Morality and Character

 

                                "If you stand for nothing, you will fall for everything"

                                            Carl Laskin, 1964

                                "My Pammy, be a good person. Nothing else matters."

                                            Solomon Laskin, 1964

I grew up with two very moral men with impeccable values, a father and grandfather who told me my signature meant everything. By signature, I mean values--the way you live your life. Their values were grounded  in being a morally outstanding citizen. If that was lacking, you could not be a person with character. That meant, for example, my grandfather, as a pharmacist, gave away medicines to neighborhood folks who had no money. In modern day political rhetoric this would define him as a socialist, a word the Republican party has co-opted to equate with evil. To care for those who have less then you, to react with kindness to the elderly, to be good and humane and generous to poulations who have suffered, to care for the disabled, to be honest and decent and not lie (to be truthful most often), to not speak in a degrading way about fellow human beings--all  this and more was part of character, and I have put in my best effort, not always with success, to be a morally outstanding citizen. I step into the shoes of other people, and think about the world and the future world I want my children and grandchildren to grow up in. 

Which is why I can't wrap my brain around candidates Donald Trump and J.D. Vance.  And why I also can't understand how people who are decent and moral and dream of a future would either not vote, not discuss voting or vote for Maga values--and they are immoral values. Since this party has no real policy, aside from deporting immigrants, tariffs, cozying up to dictators and getting rid of many laws and norms we have grown accustomed to living with, what is the justification? I know THEY  know he has lied, is demeaning, hateful, set on punishing his enemies. They know and understand January 6th was not an abberation, and violence is encouraged today. They know he lost the last election, he was not assasinated by Democrats and Hurricane Helene was not a Democratic conspiracy. I know, in my heart of hearts, that half the country couldn't possibly be immoral or lacking in character.

Kamala Harris may not be perfect (no one is); she may still be enigmatic to you, but what you do know is she has characer and morality and has shared a vision of our future, beyond hate and division. She has the respect of foreign leaders and will not upend every institution that stands in her way, since that is not what presidents do. She would never question election results, since she has respect for the rule of law, and does not think she can get her way with feckless law suits and bullying. She regards the Constitution. But her highest regard is for humanity: not to dimish, but to elevate every human being, so there is more of a level of equality, decency, even patriotism.

As my father and grandfather taught me, I will forge ahead with empathy, courage, decency, restraint, morality and stand tall for everything that is as right as it could possibly be. I could never stand for violence and guns and evil, degrading language. Character and morality mean everything at the end of the day, and something everyone should expect from a president. Don't fall; simply RISE!