Letters: For the second time in my life, I won’t vote Republican

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To the Editor:

The first time I voted in a presidential general election was 1996. The Republican platform that year called for a new president because, in part our “society grows more violent and less decent,” and that the Clinton administration “talk(s) endlessly and confront(s) nothing. They offe not convictions, but alibis. They are paralyzed by indecision, weakened by scandal and guided only by the perpetuation of their own power.” The platform called for “moral clarity in our culture and ethical leadership in the White House.” From that point until 2016, I voted for the Republican candidate for president because I agreed with that platform.

In the 2016 election, it was clear that Donald Trump did not adhere to these principles. Instead of offering a candidate of high moral character and leadership, the Republican Party offered a candidate who openly bullied and mocked those that disagreed with him and promoted policies that were seeped in self-interests. For the first time in my life I did not vote for a candidate from a major political party.

Four years later, it is time again to cast my vote. I will not vote to re-elect a man who was impeached for withholding aid from foreign governments to gain favors to perpetuate his own power. I will not vote for a person who provides alibis instead of taking responsibility for actions of his administration. I will not vote for a man who provides rhetoric that inflames and makes society less decent instead of using his position as president to pull the nation together.

For these and countless other reasons, I won’t be voting for a Republican candidate for president for the second time in my life.