My fellow Kentuckians, in this election we must listen to each other and respond to facts | Opinion

My fellow Kentuckians, I care, and you do, too. Our political allegiances threaten to divide us as never before. The tragic ‘brother against brother’ phenomenon of the Civil War is becoming uncomfortably relatable, and it hurts.

This is especially true for us Democrats. More than 60% of Kentuckians voted for Donald Trump in 2016. Good people we love, and respect still support Donald Trump and his party, today’s Republican party, and what it stands for— the authoritarian, anti-constitutional, freedom and democracy-destroying party of Donald Trump.

This is why many Republican leaders and former judges have left and are joining the Democrats this time around. To be sure, support for Donald Trump in 2016, while disappointing (for he already displayed a character unbefitting any leadership, much less the presidency), was not yet a five-alarm fire.

But support for him in the 2020 election was shocking, after Charlottesville, after aiding and abetting Putin, after separating immigrant children from their parents, after dissing veterans and people with disabilities, after a delayed response to Covid, then urging us to drink bleach, and after four years of ever-worsening behavior proving out our pre-2016 fears.

But NOW, after his two-month post-2020-election quest to “find votes” in Georgia, after he created an army of false election deniers across the country to toss the vote and reverse the results, and after he incited an insurrection to stop the peaceful transfer of power--even putting vice president Mike Pence in the sights of his horde’s crossbows, NO, the buck stops here!. Support for this gentleman is tantamount to supporting his criminal and traitorous acts, pure and simple.

Forget mere “angst.” Now, the impulse is avoidance. We may love, but we don’t like. We may put up false fronts and smile, but inside, we know if that guy wins, what then? Because we know Trump’s way is so contrary to America’s ideals and to basic human decency that a new Trump administration would harm, if not destroy, America as we know it.

B-u-u-u-u-t. Love, the teachings from above, rule our hearts, or should rule our hearts, we remind ourselves. So, how do we do this? How do we both love those who support that which is so contrary to love, truth, compassion, mercy, and justice?

Former President Obama gave the answer: we must listen and learn. He said, “To make progress on the things that we care about, the things that really affect people’s lives, we need to remember that we all have our blind spots, contradictions, and prejudices and that if we want to win over those who aren’t yet ready to support our candidates, we need to listen to their concerns. And maybe learn something in the process.”I HAVE LISTENED, and this is what I have heard (stripping away their emotional and untrue “you’re Marxists, Communists, etc.” comments).

Trump will:

1) make us safer;

2) make the economy better for me, lower prices, higher wages, lower inflation;

3) stop immigrant criminals from pouring over the border;

4) stop giving the gay, lesbian, and trans community equal rights and remove any good housekeeping seal of approval on the LGBTQ+ lifestyle “choices” they make, for we “love the sinner but not the sin,” and keep men out of women’s bathrooms.

5) protect unborn babies; Trump will prevent women from controlling their bodies to terminate unwanted pregnancies.

While these are legitimate concerns, misperceptions abound. For instance, violent crime rates are down; our economy leads the world and is improving, with interest rates and inflation going down; immigrants are far less likely to commit crimes than native-born citizens; 69% of Americans support equal rights for LGBTQ+ citizens; and consistent with this American ethos, the Harris-Walz ticket supports treating all people with basic human kindness, empathy, compassion, and decency.

The good news is that we do share common interests: We all want to be safe, we all want a good economy that works for everybody, we all want to eliminate crime, we all want a just immigration policy, and we all want to treat and be treated with kindness and respect as we strive to achieve justice for all. But first, we must reach a shared understanding and agreement on the facts. We must also re-examine the sources of our pre-held opinions—where we have been getting our information, our “facts,” that have informed and colored our long-held viewpoints. We can then work together through our time-honored democratic process — sharing, negotiating, and compromising our way to better solutions for all.

But this only works with earnest, honest, and fair-minded folks in the White House, the halls of Congress, and our state houses who commit to following our hallowed national heritage with humility and humanity. The current Republican slate does not.

Therefore, just as we must not let our friends or family drive drunk, we must also implore them to please, PLEASE, not vote for Donald Trump and, miracle upon miracle, see them vote for Kamala Harris instead.

And reconstitute a grand NEW Republican Party for the next election.

Richard F. Dawahare is a Lexington attorney.

This story was originally published September 10, 2024 at 10:25 AM.