For the very first time I am going to share my voting plan before the election. Before I do that there is some background about me that may be relevant.  I have always protected my voting choices.  In all my years as a teacher there was never an occasion where I shared my vote; many a student tried to get me to confess, but they would just earn a smirk.  Politically I have always been a bit of a mutt; politically I would describe myself as economically conservative and socially liberal.  Formatively, growing up in Maine impacted my politics; my earliest heroes were Margaret Chase Smith (her Declaration of Conscience calling out her own party over Joseph McCarthy should be a mandatory reading for all Americans and today’s politician could use a little of her spine), William Cohen (he of the 650 mile campaign walk in 1972; a Republican who served in Obama’s cabinet), and James Longley (the first independent governor in Maine).   Maine politics are normally pretty centrist; our Democrats are a bit conservative, our Republicans are a bit liberal, and Independents are moderates (former Governors Angus King and James Longley).  Of course, I am glossing over the Paul LePage years and thank God for Ranked Choice voting.   I have been a registered Republican since 1976; even though I have never voted straight ticket.  I have never considered myself a political absolutist, even though I have always been interested and studied government, American history, and Constitutional history.  Lastly, I am distrustful of wealth in politics and think that the Citizens United v FEC (2010), Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission | Oyez, 5-4 decision by the Roberts court was terrible in its reasoning and its effects as it allowed a flood of undisclosed money into campaigns. 

I will be voting for Kamala Harris for President. 

My reasons are both reactive and reflective.  On the reactive level there is no scenario where I could vote for Donald Trump.  In addition, I will not vote for another Republican at the State or National level until they truly protect women, children and public schools. I am also not going to throw away my vote by voting third party or write-in or just not checking a box. 

As to Trump; as a veteran, it is abhorrent to me that a military member would be forced to salute a Commander-in-Chief who is so bereft of respect for what the military holds dear.

  • There is a picture of a Trump from his prep school days with a chest full of medals.  Cadet medals are not war medals but were awarded for a variety of cadet-school achievements.  A classmate of Trump, Senior Cadet Michael Scandron, had a full dozen. On the day yearbook portraits were being taken, Trump asked to borrow Scandron’s dress jacket and his medals.  This is telling to me and shows zero integrity. Source: Donald Trump Has Always Been Obsessed With Status—Even If He Had to Borrow It | Vanity Fair
  • During Vietnam, Trump deferred five times.  The Military Selective Service Act of 1967 allowed for the college deferment.  Even though I believe that the act was a ploy to keep rich kids from serving at the expense of those without family means; I don’t blame anyone for taking advantage of the deferment after the act passed.  Trump’s first four deferments were for college.  It is his fifth military deferment for “bone spurs” that screams at me.  It is hard to balance pictures of Trump playing sports with his sudden physical disqualification by a family friend.  His fifth deferment did not mean that the number of draftees was reduced by one; it meant that some “poor” kid went in his stead.  Source: Trump’s Military Draft Deferment Isn’t Unusual – The Atlantic
  • As a candidate in 2016, Trump argued that the former POW John McCain has not a war hero, because he was captured.  The irony that a draft dodger would cast judgement on anyone’s service is galling; and even more so someone who suffered as a Vietnam War prisoner of war. 
  • In 2018, Trump cancelled to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, near Paris. He lied about the reasons.  According to sources, Trump feared for his hairdo and dismissed the idea that honoring war dead was important. According to four folks with firsthand knowledge, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.  Source: Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’ – The Atlantic
  • Trump talking about giving the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a campaign donor as being more important than the Medal of Honor because the MoH recipients were disfigured or dead.  The very idea of comparing the awarding of the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Miriam Adelson because she donated $20 million to Trump to the military bravery of one of my heroes, Lance P. Sijan (Lance Peter Sijan | Vietnam War | U.S. Air Force | Medal of Honor Recipient (cmohs.org))  was beyond the pale. 

Trump’s defense of his record against Iran when asked about not retaliating against Iran for a bombing that left 100 soldiers with traumatic brain injuries was telling how little he cares about the military.  Source: Trump downplays troop brain injuries from Iran attack as ‘headaches’ (militarytimes.com)

  • I took three We the People teams to Washington DC and visited Arlington National Cemetery.  Arlington Cemetery is hallowed ground…period and, as such, must be treated as so.  The advantage of having a tour guide is the chance to hear the stories attached to each tombstone.  I have always left my teams with other teachers at Arlington to pay my respects on my own.  I visited John F. Kennedy site for my mom and left a Kennedy half dollar.  My last time attending, I visited Section 60 to pay respects to the grave of Captain Humayun Khan (Who was Capt Humayun Khan? – BBC News).  On my visit to Captain Khan’s grave, I left my very last Air Force Challenge coin. I was struck by the difference between Section 60 and the older parts of Arlington.  Families were visiting graves with young children visiting.  The idea of doing a campaign photo-op in Section 60 is repugnant and the smiling thumbs up photo is so disrespectful.  Source: Why Trump’s Arlington Debacle Is So Serious – The Atlantic

The January 6th Insurrection should have been disqualifying for Trump.  The 165-page filing by Jack Smith (politico.com/f/?id=00000192-4ed8-d086-a1fe-7edb0e150000) even after removing insurrection evidence precluded by MAGA Supreme Court Trump (Presidential) Immunity decision in Trump v United States (2024): Justices rule Trump has some immunity from prosecution – SCOTUSblog is clearly convincing of his guilt.  His speech at the “Save America March” in Washington D.C: was clearly made to provoke violence.  I took the Oath of Allegiance four times in military to protect our country of all enemies foreign and domestic.  Trump is clearly to me a domestic threat.

Trump is devoid of civic virtue. Washington in 1795 wrote the following to a friend, “republicanism is not the phantom of a deluded imagination: on the contrary, under no form of government, will laws be better supported, liberty and property better secured, or happiness be more effectually dispensed to mankind; but the form of government must be supported by a virtuous citizenry.”  The founders worried about grifters in the government which is why there is a domestic and foreign emoluments clause. The Foreign Emoluments Clause (Article 1, Section 9, Clause 8): “[N]o Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States], shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State” and the Domestic Emoluments Clause (a.k.a. the Presidential Emoluments Clause) (Article II, Section 1, Clause 7) “The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation which shall neither be encreased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.”  The Trump Supreme Court slowed rolled two emolument cases, Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington (CREW) v. Trump and District of Columbia v. Trump until Biden assumed the Presidency and then declared the cases moot.  The Supreme Court ruled in Blumenthal, et al. v. Trump that the Congress members who filed suit lacked standing in the case.  Lastly, the grift extended into his core advisors, Jared Kushner (who received $2 billion from Saudi Arabia– Jared Kushner defends controversial $2bn Saudi investment (bbc.com)) and Ivanka Trump, China grants 18 trademarks in 2 months to Trump, daughter | AP News,  who received patents from China to include voting machines…there is irony here somewhere.

Trump’s Covid response was reflected of his complete inability to lead.  His mismanagement and deception increased the death rate in the United States.  His playing with the distribution of PPE to “his followers” caused states like California to form consortiums with other states to get their needs fulfilled.  His psychotic medical advice killed people. This source is an analytical review: The Trump Administration and the COVID‐19 crisis: Exploring the warning‐response problems and missed opportunities of a public health emergency – PMC (nih.gov).

I will end with the lying.  It is hard to pick.  The lies Trump is telling about FEMA’s response to Helene is immoral.  The Republican governors have spoken out about the effectiveness of FEMA’s response.  Trump’s lies are straight from the Roy Cohn playbook of denying, fighting back, and doubling down on lies.  Trump’s claims about the Helene response are actually thing Trump did in his responses to natural disasters.  First, his lies about diverting money from FEMA to house migrants are actually his actions: No, Biden didn’t take FEMA relief money to use on migrants — but Trump did – The Washington Post.  His claims about denying benefits to Republican states are lies, but Trump did this to California, Puerto Rico and North Carolina: Trump initially refused to give California wildfire aid because it’s a blue state, ex-aide says – E&E News by POLITICO (eenews.net) His lies about Springfield, Ohio and Aurora, Colorado have had real consequences in those communities. Militias traveling into North Carolina and Tennessee looking for FEMA workers are real consequences on innocent people.

Enough of Trump.

My stance on State and National Republicans is based on three issues: Women, Children and Public Schools. There are Republicans at both levels that I have supported in the past; Todd Young, Kyle Walker, Susan Brooks. No more.

Women.  I am a proud girl-dad.  The impact on women’s health after the Dobbs decision has been severe.  The stories of women suffering in Texas, Alabama, Utah and Florida are harbingers for the future for women in Republican led states.  The Supreme Court letting stand a 5th circuit’s preliminary injunction of the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA) guidance in Texas v. Becerra, No. 5:22-CV-185-H (N.D. Tex.) that ruled that HHS may not enforce the following interpretations contained in the July 11, 2022, guidance (and the corresponding letter sent the same day by HHS Secretary Becerra):

(1) HHS may not enforce the Guidance and Letter’s interpretation that Texas abortion laws are preempted by EMTALA; and

(2) HHS may not enforce the Guidance and Letter’s interpretation of EMTALA—both as to when an abortion is required and EMTALA’s effect on state laws governing abortion—within the State of Texas or against the members of the American Association of Pro Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) and the Christian Medical and Dental Association (CMDA).

In 1986, Congress enacted the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA) to ensure public access to emergency services regardless of ability to pay. Section 1867 of the Social Security Act imposes specific obligations on Medicare-participating hospitals that offer emergency services to provide a medical screening examination (MSE) when a request is made for examination or treatment for an emergency medical condition (EMC), including active labor, regardless of an individual’s ability to pay. Hospitals are then required to provide stabilizing treatment for patients with EMCs. If a hospital is unable to stabilize a patient within its capability, or if the patient requests, an appropriate transfer should be implemented.

The EMTALA Guidance notes that “[e]mergency medical conditions involving pregnant patients may include, but are not limited to, ectopic pregnancy, complications of pregnancy loss, or emergent hypertensive disorders, such as preeclampsia with severe features.”

The Guidance reiterates that the “determination of an emergency medical condition” and “[t]he course of stabilizing treatment” are “under the purview of the physician or qualified medical personnel.” And the Guidance observes that “[w]hen a state law prohibits abortion and does not include an exception for the life of the pregnant person—or draws the exception more narrowly than 5 EMTALA’s emergency medical condition definition— that state law is preempted” in the emergency situations where EMTALA applies.

I cannot imagine that if one of my daughters went into the emergency room with an ectopic pregnancy that the hospital would not be able to stabilize her and stop the bleeding because of state laws like Texas SB 8 tie the hands of physicians.  This is criminal and shows a complete lack of concern for the health of women and, by extension, my daughters.  This by itself is enough for me.  The statistics since the overturning of Roe v Wade and the passage of draconian state laws are slowing coming out: Pregnancy deaths rose by 56% in Texas after 2021 abortion ban, analysis finds (nbcnews.com)

Children.  The Republican party’s sanctification of the 2nd Amendment; and the campaign money generating from the gun nuts have sacrificed the lives of American children.  I knew that the Republican party was without a soul after the complete inaction after the murders at Sandy Hook Elementary school.  Even though the American people overwhelmingly support things like universal background checks, red flag laws, and other common-sense actions the Republican party is unmoved.  The fact the guns are now the number 1 killer of children should move state and national legislators to action, but one party is unmoved. In addition, the Republican efforts to kill programs like Head Start, SNAP, WIC, and the Affordable Care Act are anti-children.

I am still moved emotionally by the speech of former President Obama after the Senate killed common sense solutions after Sandy Hook.

Schools. The relentless attacks on public education are crippling.  You see the effects in the drop in the number of kids entering into education programs at college.  The courts have failed miserably in the cases where public monies are being transferred to religious schools which seems to be a clear violation of the establishment clause; however, as the Supreme Court has proven over and over again; their rulings are not based on the rule of law, but on the application of political power. 

I apologize for the length. For those of you that know me well know that my mind needs to process analytically most of my decisions.  

Make sure you vote!!