Dear Dad,
I want to start this off by saying I love you. You have done so much for me over my life and I feel like that should not go unnoticed. I am grateful that you took an active role and raising me, as I know so many people who did not have a father or even a father figure to support them. So for that, I am grateful.
The 2016 presidential election put up the most obvious divide between us. I don’t know who you supported in the primaries, either because I wasn’t listening or because you never told me. I remember walking out of dinner one night to sit in the car because you and mom decided to talk about politics and I think that’s when you said who you were supporting. I knew you were a Republican and I knew that you’d be voting Republican for this election. But when it came down to the final race, you cast your vote for Donald Trump.
When Mom told me, I didn’t speak to you for two weeks. I felt betrayed by you, even if you were just trying to look out for us and do what was best for your family. Because if you really wanted to do what was best for us, you wouldn’t have cast your vote for a misogynistic billionaire who wants to take away our healthcare and deport some of my friends. You voted against the interests of your two daughters and your son who relies on prescriptions to function normally.
You know I don’t share your political views. We’ve clashed over gun control and pro-choice issues enough times for it to be obvious. I don’t think you expected me to be so politically outspoken. I was quiet and shy as a child and I think you associated that with compliance. So when I said I wanted stricter gun laws or when I did pro-immigration graffiti mere blocks from your office downtown, you didn’t know what to do. Because you didn’t know what to you, you just told me how you didn’t approve like it would make me change my mind.
I hope you’re seeing that your decision to support a man like Donald Trump has had more negative results than positive ones. I hope you saw it when one of mom’s students got deported and you saw how heartbroken she was. I hope you see it with the #MeToo movement and Dr. Christine Blasey-Ford’s testimony. I hope you know that your actions are affecting your family and not in the way you wanted them to.
I’ve gotten my absentee ballot. I voted on Nov. 6. and voted for as many liberal Democrats as possible. I want to make the country safe for everybody, not just those in my immediate family.
I don’t want to look past this. You are a contributor to hateful speech and actions, even if you yourself never uttered a word. But I still want you to be my dad. So I hope that one day we can talk about this and I can tell you all of these things and you’ll have an open mind. Until then, I’ll see you at the polls.
Love, Abby