We are a couple of weeks from the midterm election. Whether you are a Republican, Democrat or an Independent, please don’t just vote for someone because of the letter behind their name. Look at what they are planning on doing once they are elected. I personally consider myself an Independent but it is getting harder and harder to vote for Republican candidates with some of the policies they want to put in place.

Now that the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe vs. Wade, the Republican party is going to extremes in taking away the rights for women’s health care. One of the men running to be elected stated in a speech that young school-age girl’s monthly cycles should be monitored by the school nurse just to make sure they don’t become pregnant. In the case she did, she could be watched by government “watchdogs” in order to make sure she does not seek an abortion. This really is only one of the extreme measures they are talking about if they are put in charge.

The Republican party is talking about reviewing Social Security and Medicare benefits along with veteran benefits. They plan on doing a review every five years and then will decide whether they will reauthorize it or not. The only problem with this is the money in Social Security is our money. Money is being taken out of our paychecks and put into an account until we need it. What gives them the power to decide if we can have it or not? Nothing in current law! The veteran benefits were promised to the men and women who put their lives on the line to protect you and me. If they got hurt, they were promised that the government would have their backs. But now this benefit might be taken away.

Yes, there are many issues with the economy. Prices are high and it’s hard to make ends meet. But these are short-term issues. Taking these benefits away will not make it better. It will put many seniors and veterans in a life-or-death situation. If they don’t have the money promised to them, it will more than likely cause more people to go into a poverty situation and may even cause an increase in suicide.

The funny thing is the elected people talking about this will receive retirement benefits at age 62, after only serving five years. Now think about your job, do you qualify for retirement after five years or do you have to work 40 or 50 years to be able to retire? If they are so worried about the overspending in government made they should only get paid when they are in Washington working and not get paid while they are running for office. Right now they seem to be in a lot of recesses. Don’t you wish you could take a recess for your job and still get paid?

Again don’t just vote R, D or I, unless you know what their party’s platform is. It can hurt you in the long run otherwise.