WHAT – NOT WHO – ARE YOU VOTING FOR?
The moral obligation to vote based on issues and not personalities
GENE THOMAS GOMULKA
OCT 16

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In a country with so many talented, successful, and inspiring people, why is it that voters often find themselves voting for what they perceive to be the lesser of two evils? Why do so many people cast their votes against a certain candidate instead of for a particular candidate? Personally, in the upcoming 2024 presidential election, I feel there are far more qualified candidates that I would like to see on the ballot. However, because that’s not going to happen at this late hour, I would like to share on what basis I believe people should vote.

First of all, the current presidential candidates, along with many past presidents like Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and others, have very checkered histories. It’s unfair to attack the moral failings of one candidate while ignoring moral failings on the part of the other candidate.

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Even though one can argue that “no candidate is perfect,” past accomplishments and failures during the time a person held political office can provide insights into a candidate’s potential future performance. It is fair to ask “Were the lives of the people a candidate served in the past made better as a result of his/her time in office?” If President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to an unprecedented fourth term, was it because Americans felt he did a good job in helping the country recover from The Great Depression and that he provided wise and strong leadership during World War II despite flaws in his personal life?

We each have issues that are important to us based on our situations in life. If I’m a middle-class worker with a spouse and children, I may want to consider differences in gas and grocery prices under the respective candidates, as well as how inflation was higher or lower when a certain candidate was in office. When I purchased a home in February of 2019 under Trump, my mortgage rate was 2.8 percent. When I moved recently to Pennsylvania, the reason I decided to rent is because current mortgage rates under Biden are around 5.5 percent.

Just as one should ask an Imam and not a Rabbi what Muslims believe, so too should people not always believe what one candidate says about his or her opponent’s positions. It’s more important to hear what a candidate says he or she will do if elected rather than what he or she says his or her opponent will do if elected.

If you are a woman and are voting for a candidate mainly because she is a woman, I would question your voting methodology. When a person needs an operation, a patient will ordinarily not care about the gender, race, ethnicity, or age of the surgeon. However, what a patient may ask is, “How many of these operations have you successfully performed?”

Rather than telling people that you disagree with who they think you may be voting for, tell them about your candidate’s specific accomplishments and positions that you believe will make a positive difference not only in the lives of Americans, but will also allow your candidate to promote peace and harmony on the international stage. Also, like is seen with certain political TV commercials, please don’t tell people that you oppose positions that in truth their candidate does not hold.

HEALTHCARE FOR MY FAMILY

Most parents will do everything humanly possible to protect their children. My son, Luke, was diagnosed with a neurological problem in 2017 that was treated successfully over a two-year period at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego. Our military health insurance, TRICARE, covered all of the expenses. A little more than a year after Biden/Harris took office, Luke was exhibiting neurological symptoms his primary care provider felt should be looked into by a specialist. When I tried to make an appointment for him in the same neurological department that treated him years earlier at Rady Children’s Hospital, I was told that the hospital could not see him because it no longer accepted TRICARE. I was told if Luke had no insurance, he could be seen. So, I said, ”Are you telling me that if Luke entered this country illegally and had no insurance, you could treat him, but because he is the dependent of a military veteran with TRICARE, you cannot?” The representative said, “Yes, those are the new regulations.” When I called to complain about this unjust policy to my (Democratic) Congressman, Scott Peters, and spoke with a staffer in his San Diego Office, I was told, “The Congressman will look into this matter and someone will get back to you.” I never received a call back or a letter explaining why the Congressman felt the hospital was justified in turning Luke away. If Luke or his twin sister, Sasha, were to get sick and needed specialty care, I believe they will not receive it under the current Democratic administration that treats illegals better than veterans and their families.

VETERANS ADMINISTRATION

For years, after retiring from active duty service in 2004, I avoided going to the Veterans Administration for medical care even though I received a disability rating of 60 percent. In 2017, however, I went to the VA Medical Center in La Jolla after President Trump signed the Veterans Choice Program Extension and Improvement Act. I discovered that medical care for veterans was truly improving. The help I received benefited not only me, but Sasha and Luke indirectly as well. If VA medical care improved under Trump, I believe it has deteriorated under Biden and Harris. When I submitted a claim a year ago to the VA for a spine condition resulting from being treated with radiation therapy after I was medevacked with lymphoma from the Gulf War, a VA subcontractor from Texas directed me to drive in the winter from Niagara Falls to Rochester to have X-Rays taken that I already possessed. I refused to risk my life driving in hazardous conditions around 100 miles in each direction only to have the VA subcontractor make money by having the X-Rays taken again in one of his firm’s own offices. It was only after I wrote letters and called the VA in Washington to complain of fraud, waste, and abuse, that I was told I could drop off the X-Rays nearby at their Buffalo Office. After doing so, I was later sent a letter denying my claim without ever having been examined by a doctor employed by or contracted by the VA. When I wrote the VA and complained about the seriously flawed process, I then received a letter informing me that my claim would be revisited. I am still awaiting word on my disability claim. I fear if Harris were elected, VA care would not improve and will only continue to deteriorate as it has over the past almost four years.

CAMP LEJEUNE CONTAMINATED WATER CLAIM

The contaminated water I drank at Camp Lejeune was the cause of my lymphoma which led me to be treated with radiation therapy and chemotherapy which are now having documented residual effects. A number of others who served with me at the Marine Corps base from 1980-82 also came down with various cancers and have since died. Under Biden/Harris the lawsuits that I and others have filed have been going on now for over three years. I fear if Harris is elected, we will all be dead and buried before the government gets around to processing our claims.

DRUG DEATHS DUE TO OPEN BORDER POLICY

Anyone who has kids in high school or college hopes and prays they will not get into trouble with drugs, sex, or alcohol. It is no secret that following the Biden/Harris election, the southern border was opened up and millions of illegal aliens entered our country. Included among this group were immigrants guilty of felonies who went on to commit crimes, including murder. In addition to opening our borders to criminals and terrorists from numerous countries, the Biden/Harris open border policy was also responsible for an increase in drug trafficking which has resulted in an astronomical increase in drug deaths particularly involving fentanyl. Nearly 108,000 persons in the U.S. died from drug-involved overdose in 2022 alone. I wonder how uneducated and uninformed Harris thinks Americans are when she claims she is going to solve the open border and drug problems that she and Biden created. One of the victims of the increase in drug smuggling under Biden/Harris was Clark S, a classmate of Luke and Sasha. Clark was a sophomore at Coronado High School when he died in 2021 of a fentanyl overdose. The twins knew Clark beginning in First Grade at Coronado Elementary. Clark lived on our block; attended all of the twins’ birthday parties; played with them after school; and was a very friendly, respectful kid. It was only recently in speaking with Luke that I discovered how much he was deeply affected by the death of his classmate and friend. When I asked Luke why more Americans don’t seem to be upset with Biden/Harris for their open border policy that contributed to Clark’s death, he said, “Those people haven’t experienced it. I have.” It is incomprehensible to me how anyone with children and grandchildren could vote for a candidate who is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of young Americans like Clark. I really pity anyone who voted for Biden/Harris and whose child or grandchild died of a drug overdose. How terrible and guilty they must feel even if they were not the person who supplied the deadly drugs.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN LIFE

When I watched the presidential debate, I couldn’t help but note how many times Harris spoke about a fetus being a part of a woman’s body. Anyone who sat through Biology 101 in high school knows that a fetus (the Latin word for baby) is a distinct organism with its own genome/DNA, blood type, etc. Unlike a kidney, heart, or other organ, a fetus is not part of a woman’s body. Despite the fact that Muslims believe that abortion is allowed only when it is medically proven that the life of a mother is in danger; Orthodox Judaism opposes abortion except when the pregnancy endangers the woman’s life; and Catholic and Orthodox Christians oppose abortion in almost all circumstances; there are still a number of Americans like Joe Biden who claim to be Catholic and still support abortion. Insofar as gays and lesbians believe that LGBTQ rights and abortion rights are inseparable, and because Biden also rejects the Catholic teaching on the immorality of homosexual behavior that it sees as a violation of the natural and divine laws, it makes perfect sense that he would never participate in the March for Life as Trump did in 2020. Because I believe in the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death, I cannot in conscience support Harris whose position on abortion is far more liberal than that of Trump. I don’t expect everyone to believe as I do, but I ask people not to disrespect me for my moral beliefs.

FAILURE TO PROSECUTE CLERICAL SEXUAL PREDATORS

Dating back to 1991, I investigated, reported, and sought the prosecution of sex abusers in the Marine Corps and Navy. Following my retirement from the military in 2004, I continued to speak out against Catholic priests who prey on minors and vulnerable adults, and bishops and public officials who cover up for sexual predators. I regret that Trump recently supported a multi-million dollar fundraiser for New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan despite the fact that Dolan is widely known for keeping predator priests in ministry and gaslighting abuse victims. I documented how donations to bishops-run fundraisers often end up financing predator priests or their defense attorneys who are tasked with covering up their sexual antics. On the other hand, AP news reporter Mike Rezendes documented how Harris did nothing to prosecute clerical sex abusers when she was the District Attorney for San Francisco and the Attorney General of California. Because over 80 percent of abuse cases in the Catholic Church involve the homosexual predation of teenage boys, Harris did not want to upset her LGBTQ supporters by prosecuting gay priests. As someone who deals on a daily basis with abuse victims from all over the United States, I could never support someone who revictimizes victims by covering up the abuse they experienced. From my perspective as a sex abuse victims’ advocate, I fear that Harris’ agenda would once again sideline sex abuse victims. Alternatively, if Trump himself truly is guilty of sexual abuse and misconduct involving 26 victims who claim that he sexually harassed, assaulted, and/or raped them, he will prove equally unlikely to protect clerical abuse victims just as Pope Francis routinely ignores abuse victims’ reports after personally facing allegations that he sodomized seminarians during his tenure in Cordoba. For this reason, many victims are finding themselves left out in the cold this election cycle knowing that clerical predators are finding allies both in Trump and in Harris.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

As California Attorney General, Harris opposed religious exemptions for private employers after the Supreme Court ruled that companies should be exempt from an Obamacare mandate requiring companies to include contraception and abortion coverage in employee health policies. As a U.S. Senator, Harris introduced a bill aimed at gutting the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), a bipartisan law that remains one of the most important federal safeguards for religious Americans. Harris claimed that the bill was necessary to prevent people from using those protections as a “license to discriminate.” Harris was also critical of Senate Judiciary Committee nominee Brian Buescher’s membership in the Knights of Columbus that promotes traditional Catholic teachings on issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion. Harris later co-sponsored the Equality Act, legislation that drew intense criticism from national Catholic organizations for its supposedly pro-abortion policy implications. Harris as Attorney General, U.S. Senator, and Vice President, has demonstrated little respect and support for religious freedom which should be an issue of grave concern for Catholics, but for voters of all faith groups (Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, Jews, Muslims, etc.).

CONSEQUENCES OF A DEI CANDIDATE AND NATIONAL SECURITY

After serving on active duty with Marine Corps and Navy personnel and their families for 24 years, I cannot believe how much DEI (Diversity, Equality, Inclusion) policies have harmed and weakened our Armed Services. The military recruiting problems that are taking place under the current Biden/Harris administration are completely understandable. Who wants to join an organization in which people are promoted on the basis of their race, gender, or sexual orientation, and not because of their talents and performance? Unless Harris who herself epitomizes DEI is defeated, and the destructive DEI policies are eliminated, I fear a continued deterioration of our military strength and readiness could encourage enemies to act against us which would not take place if we were militarily stronger. Considering that my son lives in San Diego where three of our carriers and many combat ships are homeported, I fear for his life as it is considered a major target if the United States were involved in a nuclear war. Do Americans really believe Harris is qualified to authorize a strategic missile launch that could end all our lives? Obama “blinked” when Russia took over Crimea from Ukraine. Biden’s perceived weakness, like that of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in 1939, motivated Putin to invade Ukraine. If DEI Harris is elected, will the United States find itself involved in a nuclear war with both China and Russia?

If you are at odds with a relative or friend over who they think you should vote for, try focusing your discussion on particular issues as I have attempted to do above. Don’t waste your time arguing with someone who is more concerned with who, rather than what, this election is all about.