1. My Grandmother, Mama Flo. She came from Germany in the late 1800's. Yes, born in 1887, she came to America, sailing by the Statue of Liberty which had been in place for barely a decade. America was built upon the hard work of immigrants, and represented a promise made for all people. They could come here to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. We have laws concerning immigration, and rightfully so. Put into place by Congress, President Trump has instead chosen to enforce those laws to intimidate and scare off that dream for so many.
2. My Grandfather, Curzon Taylor. Giving up his job as an architect in New York wasn't even given second thought after Pearl Harbor was attacked. He left his wife and 8 year old son at home, and served in the Army. Due to his physical ability and education, he served on the team which provided information about the coastline of France. Yes, he was a spy, and intelligence gathered by his team helped plan D-Day.
3. Which brings me to my Dad, Colonel Cortlandt Mulcaster Taylor. After graduating from Yale in 1955, he joined the newest United States military branch, the Air Force. He worked on the NASA projects in Florida, but really found his love for being a navigator, and flew around the world. In 1971, he was assigned to Saigon, Vietnam. For a year, he suddenly found himself following in the footsteps of his father, and became an intelligence analyst. Even as the fighting drew close to Saigon, he worked for a year, helping to identify the movement of the enemy. Dad closed out his career as a Deputy Director for the DIA.
Both of these men represent a love for country, and I hopefully carry some small part of how they felt about America. Both also represent the hard work done by our intelligence community. Dad gave me a tour of the Situation Room in the Pentagon. America has learned to guard itself over the years, and the information gathered every minute of every day for our President is done so for a specific purpose.
If you don't know where I'm going with that, let me be very clear. President Trump has shown a public disdain for our intelligence community, even before entering office. His clear lack of understanding of the hard work behind the information presented to him on a daily basis is a direct insult to my grandfather, my Dad, and all those in that community. The facts around the coronavirus pandemic can appear muddled at times, but let there be no mistake. It is muddled on purpose to hide this administrations complete disrespect for the information they were presented which would have given our country a leg up on this pandemic. (Note: death count at 150,000 and counting.)
4. My wife, mother-in-law, daughter, and my Mom. I have been surrounded by strong women all my life. The last thing they probably need is for me to stand up for them. But, I've had enough of the disrespect shown to all women by our President. Beginning well before winning the highest office in the country, President Trump has shown absolutely no remorse for his behavior toward women. He has publicly declared he knows how to take advantage of women, graphically so in some circumstances. Now is the time for men to unabashedly support the efforts of women to make our country a better place. Now is not the time to brag about grabbing women inappropriately, or to celebrate those under investigation for trafficking women. Read about what authorities had to do to find Ghislaine Maxwell, and you'll probably wonder why President Trump 'wished her well'.
No, now is the time to celebrate the women of our country. We The People will be much better when we fully embrace their leadership.
5. Political parties. I was recently accused of being a Democrat. I proudly joined the Republican Party in Texas as soon as I moved here in 1982. While voting primarily Republican in elections, I also vote across party lines. As I have learned more and more about our history, voting blindly for candidates based solely upon party affiliation is a mistake many make. And, that is exactly what the 2 party system wants. Never before have the intentions of Democrats and Republicans been more clear. They simply want power, and the only way to do that is to enforce their will upon the public in elections. Both parties spend enormous sums of money, hundreds of dollars per vote in some places, and the Supreme Court has only ensured this will not stop anytime soon.
6. Which leads me to the money. I was also accused of not caring about my retirement savings if I vote against Trump. If this election is solely about our money, and not about America, then we are surely lost. The world looks to us for our leadership, exceptionalism, and democracy. Submitting ourselves to greed will rob us all of that which we hold most dear.
If you've read this far, thank you. You're probably guessing I am voting for Joe Biden this year. As much as he represents the DC establishment, and all that's wrong with our enormous government, I'm afraid I must do so. The amount of lies, exaggerations, sarcasm, unfounded allegations, incompetence, lack of temperament for the job, and basic decency represented by President Trump simply will not allow me to vote for him.
I didn't vote for President in 2016; I left the choice blank.
I will not make the same mistake again.
