Dear Candidates, How to Win My Vote in 2018

Ten Things (in order) That Matter Most.

How I’ll Vote on November 6, 2018

It is 70 days until the election. For the next ten weeks, I will be working as hard as I can to bring some optimism to America. While I don’t believe we can ever go back, we can embrace what used to make us, well… us.

I’ve decided not to post every day on social media — I’m going the old-fashioned route. I’m writing postcards, making phone calls, knocking on doors, hosting interns, encouraging candidates, asking questions and doing everything I can think of to help the good people who are stepping up to run.

The big primaries are all over. The names of the candidates are clear. But do we know enough about where they stand?

I promise I will vote on November 6th. I wrote down what matters to me so I can go find out, so I can wisely cast my vote.

Turns out there are 10 principles that matter most to me. Sure there are many many other things that matter, but these are my priorities. In this order.

1. Country over party. We will not survive as a democratic republic if we can’t understand what happened in our last election, and don’t do something to stop the influence of foreign powers. We also have to rethink America on the world stage, and to do that, our leaders need to come together with one voice and ensure that we can be trusted, that we are a stalwart for democracy, and that our democratic ideals take precedence over financial self-interest and short-term, partisan thinking. The two main parties are too polarized. But one thing the good guys have in common is that party does not define them. We are one country. We are “fellow Americans.”
2. Campaign finance reform. This goes hand in hand with #1. We cannot afford to allow dark money to pour into our elections. The lies I have already seen in the smallest local races to the Congressional races this fall are despicable and the money behind them is often mysterious. Dramatic overhaul of the system must happen. To me, this covers everything from requiring release of personal tax returns for presidential candidates to limiting campaign contributions and finding a way to eliminate dark money and secret funneling of fund like the Russians did through the NRA.
3. Be actively respectful to each other. Every “each,” every “other” and every day. This means in how we treat each other, how we talk to the press, how we debunk conspiracy theories, how we treat immigrants, how we talk about our opponents, how we think about and address issues. Think John McCain here. “I do not cry for a perfect man. I cry for a man who had honor. And was willing to admit his imperfections,” said Lindsey Graham about John McCain. That kind of respect. Character, integrity, values, common sense and ever day decency are all we need to get it done. And those show up when we are respectful to each other.
4. Do something about guns. Recently I bought a painting that said “nothing changes…. if nothing changes.” I don’t know the answer here — no one does. But I do know we have to do something. Silence, fear and blood money are not the answer, and right now that is what we have on a federal level. How about this? Common sense. There are people who shouldn’t have guns. There are guns that should not be allowed for civilians. Teachers should not be armed. People should not be able to purchase guns without stringent background checks, some form of gun safety education and some commitment to ensuring they don’t let their weapons get in the wrong hands. And most of all, our children’s welfare is far more important than the welfare of gun manufacturers. We all have to give a little but we will gain a lot.
5. Women have the right to choose. Period.
6. Comprehensive immigration reform. No stupid freaking wall. No ripping families apart. No 2018 status quo. Decency. Rules. Kindness. Respect. People should follow the rules. But we have to remember that we as a nation have been sewn together by the precise and careful stitching of immigrants. Refugees come here seeking hope. We should provide it or we should send the Statue of Liberty back to France.
7. Aggressive commitment to science and the environment. The climate is dramatically changing and not for the better. There is no doubt. We need to sign back on to the Paris Climate agreement and we need to do even more. But most of all, we need to celebrate the place that science has in progress and social good. The current administration hides data, fails to collect it and punishes people who speak up. We need the opposite in all ways. We need clean water in Flint and every other community. We need cleaner air everywhere. We can’t allow companies to dump whatever they want into our air, our water and our land. And we need to commit 100% to clean energy alternatives.
8. Ensure access to healthcare. I don’t know the answer. But I do know that people should not be penalized for pre-existing conditions and that people should have access to care that they can afford. When a massive program is created, it should not be gutted without an alternative. The Affordable Care Act was a step in a direction and it was a whole lot better than nothing. And yet, the gutting quietly began with the elimination of risk corridors long before 2016. And then the gutting continued in the hands of people who naively promised care and simply dismantled the pieces that were in place. Change was necessary. But positive, solution-oriented improvements — not simply taking away pieces so that the whole thing could die.
9. Deficit reduction and a balanced budget. We cannot spend more than we have and right now, we cannot spend as much as we do. The “tax cut” of 2017 is a bundle of too many selfish short-term personal pay-offs to the richest among us. It has not trickled through. There is no real wage growth Inflation is up. It has made the rich richer. And it has added over a $1,000,000,000,000 (yes, trillion) to the deficit. Not OK. Not now, not ever. The “tax plan” did one thing for sure: it took out a mortgage on the future of our kids.
10. Net neutrality. Yup. It makes the list. Slow internet access is an inconvenience. But to some, particularly those in rural America, to the youth among us, to entrepreneurs just getting started, net neutrality is critical. We learned the hard way that big companies make bad decisions in pursuit of a buck (just recently with the firefighters in California). Net neutrality is symbolic of how we see the chance for equal opportunity. And it’s also for my son, because he believes in it… after all, this country belongs to our children — we need to hand off better than we left it. He will help make it better if we give them a more level playing field. Net neutrality is a point of view…. about equality, about America and about how we give people a fair and equal chance. It is about equal access to the American dream.

That’s my list. In that order.

Issues are more complex than three word headlines. Policy is as complex as it gets… Politically complex. Financially complex. Amendments get added to legislation to the point where it loses its original intent. How can we live our busy lives and make sure that our government reflects what we believe when we don’t know every detail and we pay someone else to look out for us? We can only know it if our leaders are clear. We don’t have to agree, but they must share their positions and points of view.

We can be smart. We can do our homework. We can elect people who at least begin from a place of principle, a sense of civic responsibility and are interested in doing the job we, the taxpayers, pay them to do.

I’m voting on November 6th, and this year, I’m starting with principles. Simple, clear stances on issues.

Values. Democracy. Checks and balances. Constitutional responsibilities.

When I know where candidates stand I will then decide. Then I will give away the most precious gift I can. My vote.

Make your list. Or feel free to use mine.

Let’s roll.