I recently returned to my rural hometown and was unsettled by the number of Trump/Pence signs and stickers littering the front yards and car windows.

Actually, I was scared and shocked. One sign supporting Donald Trump to be our next president is unsettling, but handfuls?

I’m from a small town and know my neighbors; their conservatism wasn’t what shocked me. However, I also know them to be generally good, intelligent people, which is why their loyalty to party and not country was shocking.

Hillary Clinton isn’t perfect by any means. I’m sure there are plenty of people that can do the job as well as, if not better than her. The problem is that Trump is under no circumstances one of those people, but he is dangerously close to being our president.

Presidential elections are a nightmare. Very few people love either candidate, but that isn’t what choosing one is about. Our president should be someone who is best equipped for the job, someone capable of making rational decisions and someone who can lead a nation of incredibly diverse views.

Going to Point Park and living in the city, it’s easy to forget just how many people, good ones even, are throwing their full support at Trump. This is especially true in Pennsylvania, with two urban centers and a sea of countryfolk in between.

Trump is not a candidate good people should vote for. He’s refused to elaborate on his platform, or even offer rationale for his ideas. He has not sought the advice of experts, he has not tried to learn how to be president and he hasn’t even learned how to be in a presidential debate. Trump bullied his way through the Republican primaries and spent his campaign catering to racists and wooing white nationalists.

This is a man who refused to renounce an endorsement from the KKK. This is a man who has attacked people of color, women and the disabled while campaigning. This is a man that believes because he is a “star” he can “do anything” to a woman, whether that is kissing her suddenly or “grabbing her by the p—y.” He is openly appealing to the worst of America.

But that’s not what scares me. What scares me is people I thought I knew, who I thought were good people, also find him appealing. I can expect racists to clamor behind a racist. I did not expect reasonable Americans to view him as their candidate as well.

Donald Trump is not a successful businessman. We know that. We know he was given several million dollars from his father to start his career; he is not a self-made man. We know more often than not those businesses failed; he cannot ride successes he does not have to the White House. Trump cannot claim that his business acumen will make him a great president when it didn’t make him a great casino owner or even an okay steak salesman. I cannot believe that majority of Trump voters are basing their decision to vote for him on his ability to build buildings.

What I can believe is Americans are scared. They’ve let themselves believe that we need to be at war with the world. They’ve let themselves believe that radical Islam is the enemy, not the radicalization of young people in countries we’ve been militarizing for decades. They’ve let themselves believe that queer people and black people and Muslim people are trying to “take over” the country, or take it away from them.

They’re not. We’re not. I’m not.

I don’t think Trump is the solution many Trump voters are looking for. And I’m sorry you don’t think Hillary is either. I’m sorry we live in a country where third parties can’t be taken seriously and especially sorry that third parties in this country choose laughably unrealistic candidates.

But we can’t afford for be scared or sorry right now. We have to think to the next generations of Americans living in the world we’re creating. I don’t want a future born out of a fear, exploited by a man trying to get elected seemingly for kicks and giggles.

It is uncomfortable to confront people in your life, but if this election is important to you, and it should be, talk to your fathers, brothers, uncles, friends and neighbors. If the men in your life don’t care that the candidate they support freely and openly sexually assaults women, and then brags about it, make them care.

When my neighbors cast their ballot this November, I hope they don’t go because they’re scared or use their vote to make a “statement,” but that they give their decision the respect and weight the future of America deserves.