Since Trump was elected, his approval rates have dropped increasingly lower. This is happening despite an implication that he and the GOP were serving to promote Christian values. Additionally, even some Christians are holding that they disagree with Trump’s presidency. This brings into question why he was elected, and how we can avoid presidencies that hold poor conduct.
The problem that has been continuously shaping American society has been the matter of morality voting vs. issue voting. In understanding this we can begin to disclose why Trump was elected despite the disapproval of many.
Firstly, neither of the two are fully accepted by the American public, and the way in which individuals vote is constantly criticized. Still, Trump’s primary pillars within his campaign were arguably immigration and abortion by which he gained many votes from Christian voters, rather than his qualities altogether. A multitude of Christians felt undocumented immigration was a threat to our country in modern times, and that we should prioritize enforcement. Those that felt abortion was wrong voted for him to make abortions unavailable. This ultimately led to the choice of many to ignore his other traits. While people appeared to be feeling distraught by having to choose between these issues and other ethical risks, they were ready to upend their morality for the sake of a ‘counted’ vote.
On the contrary, what would the outcome have been if we had chosen not to vote for a president that doesn’t hold our equal moral compass? Likewise, what if we had not voted for someone who speaks with the toxicity of politicians that constantly bring us discomfort? Morality voting may seem impossible, but there are many benefits to surfacing it. Morality voting would bring us individuals who showed empathy through policy, made ethical considerations, and unified both logic and care. Morality voting would allow us to tell the political realm that we do not tolerate corruption, indecency, and selfishness. Morality voting would destroy the current web of financially bribed representatives. Remember, the American government runs under the power of the people.
Had we voted on morality, and had we done this many times before that, perhaps our presidencies may have held more ethical approaches. The Trump presidency outcome was never an issue of Trump versus Kamala. It represents the failure of millions of American voters who continue the tradition of far-end party identifications rather than electing moral presidents. While the two party system dreads us and never seems to end, we continue to feed into the most polarizing parts of it. Unfortunately, aligning with our approaches to other issues, inaction due to fear of uselessness sustains the problematic parts of American and world politics. Our votership is a privilege, just as is our ability to be sustainable or speak empathetically to diverse groups of people. We should consider how this reflects us as a people, or our freedoms and privileges may be gone too soon to act.
Acknowledgement: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the individual author, not necessarily Our National Conversation as a whole.
