We Are Not Going Back
On Sunday, July 21, when President Biden announced his decision to withdraw from the presidential campaign and endorsed Vice President Harris as the candidate for the Democratic ticket, a jolt of energy shot through the political world.
Prominent Democrats and delegates quickly joined the president in their support for VP Harris as the Democratic candidate for president. Grassroots groups quickly organized and millions of dollars of donations poured in to support the Harris campaign.
The Republican National Convention closed a few days earlier where Trump named JD Vance who is an under-40-year-old Senator who has served for approximately 18 months as his vice presidential candidate. Senator J.D. Vance was teamed up with former President Trump who if elected would become the oldest man sworn in as president.
While we are still waiting on the announcement of Harris’s vice president, it appears the ballot will feature Harris and Trump at the top of the ticket leading their respective parties.
The United States was founded on a belief in freedom and hope. The Constitution references categories of freedom; speech, religion and voting regardless of race or gender. The United States historically offered immigrants the promise of a new life. Iowa’s families are immigrants from around the globe who had the hope of a better life. Our ancestors were looking forward to creating better lives not replicating lives they left. The United States offered hope of a better future. The presidential campaign must be about protecting freedom and democracy and moving into the future.
The upcoming presidential election provides a clear choice for the electorate.
The Republican Party is focusing on a backward gaze of life that would return us to a point in our nation’s history that marginalized women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ communities. The center point of their plan is Project 2025 (www.project2025.org/policy ). The link will take you to the website and their plan for America.
Voters should read and learn about Project 2025 for themselves. Its message implies we should fear immigrants or anyone who might think differently. It is a vision of creating an America that minimizes freedom of speech, voting and health care choices for women and families. The unpopular changes forced on Iowa by the Republican Party majority over the past two years are part of the larger plan for America with attacks on public education, school vouchers, banning books, eliminating women and family’s access to abortion care, parents’ ability to make health decisions for their children and stoking fear of those who are not white and Christian.
The Democratic Party with Vice President Harris as its standard bearer provides a message supporting the pursuit of freedom and hope for tomorrow. Vice President Harris presents a generational change with a promise and plan for preserving our freedom of speech and access to voting, protecting women’s and marginalized communities’ rights, defending middle-class workers and families and moving fearlessly into the future with leadership and commitment. America is ready to move forward with hope, joy and the promise of a bright future.
The United States is ready to look forward with hope and preserve the democracy we have enjoyed and love. Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party’s message is one that spans generations of voters, “We are not going back.”