Joseph Shapiro: You have to stand up & vote for Biden to save soul of America

To The Daily Sun,

Prior to 2016, I voted for the Republican presidential nominee eight out of nine times. As a small business owner and father of two, I considered myself a fiscal conservative. But then came Donald Trump, the race baiting, misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic, religious bigot. While those traits were abhorrent to me, it was the self-dealing, alienation of our allies, the cozying up to brutal dictators, and the corruption that really pushed me to reject Trump and the complicit Republican party. Trump had at least four bankruptcies and lost more than $9 billion before he became president. Now as president, his incompetence and lies have cost more than 220,000 American lives, gutted the American economy, and divided the country perhaps irreparably. This is what disqualifies him for another term.

Let me give you one good example of how Trump’s lies have hurt all Americans. The trade war that Trump started with China has devastated farmers, ranchers, and fishermen. Trump claims that the tariffs are filling the U.S. Treasury with billions of dollars from China. However, do you know who actually pays the tariffs? The American Citizen importer of the Chinese-made goods. I import items from China to provide charities with fundraising tools. I pay those tariffs. My costs have increased by 25 percent. What’s worse is that because we have record farm bankruptcies due the loss of the Chinese market, Trump takes my money and gives it to failing farmers, caused by his trade war. And Trump calls the Democrats socialists! Trump claims he supports the middle-class but gives budget-busting tax cuts to his rich friends and businesses, and his DOJ goes to court to break the Unions. He is a liar and a con man.

If you are a hater, a white supremacist, and/or a wealthy person who doesn’t want to pay your fair share of taxes and doesn’t care about others, our public health, and the environmental future for your kids, that’s fine—own it and vote for Trump. But if you actually care about democracy, decency, your fellow American, our standing in the world, the opportunity to grow and succeed, and the future of the planet, you can’t vote for a third-party candidate or some write-in candidate because you don’t want to vote for a Democrat. That is a further suppression of the vote that Trump and the Republicans want and it could lead to four more years of Trump. If you want to continue this great American experiment of democracy, of We the People, and belief in our Constitution, you have to vote for Joe Biden. Stand up and vote to save the soul of America.

Joseph Shapiro 

Alton