Perhaps the fact that I have lived in North Carolina for the past several years magnifies the problem in my mind but before you vote I want you to consider where the two parties’ priorities are. The Democrats are putting a lot of emphasis on combatting the negative effects of climate change; the Republicans either don’t even believe it exists, think it is a Chinese hoax or think man’s actions have nothing to do with it. The Republicans have made combating voter fraud (or at least that’s what they cloak their effort at voter suppression as) a major focus despite the fact that voter fraud in American elections is close to non-existent. Let’s explore.  

Over the last few days Donald Trump has been running around talking about a rigged election and massive voter fraud. Other than in right wing mythology there is absolutely no evidence to support his charges. In fact a recently released study showed that of the last one billion votes cast there were only 33 credible cases of possible in-person voter fraud. In other words there really is no significant problem. In 2012 a North Carolina group financially supported by big GOP donors alleged over 33,000 cases of what they said was documented and provable voter fraud in North Carolina alone. The North Carolina State Board of Elections (on the taxpayers’ dime) reviewed the charges and found exactly zero of them to be true. Now many Republicans are distancing themselves from Trump on this issue. The reality is that crying voter fraud has been one of their favorite refrains since at least 2011.

The many GOP voter ID state laws have been nothing more than an attempt to suppress the vote of demographics that tend to vote disproportionately Democratic. A lot of time, money and effort are wasted “solving” a problem that doesn’t exist. (The Republicans are very talented when it comes to solving problems that don’t exist. Don’t believe me; just take a look at a lot of their other post 2010 election legislation and the quagmire they have made of Congress.)

Climate change is a real problem! Approximately 97% of scientists attest to that. Yet in order to serve the greed of their financiers Republicans not only refuse to do anything about it; they mock its very existence. Their nominee, Donald Trump, calls it a hoax perpetrated on us by the Chinese in order to gain an economic advantage. Actually through the efforts of President Obama the Chinese are joining us in an international accord designed to mitigate the negative effect of climate change that the Republicans are fighting.

While many down ballot Republican candidates are going to try and distance themselves from Donald Trump in the closing days of this campaign remember that Trump didn’t invent these crazy stances; he simply stole them from other successful GOP candidates and amplified them to endear himself to the Republican base. Trump is not an outlier he is the voice of today’s Republican Party’s base.

If you think Trump is crazy then you cannot possibly vote for any Republican who does not completely repudiate Trump. They cannot have it both ways. You cannot allow them to say they disagree with a plethora of his stances and/or statements and still say they are voting for him.

While it is imperative we defeat Trump at the polls this November he is not the disease; he is simply its manifestation and all those who are afraid to stand up to him are equally guilty. If they cannot stand up to candidate Trump how can we expect them to have the political courage to stand up to President Trump?

The choice is clear; we can either have a government that addresses real and serious problems or one that spends resources solving problems that don’t exist. You get a chance to decide; don’t squander that opportunity!

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