A Broken Society Someone Has To Repair

We won!  Or, at least, the Democrats won, and I was solidly behind the Democrats.

I should explain why I was behind the Democrats.

(1)  I felt that only the Democrats were concerned about the poorest citizens among us.  I just can't believe that the rest of the country seems to be unconcerned about the poorest of the poor; those who are hurt most by being required to work during the COVID crisis.  I'm sure there are some among the Republicans whose hearts are moved by the plight of these workers, but perhaps they have some reason why they feel that helping them is bad for somebody.  The facts will come out over the next year.  Maybe it is that they do not believe that the Democrats will actually help these people, and it is all a lie.  Maybe it's racial prejudice; a belief that only minorities are in this group of poor citizens, and need not be a concern for us.  This is sad, and need not be a permanent state of affairs.

(2)  I felt that only the Democrats were concerned with the Environment, and with the COVID pandemic.  I know why Republicans did not believe in these issues; they do not think that they are important.  They also do not believe in Clean Energy, because they feel that Clean Energy will not be enough energy, and will not be cheap.

(3)  I felt that the Democrats' promise about helping pay back student loans was a huge idea; I hope that if this is made into law, that those Republicans who benefit from it give the Democrats a second chance, and consider helping the Democrat plans for the nation.  At the very least, the interest rates for college loans should be fixed as low as home mortgage interest rates.  I don't think a college degree helps everyone to be a better citizen.  But I firmly believe that the young person with an inquiring mind can get an enormous amount of information from a college education.  On the other hand, a young person who has to be handed everything on a plate could easily not acquire an education, because the last thing a college professor wants to do is to stuff an education into the head of an unwilling student.

(4)  I firmly believe in consumer protection.  Businesses, with the best will in the world, will not voluntarily be honest about the problems with their products.  This is why there are so many rules about what they have to do.  Don't we all depend on the ingredients list in food?  I don't know exactly what regulations the Trump Administration threw out; when I find out, I will be better able to defend why they should be reinstated.

Above all, I think we have to engage young Republicans in talking about government, and in making reasonable decisions about what regulations should be kept, and which ones should be thrown out.  Handicapped individuals are now part of our society, and any rules about  handicapped accessibility should remain.  But it is important that, as individuals, we do not make the divisions wider between ourselves and Republicans; we must learn to agree to disagree more politely, or with a willingness to try a second time to understand their point or view, or the third time, or as many times as needed.

Kay