Letter to the Editor: This election is about what is the right way for us to treat one other

I don’t know if this election is necessarily “a battle between good and evil,” as Lara Trump said recently, but it is about right and wrong. I deeply resent the efforts of the Trump family, and any public figure, to employ this kind of hateful, divisive language that sets us at odds with one another. 

Former president Donald Trump referring to his detractors as “vermin” and “the enemy from within.”

North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Marc Robinson saying, “Some folks need killin’.”

Dozens of right-wing talk show hosts and evangelists accusing Democrats — their fellow Americans — of being pedophiles, blood-drinkers, baby murderers and demons.

In what century do you think you’re living?  Come on.

Wake. Up.  It’s garbage.

I’m a Democrat. I love my country. I had a Christian upbringing. My father served in the Army. I work hard. I volunteer. I pay my bills. I donate. I pay my taxes gladly. 

I vote. 

I vote for what I believe in, which is that all human beings have value. That we should be responsible stewards of our planet and its resources. That we should be kind to one another. That we should always seek compromise before conflict. That we deserve privacy to peacefully worship a deity or no deity at all, to control our reproduction, to love whomever we wish and to identify as whomever we wish. 

A person’s private decisions that don’t affect you — and are none of your business — don’t require your approval. You have no standing in that court. 

This election is about what is the right way for us to treat one other, with the respect and compassion Jesus is supposed to have taught, and what will lead us into chaos — hatred and fear of our neighbors, and a racist, misogynist, homophobic past that we should be striving to evolve beyond rather than resurrect. 

I’m not “churchy,” but I know the difference between right and wrong. You want to talk about evil? OK, let’s talk about evil. 

It’s evil to publicly express your sympathy for grieving families affected by the latest school shooting, and then turn around and take money from the gun lobby and vote against responsible gun legislation. 

It’s evil to vote against funding school lunches, then vote to give yourself a pay raise. 

It’s evil to vote against assisting needy families while forcing them to bear children they can’t afford — and then telling them they’re irresponsible for having sex in the first place. 

It’s evil to spread lies that incite violence. 

It’s evil to invoke The Lord’s name in service of a golden-haired idol. 

Don’t pay attention to what your politicians say, Democrat or Republican. Pay attention to their votes. Pay attention to the legislation they champion. Don’t you dare take the easy way out and rely solely on your preferred source of information to verify these things. Be skeptical. Cast a wide net. Legitimate journalists are not your enemy. 

The Biden-Harris administration has passed numerous pieces of consequential legislation that benefit everyday Americans: 

• the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that is investing billions to update roads, rails, bridges and power grids across the nation (and which probably funded your fiber internet, if you’re in a rural community and enjoying that for the first time); 
• the Inflation Reduction Act that is lowering your/your parents’/your grandparents’ prescription costs and ensuring a zero percent tax increase for families making less than $400,000 per year; 
• the CHIPS and Science Act, which reduces our reliance on China to produce the tech that powers so many of the devices we can’t bear to live without; 
• the American Rescue Plan, which created millions of jobs and brought us out of pandemic-era lockdowns; 
• the PACT Act that expanded veterans’ benefits; 
• the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that is working to reduce gun violence through stricter gun laws and expanding investment in mental healthcare services; 
• and the Respect for Marriage Act, which protects marriage for same-sex and interracial couples. 

It’s not always about you or about me. It’s about the essential values we say that we hold as a people. Ask yourself: which of the decision-makers best embodies these values? Which of them are compassionate enough, and competent enough, to represent the majority of Americans? 

I am a proud Democrat who will vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz on Nov. 5. If you ignore the talking heads for a moment and dare to dig deep, I think you’ll find that what we each want for America is not as far apart as you’ve been led to believe.

Adrienne Abright
Hannibal, Missouri