EXPOSED BY THE LIMELIGHT

EXPOSED BY THE LIMELIGHT

Although Americans did not go to the polls particularly to vote for Mike Pence, the 2016 presidential election did revitalize his political career. The people of Indiana know more about Mike Pence than the American public. Before he was selected to be Donald Trump’s running mate he was campaigning to be reelected as the governor of the state of Indiana. Public opinion polls showed that it was a tight race between Mike Pence and the democratic candidate John R. Gregg. The approval ratings for Mike had dropped into the low 40’s and over 52% of the citizens of Indiana disapproved of his handling of education and gay rights issues.

Mike Pence is presently basking in the limelight as Donald Trump’s selection for VP. He was handpicked solely to guarantee that Donald Trump would receive the evangelical vote. Mike Pence has a long record   of supporting policies that work against women and the LGBT community. Donald Trump knew if he chose a white, homophobic male as his running mate, white Republican Christians would rally behind that decision.

Right-wing, conservative Christians support Mike Pence not because he wants to incarcerate murderers, rapists, and thieves, but because he wants to jail any same-sex couple applying for a marriage license. All they know, and all they want to know about him, is that he hates homosexuals. Mike Pence is the greatest threat to the LGBT communities of any leader in recent history. He is by far the most extreme anti-gay candidate ever to run on a national GOP ticket.

Mike Pence received boos from the audience and cast of the Broadway production “Hamilton” because they knew of his strong stance against human rights issues in the state of Indiana. After the performance actor Brandon Dixon spoke directly to Mike Pence: “We, sir, are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us . . . .”  

FACT: In 2013 Mike Pence signed a bill that would put gay couples in jail for simply applying for a marriage license.

He attempted to use anti-gay bigotry as religious liberty. He was willing to jail marriage clerks who supplied a license or clergy who performed the weddings. He spent millions of taxpayers’ dollars to enforce this bill.

FACT: In March of 2015 Mike Pence signed a bill entitled The Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

On the surface this bill appeared to be something beneficial for religion.  But in a detailed analysis it proved to be designed primarily to discriminate against LGBT citizens.  It was another one of Mike’s attempts to use religion as a disguise for discrimination. From the very beginning this bill provoked an outrage from the general public.

FACT: In 2007 he voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

FACT: As the governor of Indiana he voted against equal pay for women and minorities.

FACT:  He voted against raising the minimum wage.

FACT: He publicly stated that smoking cigarettes “DOES NOT KILL.”

FACT: In 2015-2016 Christian ministers stood in pulpits all across America threatening church members with the wrath of God if they did not vote for the Trump-Pence ticket.

Never before in history have preachers taken such an active roll in the election of a US President as they did in the 2016 presidential election.  Knowing that the next president would be able to appoint at least three   Supreme Court Justices, their main objective was to overthrow the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage and Roe v. Wade. The Marriage Equality Act gives same-sex couples the legal right to marry, and Roe v. Wade gives women the legal right to make a choice pertaining to abortion. Millions of Americans believe it is wrong for Christians to attempt to pass laws that will force religious principals   on a free society.

  

Mike Pence is an advocate of conversion therapy. This therapy is a misguided approach for the cure of homosexuality. All of the nation’s leading professional medical and mental health associations have rejected conversion therapy as unnecessary, ineffective, and dangerous.

Yet Mike Pence has publicly stated he intends to establish conversion therapy centers all across America. When he was governor of Indiana he tried to convert funds used in the prevention of HIV/AIDS to establish conversion therapy centers. California was the first state to pass a law forbidding the use of conversion therapy, and that action now has been followed by many other states. 

Mike Pence has shown time and time again that he cannot govern for all the people, but only for the ones that he approves. Americans have in Mile Pence a vicious, smooth talking wolf wrapped in a religious WHITE fleece of sheep’s clothing, and soon he will be just one heartbeat away from the presidency of the United States. 

For over two hundred years gay Americans have been beaten, jailed, and murdered for the simple reason of being gay.  Thousands of gay individuals have paid the ultimate price with blood so that all LGBT citizens could one day be free. Now Americans have elected a bigot and a homophobe to be the future leaders of the US government.  How long will it be before America will be able to live up to the creed of allowing all Americans to be free?   

 

THE MASTER GATOR

THE MASTER GATOR OF AMERICA’S SWAMPLANDS

The MASTER GATOR has chosen as his first priority to drain the swamp. But a TV celebrity stands in the middle of the swamp without any experience in political swamp draining. Draining the swamp will be difficult because the voters have returned to the swamp the same slime that created the swamp in the first place. The swamp is filled with a poison where Congressional votes are for sale to the highest bidder. America’s working-class know this but apparently do not care because they continue to vote for the same swamp gators year after year. If recent cabinet appointees provide any signal, it is that the swamp is being flooded rather than being drained.

The political reality is that Americans have elected a TV celebrity to be the next president of the United States. He has disrespected women, made fun of the handicapped, called Latino Americans disgraceful names, and stood unashamed while thousands of his supporters cheered. He built a campaign based on a series of falsehoods, and he used Fox News to promote them as the truth. Preachers have condoned his sexist remarks, while Christians shouted amen.

Political opportunists have encouraged his narcissistic behavior with so many pats on the back that his suit has been rubbed thin.  He has refused to show his tax returns but his supporters do not care. He is a bully, homophobe, sexist, and racist, and yet thousands of Americans believe this leopard can change his spots. He did not receive a majority of the popular vote, but his popularity has soared to the point that many in the media are now afraid to disagree with him. Donald Trump believes his truth is the only truth, and he represents an extremism that is a disease that can kill a democracy.

Political campaigning has reached a point in America where words spoken have no meaning. Many Americans have become so numb to a corrupt political system that they do not expect a candidate to follow through on his campaign promises.

Many of Donald Trump’s supporters are saying we should give him a chance to see what he can do. I strongly disagree. Donald Trump was a part of the coalition of Republicans and Fox News who refused to give America’s first black president a chance. In fact, they tried every political trick in the book to destroy him. Donald Trump denied Obama’s birth certificate and then blamed his opponent when the truth was revealed. He has little regard for the truth and he needs to be tested in the early days of his administration. Donald Trump does not have the stamina, temperament, or the intelligence of Barack Obama.  If he is given a dose of the same medicine that was given his predecessor, he will collapse, and his supporters need to witness the collapse.      

The real ignorance of Donald Trump is already shown in the Carrier Deal. Carrier made 7.5 billion dollars in profits in 2015. They paid their five top executives an annual salary of 50 million dollars each.  In the Trump deal Carrier received 7 million dollars in financial incentives to keep 1000 jobs in the US.  But 1300 jobs will still be outsourced to Mexico and one facility in Indiana will be closed.  Now every corporation in America can hold the United States government hostage by threatening to send jobs to Mexico in order to receive financial incentives plus huge tax breaks. The man who brags about being a master dealmaker has just made one of the worse economic deals ever made in the history of the United States.