willing to work for all Americans; that she wouldn't do right by those who didn't support her. But all those who made such a big deal out of that comment are silent as Trump repeatedly makes it clear that he views those who didn't support him as the enemy. He has literally said that those who don't support him are "human scum", and "stupid people". He has repeatedly talked about "blue states" in such a way that makes it clear that it is us vs them to him. He views Democrats not as fellow Americans, and largely thanks to his repeated rhetoric, it now seems many of his supporters feel that way as well. I am not going to deny that there are plenty of Democrats out there who view Trump and his supporters as "the enemy". But Biden has stated flat-out: "Even if you didn't vote for me, I will work for you." That is what this country desperately needs right now. A leader who is willing to stand up and say that just because you are a member of a different political party, it doesn't mean that you are an enemy. We are fellow Americans, and we must be able to live with those from other political parties.

The simple fact is that until 2016, conservatives never would have been willing to put up with so many of the things that they now do. By the standards they had been following all along, they would never have allowed themselves to vote for Trump. But many decided that political party affiliation was more important than all of that. It is obvious that had Trump been running as a Democrat; changing only his policies and not his tactics or mannerisms, that Republicans would be merciless in attacking him for those character flaws. There is obviously a lot more I could say... I didn't touch on Trump's repeated lies, coronavirus, xenophobia... but I know I've already gone too long; and I don't expect many people will be willing to read this much.

So why vote for Biden? Why not third party again, as I did in 2016? Previously the goal of my vote was to prevent a gradual decline in the quality of candidates by rejecting the notion that we should just vote for the candidate of our preferred party no matter how bad they were. This time, my vote is simply to send a message to the Republican party: that allowing someone like Donald Trump to lead your party has consequences. If you don't put a stop to this, you will lose supporters to the other side. If you want my vote, or at least my "half-vote" in terms of me not supporting either major party, then you need to do better. I know my vote alone won't make a difference. But I also know I'm not alone. You can view many great short videos from different Republicans saying similar things here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC03-Q9 ... tTnqasADVg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
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Post by Derived Absurdity »

My only thing here is that if you want to reduce abortions, you should vote for whoever promises to strengthen the social safety net and increase spending on education and so on. Higher socioeconomic standards of living translates to lower rates of negative personal behavior like teen pregnancies. So no one who wants to see abortion reduced should be voting for Republicans.

Also, I would add that someone who is pro-life probably should not be voting for a guy who spent the past year murdering over two hundred thousand people.

I'm also not sure what this part means:
The fact is that the rhetoric of the Democratic party being "the party of abortion" is a flat-out lie. It is essentially the same as calling the Republican party "the party of racism" due to the fact that they seek different means to prevent racism other than criminalization.
Are you rejecting the fact that the Republican Party is racist? I also don't understand that last sentence at all.

If I was trying to convince a bunch of right-wingers that restricting abortions doesn't reduce abortions I would simply point out the fact that tighter gun laws don't reduce gun crime, since people who want to commit gun crimes/get abortions are going to no matter what. They accept that logic on guns, they should accept it on abortion.
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Gendo
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Post by Gendo »

I was hoping the numbers themselves would speak for themselves with abortion; the question of why and how Democrats have effectively reduce abortion seems like a secondary point. Something that is good to have if someone say “that makes no sense, how would abortions be lower with Democrats?"

I want to avoid calling republicans racist because it won't accomplish anything. Of course, not that I really expect this post to accomplish anything anyway. I'd rather just point out the double standard where they are effectively saying “if you don't want a government-enforced solution to a problem, then you must be in favor of that problem," which flies in the face of the views on racism, etc.
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Cassius Clay
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Post by Cassius Clay »

I knew you were a practicing Christian, but thought you were left-leaningish. Wouldn't have guessed you were conservative, let alone EVANGELICAL!

I've talked so much shit about Evangelicals on here lol
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Post by Anakin McFly »

^same lol
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Gendo
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Re: Posting this to Facebook soon; feedback?

Post by Gendo »

I suppose within the past 4 years, it would be fair to call me left-leaning politically. Thanks Trump. But the conservative label fits my Christian views.
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Post by Cassius Clay »

I see. How did it go on Facebook?
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Gendo
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Re: Posting this to Facebook soon; feedback?

Post by Gendo »

Not bad. 18 people shared it, which is cool; some shares from people I don't even know. Mostly positive comments thanking me for sharing and agreeing; but a handful of Trumpsters disagreeing and trying to start a debate.
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