By Johnny Trlica 

Commentary: There is a lengthy list of issues on the ballot this month. Abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, the Texas electrical grid, school safety, the FBI, the DOJ, GOP extremism, election integrity and democracy itself are just a few of the issues. And like it or not, the former president is on the ballot, too. 

After losing the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, Donald Trump refused to concede and has been on a whiney little bitch tour ever since. Most elected Republicans bought into the big lie and have become the “protect Donald Trump from prosecution” party. They deny what happened on January 6, 2021, refused to participate in Congress’s investigative hearings and have sold their soul in hopes of regaining power.  

If that happens, Republican legislators will not be fighting for you. The last time they were in control, the first thing they did was give their rich friends a trillion-dollar tax cut. That’s who they fight for. And Donald Trump — they make fools of themselves fighting for him. A CBS poll released September 25 found that 65 percent of Republican respondents said that “loyalty” to Trump is “important.” GOP leaders get that, and as a result, they must defend Trump at all costs — including overlooking and excusing Trump’s crimes. 

Before submitting your ballot, answer these questions then vote accordingly: 

• Was January 6 an insurrection aimed at stopping the peaceful transfer of power or just a group of tourists (as most GOP lawmakers claim)? Over half of the Republicans running for office are election deniers, with many not wanting you to not believe what you saw with your own eyes. They’ve been bending over backwards to kiss the ass of the instigator of the assault on the Capitol.

• Are you at all concerned about what the former president had planned for the top secret, classified documents he stole and were seized by the FBI in the raid at Mar-A-Lago? Deep in your heart you know he had unscrupulous plans for them. The raid has several GOP representatives calling to defund the FBI after assailing Democrats of supporting the defund the police movement. Hypocrisy defined.
• If you love a school-age child which party will do a better job keeping them safe at school? Keep in mind that when Governor Greg Abbott received news of the mass shooting in Uvalde, he stopped at a fundraiser on the way there. He has since done nothing that could prevent Texas kids from being blown apart by an assault rifle. He is trying to make it easier for parents to identify their kids, however. “Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is choosing to send DNA kits to schools that parents can use to identify their children’s bodies AFTER they’ve been murdered rather than pass gun safety laws to proactively protect their lives,” Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, tweeted. An 18-year-old can still walk into a gun shop and purchase a military style weapon.
• If you are a diabetic senior, which party has fought to lower your insulin medication costs? The Inflation Reduction Act passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 220-207 with every Democrat voting in favor. All no votes were from Republicans. The bill also protects Medicare recipients from catastrophic drug costs by phasing in a cap for out-of-pocket costs in addition to establishing a $35 cap for a month’s supply of insulin. Medicare will be able to negotiate prices for high-cost drugs for the first time ever.
• Do you believe a woman has the right to control what she does with her own body? After the right-wing extremists on the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade this summer, Texas seized the opportunity to install some of the most draconian abortion laws in the country. Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 8, which took effect on Sept. 1, 2021. It bans abortion at all stages of pregnancy, without exceptions for rape or incest, and with narrow exemptions to protect the life of a woman. It criminalizes performing an abortion from the moment of fertilization, meaning performing an abortion is now a felony punishable by up to life in prison and a $100,000 fine.
• After more than 700 Texans died during the winter storm of 2021, many of them freezing to death in their own homes, the Texas power grid is still broken. How many times were we asked to conserve energy this summer? Abbott avoided discussing the grid publicly this summer, even as Texans saw their home electric bills skyrocket.
• After the Supreme Court overturned a woman’s right to have an abortion, don’t think for a minute they will not be coming after your right to marry the person you love. One of the Justices even said so.
• Social Security and Medicare are in the GOP’s crosshairs, too. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said that if Republicans win control of the House the GO

From Republicans enacting laws barring women from controlling their own bodies, to bans on books, to the cruelty of some governors using immigrants as political pawns, to approving of the insurrectionists’ actions, to being unwilling to lift a finger to prevent the next mass murder of school children, this election gives voters the opportunity to mold the future of our democracy, and if we choose to keep it. The choices and differences are clear. Vote accordingly. 

Johnny Trlica is the editor of the Houston Rainbow Herald, the Bayou City’s only daily LGBT internet newspaper. Contact him at TXHRH@yahoo.com.