Hail to the Chief

The National Election is only a couple of days away.  Normally that’s a time for hope, renewal and OK, a little bit of mud slinging.  This year is different.  The Election so far has been filled with back-stabbing, vitriol, wild accusations and some of the dirtiest partisan politics I’ve ever seen…and that’s just the news broadcasts.  The Candidates have been even worse.

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Even so, I still hold out hope that we’ll get a President who will strengthen the economy, keep us strong and safe and not take away any more of our Civil Liberties.  Mind you, I don’t expect to get it but I do hold out hope.

To tell you the truth, for the first time in my life, I’m scared by the possible outcomes of this election.  I have voted in every Presidential election since I was 18.  There have been times when I’ve had a hard time making up my mind who to vote for but there was never a time when I was scared by my choices.  Until now.

Let’s look at the Major Candidates

Jill Stein – Green Party

My strongest objection to Jill Stein isn’t her Party or her Platform.  It’s her background…or more precisely, her lack of it.  She has only held one elected office and that was Town Meeting Representative for Lexington, Massachusetts.

She’s run for Governor, State House of Representatives and Secretary of the Commonwealth in Massachusetts but she’s only ever been elected as Town Meeting Representative.  She doesn’t have any experience in any Executive office…not even Mayor of a small town.

That lack of experience takes her out of the running for me.  She might be an absolute genius of a President God’s  and Gift to both Foreign and Domestic policy but with her current resume I don’t see how we can take that leap of faith.

Gary Johnson – Libertarian Party

Gary Johnson and his running mate, Bill Weld are both two-term Governors.  They both have the experience of holding Executive office…and they both did it in States where the majority of voters were not from their party which at the time was Republican.

Johnson finished his terms with reduced taxes and a budget surplus.  Weld did similar good things during his tenure.  Neither has had political or other scandals.  Both men are strong supporters of Civil Liberties, Religious Freedom, Internet Freedom, Abortion Rights and the Environment.

The problem is, the only way Johnson can win the Presidency is to get enough Electoral votes to keep either of the front runners from getting 270 Electoral votes.  If that happens, according to the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution, the House of Representatives votes for President.  That actually happened in 1825 when the House elected John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson.

The other problem – at least for me – is that I don’t agree with a lot of what Johnson wants to do…or at least how he wants to do it.  For instance, he wants smaller government but wants to achieve it by closing entire departments like the Department of Education.  He wants to change the tax laws but he wants to change it to a Fair Tax system – nice on the surface but it could allow for easy tax evasion.  He wants to cut Federal spending but he wants to do it by cutting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.  Essentially, he’s a somewhat scary long shot.

Hillary Clinton – Democratic Party

Former First Lady, former Senator, former Secretary of State – she’s been in and around the White House for years.  She’s shown that she has what it takes to do difficult jobs.  She’s known and respected by world leaders.  And she’s a party politician just like every other one we’ve been dealing with for the last 50 plus years.

That’s really the thing that bothers me the most about her.  Yes, I know about the emails and about Bengazi and about all the other stuff, too.  And guess what?  She’s no worse (and a damn sight better) than a lot of other Presidential Candidates…and Presidents.  Look up how many emails were lost and how many US Diplomats were killed during George W. Bush’s time in office.  Look at all the scandals that occurred while Ronald Reagan was in office.  Now, can we move on, please?

My main issue with Clinton is that she’s just like every politician before her.  She’s a Party wheel horse.  She’ll push the Democratic line, get continually attacked and stone-walled by the Republicans and WOW, haven’t already had enough of that?  Let’s move on.

Donald Trump – Republican Party

I could write a tome on why I don’t like Donald Trump.  From his misogyny to his racism to his flip-flopping on issues to his out-and-out lies on what he’s said and not said.  If he wasn’t running for President, that last one would be funny.  I mean, COME ON!!!  He’ll say something in public and on tape.  It’ll make the news and be talked about all over the planet.  Then, two weeks later he’ll say he never said it.  It’s scary…because I actually think he believes it when he said he didn’t say it.

What’s scarier still is that his followers definitely believe it.  Some of them I can actually have a conversation with and they’ll defend their decision to vote Trump over Hillary with calm deliberation.  Then there are the ones that don’t bother with anything approaching rational thought and just keep repeating, “Trump will make America great again!” like it’s a Buddhist mantra and they’re seeking enlightenment.

Either way though, they all seem to gloss over the fact that he has lied repeatedly.  They step around the fact that he has encouraged his followers to commit violence.  They excuse the fact that he hasn’t released his tax returns like everyone else has.  And they flat out ignore the fact that he has repeatedly made statements about all the wonderful things he’s going to do when elected…but he hasn’t given hardly a single detail about HOW he’s going to do them.

Add in the accusations of sexual misconduct and assault, the thin skin that makes him attack anyone who takes a stand against him, his seeming inability to understand that nukes are bad and we don’t want everyone to have them and we don’t want to use them and you have someone who is, in my opinion, quite possibly the single worst candidate for President in the history of the United States.

So you see my dilemma…

Who do I vote for?  I have four candidates, none of whom I can really get behind.  One is too inexperienced.  One wants to make changes that I don’t agree with.  One is the same old thing we’ve always had.  And one is…too many bad things for me to list.

Eight years and this is the best that the major parties have to offer the American people.  I don’t know whether to call it pathetic or scary.  Regardless, America needs better choices and there are none on the ballot.

My advice is to go out and vote.  Vote your conscience.  Vote for who you think is the best of a bad lot.  Vote against the candidate you don’t want.  But whatever you do, VOTE!!!  It’s your responsibility as a citizen.  It’s your duty to your country.  Plus, you don’t get to bitch for the next for years if you don’t.

Oh, and one final bit of advice.  Vote Out The Incumbents!

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