Dear Undecided Voters,
We have some questions that we’ve been wanting to ask you for a while now, not knowing how to reach you.
Hopefully, this can find its way to you and at least we can have a conversation of sorts, albeit an inferior one.
We hear a great deal about you lately.
You are the subject of polls, op-eds, think pieces, and campaign strategists commentaries.
The closeness of the coming race makes your as-yet-to-be-made decision, critical to all of us, and we’ve been wondering:
What do you still need to see and hear in order to make a decision regarding the quickly approaching election?
Are the candidates that similar that you are torn on their positions:with regard to a woman’s right to choose?or healthcare?or climate change?or affordable housing?or human rights?or immigration?or public education?or the economy?or international diplomacy?
Regarding Donald Trump:
What about him is still unknown to you after four years as President and nine as the leader of the Republican Party?
What about him still makes him a possible option for you?
How do you feel about his COVID response as President?
His refusal to accept the 2020 election results?
The January 6th insurrection?
The overturning of Roe V Wade?
His court-determined sexual assault?
His 34 felony indictments?
His appointment of three extremist Supreme Court Justices?
Him asking for and receiving presidential immunity?
His plans with Project 2025?
What could he do to remove himself from contention in your eyes?
What, if anything would disqualify him as a viable option for you?
Regarding Vice President Kamala Harris:
What does she still have to show you that she hasn't as VP and her work as a Senator, Attorney General, and prosecutor?
Why are you still unsure about her experience, qualifications, or character?
What about her or her resume or words or conduct gives you pause?
What about her stated policies and plans do you have questions about?
Regarding the Presidential debate:
Did you watch it and if so, why did that leave you still undecided?
Did anything you saw or heard begin to nudge you from neutrality?
If you didn't watch the debate, why haven't you? (It is included below.)
These all probably sound like rhetorical questions but they aren't.
Both of these candidates have a vast and detailed body of work from which to know who they are, what matters to them, how they treat people, and how they conduct themselves in life and career.
The rest of us are concerned, because to us the choices could not be more clear and the distinct futures of choosing one or the other, so very different.
We see this decision as one of the easiest we’ve ever had to make, because we feel that in areas of character, intelligence, empathy, wisdom, and goodness, they are decidedly different.
Regarding diversity of race, gender, nation of origin, sexual orientation, and socioeconomics, they seem to us to be worlds apart.
Their legacies thus far in this life seem to us, to speak eloquently.
And that has us thinking about you.
The most important election of our nation's life is in 54 days as of today (likely fewer when this reaches you).
What are you looking for in that time to move you to a decision?
Are you truly undecided or is your decision really to opt out?
Or, have you decided but are unwilling to declare that decision, and if so, why?
In November, either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump will be the next President. This is irrefutable.At that time, either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party will control Congress. Again, this is not up for debate.The future of our laws, courts, and collective destinies will be in one of two sets of hands.With your voice or your silence, you will be making a decision on which ends up receiving this powerful and sacred responsibility.
There is so much at stake regarding civil and human rights, healthcare, education, the environment, national security and the hundreds of millions of us who call this place home, as well as the planet and the people around the world who share this life with us.
There has never been a greater moment of consequence and your voice is the single most powerful gift you have been given in it.
The question is, what will it take to move you to use it?We need you in the fight.
We need you to find clarity.
We need you to make yourselves heard.
Because we truly are all in this together.Sincerely,Your fellow Americans and human beings
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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