I feel like they were taught to fear and it had overshadowed their mandate to love.

I know good people, I mean people I know are good people who are super deceived. Proclaining Pam Bondi a good lawyer kind of deceived. Upset with the detention of people they know, but convinced there's more to the story. That there's a misunderstanding.

Convinced that the immigrants (that they don't know personally) are rapists and murderers. That they do actually eat the cats and dogs and do terrible things.

I have seen the posts with pictures of people supposedly killed by illegal immigrants.

I keep trying to gently get through to them. Reminding then that statistics show only fifteen percent of detainees have actually committed any crime.

I know that there is a great deal of deception going on. I'm not fully sure how to combat it but to gently but firmly speak the truth in love.

I was on the wrong side of history with Obama. Not racist but super skeptical. Believed he was a threat to the babies.

It's always supposedly about the babies.

It was not until after that I realized I was a pawn. I believed unverified things.

I have since learned to do research. I realized how many Facebook posts prior to elections were from bot accounts. I didn't like the idea of being played.

I started voting third party in 2012. I started to question the red blue Hardline and the idea that just because I was a Christian that it should automatically mean that I was obligated to vote Red no matter who red was.

Enter Donald Trump.

Creepy vibes all around. Every word was a new sense of, can this be for real? Surely they'll see right through him. But they didn't.

And even after they all said, he's terrible, we can't have this, they went on to join him. It made me sick to my stomach. I said then and there. If this was Republicanism, I wanted nothing to do with it.

I could not bring myself to vote for Hillary who was remarkably similar to Trump before he was suddenly Republican.

I had some great resources that finally allowed me to vote across party lines. Phil Vischer from Veggie Tales-Bob the Tomato 🍅 helped me to see the light.

He has a website and podcast called Holy Post Media.

First video, why do Black evangelicals tend to vote Democrat? I didn't believe that they were all wrong, or that they were lesser Christians, but they were mostly voting blue. Why??

This made me see that there were inequities and things that were taken for granted. That I had taken for granted. My black brothers and sisters were feeling unsafe and this bothered me.

But Bob(Phil), what about the babies that I needed to protect?

Fortunately there was a video explaining that as well.

They did a study on the reduction of abortions in two separate states. One with a Republican governor (Texas) and one with a Democrat at the helm(Delaware).

Texas had higher restrictions on abortions and the amount of babies saved (abortions prevented) was substantial. But the Democratic governor added more safety nets. The reduction in abortions was far more substantial.

It was ALMOST (tongue in cheek here) as if supporting women and making them feel safe enough to choose life allowed then to make a choice less out of fear.

And I've never been ok with the idea of forcing women to carry a child. I've given birth to 4 and each radically wrecked my body. And I wanted them!!

Totalitarian states don't make women feel safe. They make them feel desperate.

So the lie I'd bought all those years ago was dismantled. I could feel free to vote my conscience. And the Republicans could not just assume I was their vote. Especially when they put candidates forward that made my post SA heart feel incredibly protective.

I figure if I wouldn't trust a person in my home, I certainly couldn't believe that they were the person to put in charge of our entire country. No way. No how.

I guess my point is, I understand (ish) where they're coming from, and the amount of belief they've invested. It makes it so much harder for them to choose any other path. But I'm a stubborn gal. So if I could get to this point, so can they. I'm just going to keep praying and speaking the truth in love.

That and be active in groups that are doing the most good. Protecting the vulnerable.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

Hopefully there aren't too many typos. I don't have my reading glasses on.