This election day, which begins with Early Voting today, we have a chance to influence America’s path forward. A chance to seek out a different strategy when dealing with other countries especially China. What does voting for county clerk have to do with our national strategy for defeating their totalitarian government?

The local level of elected officials have influence on the higher levels of elected officials. That is extremely important right now because the Republicans in the Senate are blocking Build Back Better. Build Back Better is our answer to the Chinese strategy of world domination by economic means.

We have been playing a long game of economic chess with China. Xi Jinping, China’s leader, has thought several moves ahead and we are still not sure what all the pieces are called.

You can’t fight an economic war with military force. We depend on the Free Market system to give us an advantage. We are loosing that advantage by not investing in ourselves.

Xi Jinping recognized early on that it was necessary for China to invest in its own infrastructure in order to compete economically on the world stage. High speed rail can not turn a profit but the government supports it anyway because it gives them the ability to move people and goods around more efficiently. Thus increasing profits.

The Chinese are also extending their power by upgrading the infrastructure of other countries. The “Belts and Roads” Initiative is uniting Asia and Europe. They are also building roads in Africa and they want to build a canal in Nicaragua to compete with the Panama Canal.

“Made in China 2025” is a plan to dominate manufacturing on the world market. Xi Jinping has been manipulating the Chinese economy to the detriment of American businesses.

Plastic recycling is a perfect example. For decades China took our shampoo bottles and empty jugs of laundry soap. They were melted down and made into extremely cheap Chinese goods that broke easily. These goods flooded the market and put American factories at a disadvantage. Then Xi Jinping announced, “China will no longer take the worlds garbage.” We have been having disposal problems ever since. Not a devastating blow but still a drag on our economy.

Another strategy the Chinese have been using is luring corporations into moving their factories to China. Corporations took advantage of China’s cheap labor and lack of health and safety checks. Poison is cheap and the Chinese use it freely. Now that so many components are made there they can cripple our industry by holding up important parts.

By contrast the strategy we used in Afghanistan was disastrous. We must change from “hard power” military tactics to “Soft power” cultural and diplomatic tactics. We have many diplomatic tools. We can withhold aid until women are allowed to go to school and work.

We didn’t ask ourselves what were we doing in Afghanistan in the first place. We fought the Afghan war for corporations not Afghani freedom. The military contractors made trillions by selling us weapons and supplies. Our dead soldiers were a price they were willing to pay.

Now that the war with Afghanistan is over the corporations are looking for a new enemy. They have found it in China. Military force will not help us in this struggle. We must beat the Chinese at their own game. They want to build a canal in Nicaragua. We can fight them by beating them to it. Economic development is the way to preserve our influence on North and South America. What does this have to do with voting in local elections? Build Back Better is our answer to China. The more people who vote Democrat the stronger our message to the Republicans to put the economy in front of the military. Only by acting together can we keep ourselves out of the next war the corporations are planning.

Voting is one way to support Build Back Better. Talking directly to politicians is another way to influence our government. In Chautauqua County, we have three prominent Republicans in Assemblyman Andrew Goodell (716-664-7773), Sen. George Borrello (716-664-4603) and County Executive PJ Wendel (716-661-7211). Call each of them and tell them we want to fight the Chinese on the economic front. Tell them to support “Build Back Better.”

Marie Tomlinson is a Fredonia resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com