Lately I have been frustrated with some of the positions Knute Buehler has taken. It seems he has gone out of his way to disrespect his own party in order to prove to swing voters he is not the typical Republican.
Even though we disagree on issues that are important to me,
I will still be voting for Dr. Knute Buehler in November.
It’s Okay to Disagree
Growing up near Portland and going to college at Portland
State University as a non-Democrat you have to learn to be okay with people who
disagree with you. If I were shocked or offended every time a student or
teacher said something I disagreed with, I would have been in a constant state
of outrage.
Instead I made the choice to accept that people have
different opinions. An event that crystalized this view came my freshman year
of college when I asked, a bit naively I admit, ‘When does life start?’ I asked
this question publicly on our class forum page so everyone in class could see
and comment.
When I returned to the forum page the next day I was shocked
to find close to 100 comments. I remember thinking this was odd because we only
have about 35-40 students in the class. As I scrolled through my classmates
comments I realized two things. First thing was that I had accidentally touched
on a hot button topic. The second was that everyone had an opinion and
reasoning to back up their opinion.
This topic got heated at times and got so many replies that
my teacher brought it up in the next class session. He was excited to have the
discussion and glad to see so many of us engaged. I, only 18 at the time, was
mostly embarrassed from all the attention. Even though the class was divided on
this issue it never devolved into shouting, name calling, or cult-like
chanting.
Instead what I saw were people who were able to set aside
this difference and work together on other projects. Throughout the rest of my
time at college I had teachers openly bash candidates I had voted for. We even
had a teacher cancel the lesson plan for the day to have everyone sit in a
circle and talk about how the 2004 election made us feel.
I was uncomfortable saying I voted for Bush and mostly just
observed the meltdowns from my fellow classmates. It was clear I was in the
minority of opinion. Yet through all of this I learned that it was okay to
disagree with someone. That just because they did not think or believe the same
thing as me that did not mean they were a bad person.
While Dr. Knute Buehler and I disagree on certain issues
that does not mean he is incapable of effectively running the state. In fact I
believe he is a highly competent person and would be a vast improvement over
his opponent and the incumbent Governor Brown.
Reality Check
Some people hold out hope that a write in campaign will have
a chance at successfully getting someone into office that more aligns with
their beliefs. The optimist in me secretly hopes this is true and on a
theoretical level this might be possible.
In order for a write in campaign to work the person written
in must be both very active in promoting their candidacy as well as have
massive name recognition across the entire state. Currently no one matches that
description.
The only thing a write in campaign would accomplish would be
to split the vote. In a tight race such as this that split, even a minor one,
could end up costing Dr. Buehler the Governorship. I am not going to tell you
who to vote for, it is your right to make that choice yourself. I would just
ask that you consider everything before you cast a vote for a write in or
refuse to vote at all.
Who would you rather vote for, someone who will listen and talk
with you but might disagree with you on a few things or would you rather vote
for someone who does not need you, will not listen to you, and will do
everything they can to #resist?
End the Insanity
It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing
the same thing over and over again and hoping for a different result. Oregon
has a lot of problems facing our state. Our education system over spends and
under performs. Our roads are congested and we have a problem with homelessness
in our major cities, specifically Portland.
Will Dr. Buehler be able to solve all these problems for us?
No most likely not, after all he is only one man. While Dr. Buehler might not
be able to fix everything in our state alone he is definitely a step in the right
direction, a direction that Oregon sorely needs. It will take all of us working
together to fix these problems.
We know that over 30 years of steadily increasing Democratic
control of the state these issues have not improved, in fact they have become
worse. Even if you think Kate Brown and Knute Buehler are similar, you have to
admit they are not the same.
We can either continue to try and do the same thing over and
over hoping for a better result, or we can take a chance and try something new.
I might not agree with Knute Buehler on everything but it is okay to disagree.
In the end he is the right man for the job and any attempts to mount a write in
campaign will only result in more of the same.
When you go and vote ask yourself do you want to vote for
someone who is willing to do what is necessary to get the state back on track,
or are you going to hand the election to the party of resistance and mob rule?
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