The danger of political intimidation

Political intimidation threatens the integrity of our democracy.

Recently, someone removed a political sign at the end of my driveway. This doesn’t make America great, it makes our democracy WEAK. It is a crime and an attack on freedom of expression.

Everyone should be seriously concerned and stand up to those who believe it is okay to threaten and terrorize anyone who disagrees with them.

My wife and I feel victimized in our own neighborhood and wonder who took the sign. Many people in our neighborhood carry signs of the opposite political party and we wonder if it’s them. Some of my friends told us they were afraid to put up political signs in gardens because they feared reprisals.

Sometimes I hear people talking about taking violent action against owners who have political signs they don’t like. Terrorism is the use of force or violence against persons or property in violation of the criminal laws of the United States for the purpose of intimidating and instilling fear among the public. When there are rules regarding the use of political signs and those rules are broken and nothing is done to enforce them, it reinforces anarchy and fear. Some suggest that we should remove the US Constitution, including the First and Second Amendments, but that is what dictators in third world countries do to silence their citizens and take away their gun ownership. except for the military and a few elected officials.

Democracy is complicated, but isn’t it a million times better than living in a country where we could never publicly disagree with our leaders, like people can’t do in one-party dictatorships ? No political party has all the answers. I think having opposing political parties makes the United States stronger. My policy choices are based on the information I collect, some information correct and some false, and sometimes lack thereof. In the past, I was a state delegate and voted on over 400 issues on the party platform. I often wish voters would stop listening to political speeches, get out of the echo chamber of political news and research the facts.

What sets the United States apart from third world countries is that we treat our sewers and water, hold our political leaders legally and criminally accountable, enjoy freedom of the press and freedom of speech. expression, and that we help feed, house and educate the poor. I am happy that we are helping the less fortunate: it helps reduce crime.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has stood up to big chemical companies over the “forever chemicals” known as PFAS. He never tried to stop the manufacture and use of such chemicals, he only signed common-sense regulations to protect all Americans from exposure to the dangers of these chemicals and to protect our soil, our water and our air. It’s not politics, it’s just good for all Americans.

Regarding the political party that supports families: the TCJA (Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017) permanently eliminated the alternative minimum capital gains tax for the very wealthy, and the TCJA removed the deduction for all personal exemptions, which penalizes those with children and anyone listed on Schedule A. Imagine a family of four filing Schedule A and they could still deduct $18,000 (four personal exemptions x $4,500 adjusted for inflation since 2017 for four personal exemptions from their taxable income) and they are in a 24% tax bracket: they would have saved $4,320 in federal taxes per year. The TCJA is a Ponzi scheme to help the very wealthy pay less in income taxes.

Governments impose tariffs to raise revenue then spend more. This is another lure and another way to raise revenue (like raising taxes), so Congress can then pass legislation to cut taxes on the rich. High tariffs make products more expensive for the American consumer and manufacturing sector, and that hurts American companies trying to sell their products abroad. It is in reality a tax imposed on the American consumer.

A presidential candidate who will have the power, if elected, to immediately force the Department of Justice to drop all federal criminal charges against him is a vote for a Third World type leader who will be above the laws.