Don’t Follow Politics? Here is All You Need to Know

Top three reasons to vote: Fairness, Freedom and the Future

Oct 30, 2024

To those who don’t follow politics:

You might be young, or you have kids and jobs and don’t have time. Plus, there’s too much noise and you don’t know who to believe. I wrote this just for you. I know you want to do the right thing, but to do that, you need to know why your vote matters so much: this election is about making our economy fair, not losing our freedom, and keeping our world safe for us to live in.

To those who do follow politics:

We all know and love people who don’t follow politics. When I try to talk to them, I get overwhelmed by the huge amount of stuff I feel like they need to know and I just can’t find the words to explain why all this matters. So, I wrote this and I will send it to everyone I know who doesn’t follow politics. If these words work for you, I hope you will do the same.

To text this to your people, copy and text this:

Please read this, then copy and share this text with someone you know who is a good person, but doesn’t follow politics! Thanks! antoniascatton.com/need2know

Thank you for reading Reframing America! My work is completely financed by subscribers like you. Sign up here to receive new posts by email. All content is free, but many people choose to become paying subscribers to support this critical mission of improving how we communicate with the American people.

Kamala Harris makes her final speech to voters in front of the White House

Top 3 Reasons to Vote in This Election: Fairness, Freedom and the Future

Reason #3: Economic Fairness

You should be able to support your family.

Your whole life, people have told you that there’s this deal: if you work hard, you can earn enough to support a family, have a house or a nice apartment, a decent car, enough to pay the bills and some left over.

Now, you are working harder than ever. People say the “economy” is doing great, but it’s not great for you or anyone you know. That’s because the people who hand out the paychecks aren’t holding up their end of that deal.

Democrats will make owners hold up their end of the deal, because they believe that the economy is supposed to work for everybody, not just a few mega-rich folks.

We used to have laws that made our economy fair. Owners understood that workers were equal partners, so they shared the profits with them. Many workers even had unions to represent them. We had lots of local small businesses, and owners had to compete for customers by keeping prices low.

Then businesses used their money to buy political power, and they got politicians to stop enforcing those laws.

President Joe Biden started quietly enforcing those laws again and passing more laws to protect workers, consumers and small businesses from economic bullies: people who use the power of their enormous wealth to spike prices, suppress wages and crush competition. We feel this bullying everywhere: in higher costs of housing, insurance, health care, food and energy, and in high-pressure, low-wage jobs at massive corporations.

The mega-wealthy are desperate to stop these laws. When their politician buddies talk about how bad government is, what they really mean is, “We don’t want anyone in government to be able to stop our friends from screwing you over.” The hateful lies about immigrants, borders and crime are just their way of distracting you from what they are doing.

If you want political leaders who will fight for economic fairness, who will make businesses hold up their end of the deal so that hard working people like you can support your families, then:

Vote for Kamala Harris, Tim Walz and all the Democrats on your ballot.

Reason #2: Freedom

How does voting make us free?

The world is full of bullies. Good political leaders are like good playground monitors: they stand up to the bullies for us, so we can be free to live our lives.

Sometimes a bully becomes a playground monitor, so they can abuse their power to force us to do what they want. Fortunately, we get to vote to choose the playground monitor we want to have.

Donald Trump has always been a bully.

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have always been the kind of people who stand up to bullies.

From Kamala Harris’ last speech:

I am not afraid of tough fights against bad actors and powerful interests, because for decades as a prosecutor and a top law enforcement officer of our biggest state, I won fights against big banks that ripped off homeowners, against for-profit colleges that scammed veterans and students, against predators who abused women and children and cartels that trafficked in guns, drugs and human beings.
And I did this work, because for as long as I can remember, I have always had an instinct to protect. There’s something about people being treated unfairly or overlooked that, frankly, just gets to me. I don’t like it.
It’s what my mother instilled in me, a drive to hold accountable those who use their wealth or power to take advantage of other people, the drive to protect hard working Americans who aren’t always seen or heard and deserve a voice. And I will tell you, that is the kind of President I will be.

Religious Bullies

There are all kinds of bullies. We talked about economic bullies. Religious bullies gain political power so they can force everyone to live by their religious beliefs, and in our country, religious bullying is out-of-control.

They attack people, even children, just because they are gay or different in some other way that they don’t like. They are attacking our books and our schools, just because we believe that discriminating against people is wrong. We believe that it is wrong to tell anyone that there’s something wrong with them because of who they are.

Some judges are religious bullies. Trump put three of them on our highest court. For the first time in our history, they took away an existing right: women’s rights to make their own private medical decisions. Now, Republicans in many states are passing laws that force women to remain pregnant against their will, even if it risks their life. Women have actually died as a result.

We can’t be free without the right to decide what happens to or inside our own bodies. Democrats will pass a law that guarantees us that freedom.

Political Bullies

Political bullies interfere in the election process, so that we get them instead of the leaders that most of us actually want. Donald Trump is currently on trial for trying to steal the last election. He’s already planning to steal this one. Across America, his followers have been trying to block people from voting and throw out votes people have legally cast.

We can’t be free without the right to choose the leaders whose decisions impact our lives. Democrats are working around the clock to protect people’s ability to vote and make sure their votes get counted.

Trump wants power so he can abuse it. He said that he will be a dictator: that he will fire anybody who gets in his way and use the military to jail people who speak out against him, to shoot shoplifters and protesters, and deport immigrants by the millions – even if they are here legally. They could be your friends, your parents, even your grandma. (It would also cost billions and crash the entire economy.)

Almost everyone who worked for him last time has said that Trump is dangerous and should not get re-elected.

All the bullies support Trump, because he will let them do whatever they want to do (to us).

Being President of the United States is the most power any one person can have. Our highest court just ruled that the president doesn’t even have to obey the law. That is why it is terribly important that we choose someone who will use that authority only to do the things we have asked them to do, and never, ever, ever abuse that power for personal gain or to control people.

If you believe that we have the right to be free, that our government works for us, that it should protect our freedom, and that its power should never be abused, then:

Vote for Kamala Harris, Tim Walz and all the Democrats on your ballot.

Reason #1: The Future

We need to stabilize our climate.

The weather is getting weirder: hotter heat waves, bigger floods, and scarier storms. A blanket of pollution is trapping heat in our atmosphere and overheating our oceans. Scientists tell us that if we don't reduce that pollution, it will get a lot worse. We don't want to find out if people in Phoenix can survive 140° or what a Category 6 hurricane would do to Miami.

The good news is that we can do something about it, and Democrats already are doing something about it. We can switch to using clean, renewable electricity for everything. This is already happening. We are building this new infrastructure now.

Republicans are trying very hard to convince people that none of this is happening, because their pals are making a ton of money. Big oil companies discovered this danger in the 1950’s. Instead of warning us, they paid a bunch of scientists to lie about it.

Why is this the number one issue for this election?

In time, we could recover from more economic exploitation, even from a dictatorship. But when it comes to stabilizing the weather, we don’t have the time. If we stop our progress, even for four years, things could happen that we could never fix. I know that’s scary, but it’s true. We can fix this, but we have to do it now.

Trump literally solicited a bribe from the gas and oil companies. He said he would stop all these programs if they gave him a billion dollars. Republican politicians and oil company owners are basically saying to all of humanity: “Hey - we don't give a s*** what happens to everybody, as long as we keep making money.”

Instead of putting on the brakes, we need to speed this process up. We need to use our government to get everyone on board and help people make the switch. That is exactly what Kamala Harris will do, if we elect her and enough Democrats to control both the U.S. Senate and the House.

If you want us to do whatever it takes to reduce that pollution and stabilize our climate as soon as possible, to keep this Earth safe for us and our kids and grandkids, then:

Vote for Kamala Harris, Tim Walz and all the Democrats on your ballot.

Your vote will determine whether our economy becomes more fair, whether we are free to run our own lives or our lives are taken over by bullies, and even whether our world remains safe for us to live in.

So please, VOTE.

Learn more about how to vote here.

There are links below about other good ways to learn!