Today when voting, I felt very emotional about exercising this extraordinary right. Donald Trump’s statement at a Turning Point rally where he said, “Get out and vote! You won’t have to do it anymore in four more years,” haunted me. The profundity of that statement by a candidate on the ballot for president is really beyond belief. Who have we, the American people, become? I thought about the people in Afghanistan and in so many other parts of the world who were willing to risk being killed while exercising their newfound right to vote and how quickly that right can be taken away. Are we Americans so quick, so uninformed, so lazy to give up our democracy that stands as a beacon of light to so many others who would die to give their children the rights we enjoy?
Today, I willed myself to believe that Americans, when voting, will declare themselves to stand for decency, honesty, a love of democracy (as imperfect as it is), the belief that all people should be treated equally regardless of who they love or how they identify themselves, will see that our economy was brought back from the brink by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and that America is not threatened but rather strengthened by the immigrants who come to build better lives for their families and in doing so make America great. My father’s and mother’s parents entered the U.S. for this very reason, ultimately giving me the chance to do something productive with my life and for my state.
As I voted today, I thought of my husband, Rod Bradley, who died 11 years ago today. Rod was one of the most decent people I have ever known. He also was a Republican. Ultimately, he felt terribly betrayed by the Republican Party, seeing it as the party of deceit. As I stood in line waiting to vote today, I thought how much our political landscape had changed since Rod’s death. He would truly be horrified by the hideous spectacle of Donald Trump.
I hope in four more years we are not living in a country where our democracy has been diminished by a president who is able to jail his opponents and is immune from his criminal acts as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision to give him unfettered powers. We are living in perilous times indeed. Please make your vote count.
— Carmen Gutierrez
Anchorage
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