It's cowardly and self-indulgent for anti-Trump Republicans to do anything but vote Biden

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Maryland’s Republican governor, Larry Hogan, should be ashamed of himself. Don’t get me wrong, Ronald Reagan was a great guy, but voting for him in 2020 is just wrong. We all know people like this. Some of us are people like this. We know what a danger four more years of President Donald Trump would pose to America but we can’t bring ourselves to vote for a Democrat.

First, don’t get hung up on labels. Trump was a Democrat himself until 2009. And, if you go by what the Republican party actually believed until he came along, he’s still neither a Republican nor a conservative. More to the point, this sort of tribalism is doing immense damage to America. Political parties aren’t sports teams and we shouldn’t root for them like they are. Character matters infinitely more than the letter after somebody’s name. And if you look at what Joe Biden actually believes, in a lot of ways, he’s a far better Republican than Donald Trump has ever been.

Biden is almost Reaganesque

The idea that he’s a tool of the far left is silly. He spent a long primary season staring them down. And he showed determination and a refreshing commitment to principle in doing it. Lots of other candidates did their best to please the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Biden, instead, rejected their demands on Medicare for All, the Green New Deal and a host of other issues, and was almost knocked out of the race because of it. But he didn’t panic and he didn’t flinch. The rest, as they say, is history.

In some areas, Biden is practically Reaganesque. It seems impossible now, but in 1995, America passed a balanced budget constitutional amendment in the House and came within a single vote of passing it in the Senate and sending it to the states for ratification. Joe Biden voted in favor of that amendment. It doesn’t get much more fiscally conservative than that.

President Ronald Reagan on Oct.. 7, 1984, at a debate in Louisville, Ky.
President Ronald Reagan on Oct.. 7, 1984, at a debate in Louisville, Ky.

But in a sense, that’s all window dressing. Our political sensibilities aside, we have a duty to the country that transcends our identities as Republicans or conservatives.

We ask the men and women of our military to do many difficult things and make many hard choices. None of them want to be away from their families. None of them want to witness death and destruction. None of them want to kill. Many of them come back from their service with emotional and physical scars that will not heal.

USA Editorial Board endorsement: Elect Joe Biden. Reject Donald Trump.

But they do all this because they place their country before their personal comfort and even their personal safety. No one is going to ask us to die for our country to defend it from Trump. But if you can’t find it in yourself to endure a little emotional discomfort and vote for a Democrat, you are a coward. Don’t thank these men and women for their service when you see them in the grocery store. You are spitting on that service by refusing to defend America at the ballot box while they are doing it on the battlefield.

Forget your feelings, vote for US future

This isn’t 2016. We can no longer tell ourselves little stories about how Trump will grow into the job or how the rest of the Republican Party will control Trump’s worst instincts and keep the ship of state on an even keel. None of that’s going to happen. What you have seen is what you will get for the next four years, only more erratic, more corrosive, and even less restrained.

When you vote, you are choosing between the American democratic system of checks and balances, and its destruction. And, no, that’s not melodramatic. Biden believes in our constitutional system of government and is intent on restoring it to health. Trump believes in an “Article 2" that gives him the power to do whatever he wants.

Putting policy aside lesson in honor: Conservatives voting Joe Biden over Donald Trump are patriots. Thanks for the inspiration.

This time, it isn’t possible to maintain a lofty a-pox-on-both-their-houses neutrality. It’s a time for choosing and the choice before us is crystal clear. Refusing to make that choice is both cowardly and self-indulgent. Your vote isn’t about you working through your feelings. It’s about the future of this country. And so — and I mean this in the most non-sexist and South Park way possible — it’s time to man-up and vote like your vote matters and the country’s future depends on it. Because it does.

Republican Chris Truax, an appellate lawyer in San Diego and CEO of CertifiedVoter.com, is a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump vs. Biden: don't be a coward and allow Trump to win again