ONE MAN’S VIEW: Our future is at stake – vote accordingly

The Nov. 3 election will be the most consequential vote in our lifetimes; it will define the future of American democracy as we’ve known it and has the potential – given our political polarization and the President’s claims of election rigging even before the votes are counted – of tearing apart our nation.

It’s also the clearest sign I’ve seen of how far our government has moved away from political balance and compromise – the lynchpins of our Democracy.

In Washington, Donald Trump’s control and total domination of the White House and Senate has castrated Republicans to the point they no longer represent the will of the people, but only the whims of the president. He’s ravaged their integrity and honor and sadly they’ve allowed it to happen.

As a result, the nation suffers a virulent virus that rages on while our government’s lack of leadership has killed nearly a quarter of a million people. That Trump knew of the deadly danger we were facing in January but said nothing, and downplayed the virus as a political “hoax” allowing it to grow unchecked, borders on the criminal.

Even when he was infected, he continued to attend and host public events, refusing to wear a mask and spreading his infection to members of his own party, members of the White House staff, and potentially all of their friends and families.

Then, just out of the hospital, he tried to blackmail America by saying negotiations over the desperately needed fiscal help workers and businesses need won’t happen until after he’s elected – causing the stock market to tumble. That sparked outrage from his own party and the public, so he said he would approve a smaller, targeted stimulus. Then, when that didn’t work, he complained Democrats and Republicans weren’t offering enough, and that he wanted a bigger stimulus.

This is where we are. Our nation is in the midst of a public health crisis and economic catastrophe, and the president is flailing about trying to find a way to leverage your tax dollars to buy your votes.

Brothers and Sisters, if you ever needed to understand why this president does not deserve to be re-elected, how he has quietly, sometimes secretly, acted against our best interests, please review this Special Section and read two critical stories that spell it out:

• 50 ways Donald Trump has hurt workers and their families, details how this president has worked against you, your family, your union – issues that affect your future as American workers.
• The ABC’s of why employers support Trump, which looks at how this president has benefitted bosses, international corporations, drug companies and Wall Street, and why they are spending millions to re-elect him.

These are the facts, and they are devastating. They are the reasons we must elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as president and vice president.

In Missouri, our situation is similarly dire.

Here, we have the clearest example yet of why BALANCE is vital to our Democracy. With total control of all three branches of government, the Republicans run roughshod over all of us.

• We have no leadership to stem the coronavirus. “Do as you please” says Gov. Mike Parson – who, like Trump has also been infected – as the state continues to be a national hot spot for COVID-19 growth, with more of our families, friends and neighbors becoming sick and dying.
• Ignoring the will of the voters, the Republicans in the state House and Senate are so overconfident and entrenched they are trying to pass a constitutional amendment to overturn the voter approved Clean Missouri measure and enshrine partisan gerrymandered legislative district in the state constitution. If they succeed, you can guarantee they will come back for another attempt to pass the phony “right-to-work,” which was overwhelmingly rejected by voters in 2018.

The St. Louis Labor Council and Missouri AFL-CIO have endorsed both Democratic and Republican candidates for the Missouri Legislature. But the majority are Democrats, and voters need to elect those Democrats if we are to regain a semblance BALANCE and fairness to the state legislature. A full list of Labor COPE-endorsed candidates can be found here.

To make Missouri healthy, to clean up our politics and give working families some hope of an economic future,  we need to elect Nicole Galloway our next governor, send Jill Schupp and Cori Bush to Congress and vote FOR the rest of the Democratic ticket for federal, state and local offices. Because it is only by restoring BALANCE that we will bring sane voices back to our government.

Our Democracy, and the future for working families in Missouri and our nation, are at stake on Nov. 3.

Our vote is our future! You and I, brothers and sisters, can make the difference.