Sandy says...: The 2024 Presidential Election in a Nutshell

I've had something weighing heavy on my mind - I'm concerned about the direction of this country that I live in and here's why...

This Republic in which I live is slowly killing itself from within and we, the people, are allowing it to happen. The United States of America is a republic, not a democracy.

re·pub·lic noun - a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch.

In the last 20 or 30 years, we, the people, have been allowing our elected officials, who are bought and paid for by corporations and billionaires, to run our country into the ground so that they can line their pockets. Just take a look at the campaign contributors for any major political candidate. I venture to say that most people don't understand just how a PAC or political action committee works. (1)

Super PACs (independent expenditure only political committees) are committees that may receive unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, labor unions and other PACs for the purpose of financing independent expenditures and other independent political activity. - fec.gov

Then, there are billionaires, like George Soros, Warren Buffet, and the like, who's entire purpose in life is to get certain types of people into office to sway economics and to line their wallets even further. To many, it's a game and we are their pawns. If that doesn't make you angry, it should. (2)

Anyway, that's not the point of this post. I've been thinking about voting and, here in Georgia, we just voted in the Presidential Preference poll. I've been registered to vote since the day that I turned 21 and I take my right and duty to vote very seriously. I don't think I've ever missed an opportunity to vote. And, until I moved to Georgia in 2020, I've always been a registered Republican. I'm a conservative and the party was the one that more aligned with my views. In Georgia, however, you don't have to claim a party when you register. But, when you go to the polls for certain elections, you have to say whether you want a Democrat or Republican ballot. Last week, I grabbed my Republican ballot that had at least a dozen names on it; most of them aren't even running anymore. Ridiculous!

I say all that to say this, in my opinion, there are only two people running, and I'm not happy about it. The Democrats have put forward a puppet in Joe Biden. He's a doddering old man, who is being led around and told what to do. Frankly, if he were my husband, I wouldn't (dare I say?) allow him to run for re-election. God forbid if he dies in office, his second in command, Kamala Harris, is not going to make a good leader. In any speech I've ever heard her give, she says absolutely nothing.

The Republicans are going to put forward Donald Trump as their candidate. I was born and raised in the Tri-state Area (Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey). I've grown up knowing who Trump is nearly my entire life and it wasn't a positive impression that he left. He's a self-absorbed, cocky, narcissistic jerk with visions of grandeur. He's the textbook definition of someone with a personality disorder. When I was trained as a Social Security non-attorney representative, the short definition of someone with a personality disorder was that they were an a-hole. BINGO! What I currently see when I look at Donald Trump is a man with the self-control and behavior of a toddler, who's unwilling to take correction or instruction. He has little respect for anyone but least of so for women. And, I will not vote for him. I. Will. Not. Do. It! The very thought repulses me.

We were discussing at dinner the other night about when the antichrist comes and there was a suggestion of what if it were Donald Trump and that got me thinking about the cult of Trump. I've watched people I know and love, smart people, Godly people, completely go all-in with Trump, wholeheartedly, and that kind of devotion is frightening and very cultish. Think of those who followed Hitler, for example. Yes, I said it.

Why do I call it the cult of Trump? Just look at these warning signs of a cult that I came across today...

source unknown

Before you get mad at me, go back and read number two. Read number six while you're at it.

I will absolutely do one of two things in November if the two major parties can't get their act together and I don't think they can:

I will vote for a 3rd party candidate, or
I will not vote for a President.

Does that mean I'm throwing my vote away? Absolutely not! My duty as an American citizen is to vote and I will do that even if that means abstaining from that particular office. I will not be a part of watching this country that I love, that thousands of men and women have died to protect, implode. I have seen nothing but the two major parties divide her people with their greed and selfishness. These are the same elected officials, who become millionaires via insider trading and then make rules to protect their bad behavior. These officials, who call social media heads on the carpet for not protecting the personal information of their users but who don't care that they are selling the American people down the road with a higher cost of living and lower wages.

It's time that the American people take back the power that was given to us by the Founding Fathers of this great country. We need to pull our big boy pants and kick those elected bullies tails out of office. The divisiveness of the two party system needs to stop. We need to stop treating each other as if we're the enemy. We're all entitled to our opinions. I'm all for that. But we need to stop fighting each other because of those opinions. It's ok to agree to disagree but it's not ok to bash someone for their opinion.

And, in the end, I know that whoever gets elected won't be a surprise to God. Frankly, this planet isn't my home - my home is in Heaven, someday.

It really ticks me off when I see our elected officials break all the rules to become rich and powerful on the backs of hardworking people in a job they stay in for life. I dislike seeing really good elected officials, ones with integrity, pushed out of office because they've taken a stand for principles, integrity, and the rights of the American people.

But, what I'd really hate most of all is to see is the people of this country bashing one another for another four years. It's time to take a stand together. Time to take back our beloved Republic. Time to get good, honest people into an office that has term-limits. Time for the ugliness to end. And, sometimes that means turning off the news, stopping the trip down rabbit holes, voting your conscience, and not being forced to vote for the lesser-of-two-evils. But that's just my two cents.

(1) https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/reform-money-politics/influence-big-money/super-pacs-coordination
(2) https://www.mironline.ca/the-increasing-influence-of-billionaires-on-us-politics-americas-hidden-oligarchy/