Some Democrats on Twitter are starting to sound like Republicans; adopting the “my way or the highway” mentality. A number of Clinton and Sanders supporters are saying they will not vote at all if their candidate doesn’t get the nomination.
That will be devastating for the country.
There is NO group in society right now that will not suffer if Republicans take control in 2016. I’m not talking just the Presidency; The House, Senate, and State Legislatures in the hands of Republicans are just as dangerous. I never thought I’d have to make the case for Democrats to Democrats, but some people seem to have lost sight of the big picture. So let me recap who’s at risk if Republicans succeed in 2016:
Black America will not get Police or criminal justice reform, and the senseless deaths of Black children will continue, if not escalate. Their voting rights will be systematically stripped away and no remedy will be found at the Supreme Court.
Latinos will never see the Dream Act come to fruition, and discrimination will become the norm in Red States. People who have lived here for decades will be deported, and their children will be left in limbo.
LGBT rights will cease to exist. There will be no anti-bullying laws to protect youth, no anti-discrimination policies in the job place, and marriage rights will be rolled back.
College students will see their student loans privatized, current rates will be raised, and loans become harder to get. Soon, only the wealthy will be able to access higher education.
K-12 Education will be dumbed down to the point where it becomes a laughing stock around the world, and an impediment to higher education. They’ll graduate believing Jesus was a Founding Father and rode a dinosaur in the Revolutionary War.
Seniors will be expected to work longer, despite the discrimination against their age group in the workforce. They will lose the lifelines of Social Security and Medicare, leaving them with the choice of dependency or poverty.
Women will become 2nd class citizens, with health decisions being dictated by the government, sex discrimination in the workplace being legalized, pregnancy becoming a reason for termination, and employers controlling what health insurance options they are “allowed”.
Muslims will be discriminated against and threatened, their Mosques vandalized and burned, their children bullied and endangered, with absolutely no legal recourse to prevent it.
Employees will not see a minimum wage increase, in fact some Republicans will attempt to abolish the minimum wage entirely. Unions will be legislated out of existence, which will in turn affect the pay of many others. OSHA will be toothless, and many laws such as overtime will be rolled back.
Veterans will continue to struggle upon their return from service with no job or housing programs, while Republicans declare more wars, creating even more poor and homeless Veterans.
Poor and Middle Class Voters will see a huge tax burden shifted to their backs. The GOP will hand out more tax breaks to corporations and the 1%. States will compensate for lost revenue by raising sales taxes, and fees for government services, taking bigger chunks of income from the non-wealthy.
ACA Insured will lose the healthcare they’ve finally got, and emergency rooms will become the only medical care many receive. College kids will become uninsured again, and people with life-threatening diseases will end up waiting to die.
And finally: GUNS WILL BE EVERYWHERE: Go out to eat, shop, drop the kids at school, go to the movies, go to work, attend class, go to the park or sporting event, walk your dog, take your baby out in the stroller, wherever you go, you will not know the “bad guys” from the “good guys” until the next person or group is murdered.
Everything this President has accomplished will be decimated by Republicans, and we will be involved in a war again in no time. But by all means, if your candidate isn’t nominated, stay home. I hope you’ll still feel as self-righteous when one of the issues I’ve mentioned hits a friend or your family, because HAVE NO DOUBT, ONE WILL.
