Do not vote for the part of hatred and fear

In 1971 I returned from a one-year tour of duty in Vietnam. I remember sitting in the back yard, barbequing, and thinking how wonderful it was to be in a peaceful country where you didn’t worry about the constant danger of being killed by an enemy invader. The idea of a stable society where everyone got along peacefully, safe from the conflicts of the rest of the world, was very comforting.

I voted for Richard Nixon in the election before my service in Vietnam. I distinctly remember the news of the OhioState encounter between the National Guard and students at the university. I returned home to the Watergate investigation and the subsequent resignation of Nixon.

I voted for George McGovern in the next election and never looked back. There was one party of war and conflict, selfish division and suppression. There was another party of reason and a wider vision of brotherhood and humanity.

What leads people to hate other people? Is it really hate or is it fear? Honestly, why do you need to arm yourselves with weapons in a democratic society? Are you afraid of your fellow man? Does someone who looks different than you make you afraid? Does someone who thinks differently than you scare you?

I am what the right labels as woke. The dictionary definition of woke is being aware of social injustice. I see social injustice in many aspects of our lives today. You don’t have to go to slavery; there are groups that are excluded from jobs simply on the basis of sex, skin color or their accented speech.

Women are approximately 50% of the population. They aren’t 50% of any occupation beyond education, nursing or secretarial work. Looking further where women have significant numbers in a business or industry, they seldom reach anything near 50% in the upper echelons of those jobs. That is social injustice. And it doesn’t apply only to women. So yes, I am woke.

I am confused by religion. It seems that many see their religion as part of their reason for supporting the right. Many call themselves Christians, but I see their attitudes as being more out of the Old Testament. It seems to me that Jesus was all about revising the Old Testament religion. He advocated for turning the other cheek, not an eye for an eye. Rather than stories of conquest over enemies, David and Goliath or the battle of Jericho, Jesus advocated for brotherly love. Love your enemy. There are no calls to sacrifice your children. Jesus said, “Suffer the little children to come on to me.” He washed the feet of Mary Magdalene.

Seems to me Jesus was a pretty woke guy.

As for the NRA, how about Psalm 23: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I shall fear no evil, Thy rod and Thy staff shall comfort me ….” Or are those just words on paper? Do you believe?

So if you are a Republican in name only, you face a serious decision in this election. The Republican Party has been home to some unsavory groups for years. It didn’t start out that way, but over time groups like the KKK, Tea Party and now Make America Great Again have infiltrated the party.

Do you stay with them or cast them off? It will be a painful process, but time has shown it is only growing worse. Conservatives are no longer able to win primaries unless they bend a knee to the invaders, pretending to be conservative but having no place for conservatives unless they swear allegiance to their philosophies.

That peaceful world I saw in 1971 no longer exists. The post-truth, big-lie, “my way or the highway” attitude of many of these groups has not done anything to make our world better or safer.

Vote for love and brotherhood, vote for peace, vote for discussion not confrontation, vote for equality, vote for compassion for your fellow man, vote Democrat to save America.

Thomas Butler lives in Edinburg.