Why I, as an Independent, am Voting for Kamala Harris in November.

I usually try to avoid discussing politics. I have my political beliefs but choose to them to myself. So, my decision to post this should speak volumes.

For the record, I consider myself an independent who, for the most part, leans a bit to the right. In fact, I have cast a ballot in all seven presidential elections since my 18th birthday and only voted Democrat once. In comparison, I voted for the third-party Libertarian candidate in two of the elections. 

The thing is, I don’t really dislike the Democrats. On paper, I support most things they support. It’s just when they talk about taxing the rich, I always somehow seem to be lumped into that category even though I’m living paycheck to paycheck like most people. 

That’s why I am as surprised as anyone that I plan on voting for Kamala Harris in November.

Image courtesy of Pixabay

I don’t agree with everything Harris talks about in her platform. I’m also not completely convinced the excitement over her isn’t anything more than the euphoria of not having to choose between two 80-year-old white men. The decision to make Tim Walz her running mate was a good one, in my opinion, but it also makes me wonder how many of her supporters like her VP choice (another white man, albeit a much younger one) more than her.

Truth be told, if it were any other election, I probably would cast my ballot for Chase Oliver and add a third Libertarian vote to my voting history. Except, it isn’t just any other election. We might hear the same “good versus evil” rhetoric every four years but this time, it seems a lot more accurate than it has in the past.

While I still want to lean right, I can’t in good conscious vote Republican. And this is squarely because of one thing – January 6, 2021. 

History has shown democracies can be fragile. A key component to maintaining a strong democracy is the peaceful transition of power. Actions, in my opinion, are always going to speak louder than words and the actions of Republican candidate Donald Trump and his party in general are practically shouting at me not to vote for the GOP for this very reason.

Two things really stick out to me regarding January 6th. The first was, even before the riot/attempted insurrection that led to nine deaths, the Republicans were already attempting to subvert our Democracy both by trying to prevent the electoral votes from being counted and by attempting to submit fake electoral votes. Trump himself was trying to convince his VP, Mike Pence, not to certify the results (Pence, for his part, did the right and Constitutional thing). 

As for the riot itself, even if we give Trump/the Republicans the benefit of the doubt and say they had nothing to do with it, they sure have gone out of their way not to condemn it. If you ask your average GOP politician, you’ll either be told it wasn’t as bad as it seemed, the event in question didn’t happen or, the worst of the three, the people who participated were American heroes.

  

There is no reason to believe a re-elected Trump, who is facing more than 100 criminal charges and various civil suits, wouldn’t attempt to subvert the United States Constitution again and remain in power. Trump, in his own words, said he plans on being a “dictator on day one.” There’s even a conservative blueprint, Project 2025, written by members of Trump’s inner circle, that has a variety of ideas that seem to work toward a goal of undermining the checks and balances in place. Oh, and let’s not forget the constant attempts to convince the American public (with zero proof) Joe Biden cheated to win in 2020 or Republican efforts to put Trump loyalists in positions that oversee state elections

  

Even prominent members of the GOP (albeit not enough to make a difference) have publicly stated they will not vote for him, and many are even campaigning for his Democratic rival. That alone should tell you something.

The red flags are there. We can either ignore them and hope our democracy isn’t destroyed in the process or choose to acknowledge this election really might be one of good versus evil and do our part to make sure he is never allowed in the White House again, preferably by a large enough of a landslide to make the Republican party reassess their current pro-Trump/anti-America platform and force a shift back to the party they used to be before Trump and his loyalists hijacked it.

And that is why Harris is getting my vote.