Asked a year ago, I never thought Donald Trump was a serious candidate. In the week leading up to the 2016 Republican National Convention, I thought for sure the RNC would find a more suitable, qualified candidate. I'm not a registered Republican but, as a conservative, I prefer to vote along my values, ethics, and morals. No way, no how did I ever consider Trump would actually be a presidential nominee for one of our main political parties.
But it happened and he won the race, making him American President Number 45.
Rehashing his Tweets and verbal jibes would take more space than this blog post can handle, and it's really unnecessary. Reciting the various negative names and descriptions tossed at him would be a similarly daunting task and equally as pointless. This entire campaign has been one giant mudslinging contest and it's finally come to an end... kind of.
It's only the day after and I've already seen a torrent of celebrities and Average Joes alike using phrases such as #notmypresident and #nevermypresident. I hate to break it to them (well, not really), but yes he is (as opposed to "yes we can", ha ha ha). George Walker Bush was your President, just as Barack Hussein Obama was mine, and Donald John Trump is ours. Of all the celebrity Tweets, it was former N*Sync star and current D-List celebrity Lance Bass who gave what I consider a classy concession statement regarding Trump's impending Presidency:
"I totally understand why this country has voted the way it has. The people are not happy. I respect that. Let's all please come together and influence this new President in a positive way. The country is speaking. Let's respect that and try to work together. I will try to influence this new President as much as I can and support them as much as I can. I pray that they believe in equality. I pray that they make this country a place my future children with gay parents can feel safe and thrive. Let us all try to understand why this country is upset. Let's please come together and love one another. We might not agree with everything a candidate supports, but We The People can still make our voices heard and guide this new President in the right direction. We still live in the greatest country in the world. Don't forget that! We are great and we will continue to get better!! #StrongerTogether"
Bass is completely correct: people are tired of the status-quo in Washington and in our government. For the DNC to nominate Hillary Clinton, who has over four decades of scandal, corruption, dishonesty, ill-gained wealth, hypocrisy, and innocent blood on her hands, was foolish. I contend if they'd nominated anyone else, someone with even the slightest bit of integrity who Middle America could believe in, they would've kicked Trump's ass. Instead they nominated a career politician who embodies everything wrong with Washington, D.C.
Regarding President Obama, his terms have seen record amounts of mass killings on American soil; civil unrest rivaling the most heated periods of protest during the Vietnam War; skyrocketing health care costs (made worse by his own "Affordable Care" act); many Millennials have turned into greedy, selfish brats whose feelings are more important than their accomplishments and who want everything given to them; and a level of partisan politics in Washington which has caused the government to be less effective than it's been in decades.
No wonder so many are craving change!
I'll admit to be astonished on many levels, particularly the fact Trump got more votes from ethnic minorities than Mitt Romney did in 2012. After his repeated tirades against Hispanics, threats to stop Muslim immigration, and a plethora of other offensive, boorish statements aimed at women and minorities, I'm surprised he even made it to the RNC Convention, let alone the election. As a white, middle-class man in his mid-thirties, my life experiences differ radically from those who Trump targeted with his statements. While I cannot empathize with how they may feel, I certainly understand their trepidation toward his Presidency.
For those who insist on being melodramatic and threatening a move to Canada: Leave. Get out and don't come back. Conservatives (and many moderates) have fought against President Obama for eight years, preferring to stand up for themselves rather than tucking tail and running. Part of what makes America great (sorry, Trump, it already is) is people standing up for their ideals, taking part in a democratic process. Running and hiding? You might as well be French.
The fact is we'll all survive and get through this. We may even be surprised at his successes, who knows? In Michigan, we elected a non-politician, a businessman, to be our Governor. Economically, we're doing better than we had in the years prior, and Detroit has begun mounting a comeback from 40-plus years of downfall. Trump is a businessman - often successful, sometimes a failure - but he sure isn't a politician. While I don't have a high level of confidence in him, I also cannot foresee his Presidency being as apocalyptic as his most vocal detractors are predicting.
I'd suggest he'll only be a one-term President but I've been wrong about his chances from the get-go. All we can do at this point is pray for the best, expect the worst, and end up somewhere in between. It's sure to be a wild ride.
Showing posts with label 2016 Presidential Race. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2016 Presidential Race. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Thursday, February 11, 2016
And then there were... still too many.
At last, the 2016 GOP field is whittling itself down: Huckabee and Santorum represented the lunatic fringe, the screwballs who thought that some philandering county clerk from Kentucky somehow represented the moral authority. Chris Christie was a ball of fire but blazed out quickly, Carly Fiorina had far too much corporate baggage, Rand Paul could never live up to his father's rebel standards... surely I'm forgetting someone? Who knows.
What are we left with, though? Are there really any candidates who are not only for a traditional conservative belief system but still manage to garner support from the infamous Mushball Middle? The tangerine-skinned real-estate mogul is leading the polls in the Republican field but is far too uncouth and opinionated to capture the hearts of most Americans. Besides, he donated to Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign and voted for Obama. Conservative? Nope - fraud.
Little Marco Rubio is an alright guy but I believe he suffers from the same symptom that is also one of Barry Obama's biggest downfalls: inexperience. He's also not quick on his feet during speeches, leading many (including myself) to wonder if he could go toe-to-toe with political and international foes. Ohio's Governor Kasich has done a decent job in his state as a now two-term governor and may yet provide a few surprises but so far hasn't inspired too much widespread support outside of New Hampshire.
Then there's George and Barbara's son John Ellis Bush - Jeb to the rest of us. Years ago I thought the GOP ran the wrong brother for president. With his record of being tough on crime and fiscally conservative, yet appealing to Latino voters and everyday folk, Florida's Governor seemed to, well, have it more together than George W. Bush. Now, a decade and a half later, his campaign (one that has failed to garner much enthusiasm) seems stalled. He's practical, comparatively soft spoken, and almost seems uncomfortable in the spotlight... he's the anti-Trump.
Finally we arrive in the Lonestar State with a rogue Canadian-born Cuban-American with a cocksure demeanor and a way of irritating both Liberals and some within his own party. Rafael Edward Cruz is probably the most dyed-in-the-wool Conservative candidate. He seems to have a distinct vision for where he wants to take America and doesn't give a darn if you like him or not. And that may be the problem: while he's got the decency to not play the populist vote (ahem, Oompa Loompa from New York, we're looking at you), he has thus far proven to be more polarizing than most. Yet, I kinda like the guy...
None of these choices are ideal, yet they still seem more respectable that a pseudo-feminist who voted for the Iraq War and is funded by the Top One Percent, yet claims to be for "the little guy" out there. Oh, and she got people slaughtered in Libya and didn't give a damn. Anyone who thinks Hillary Clinton cares about anyone but herself is foolishly misguided (at best). Hillary Clinton ought to be a synonym for evil in the dictionary.
And Bern? Well, there's a man whose leadership on Veteran's Affairs lead to the suffering (and in some cases, deaths) of our brave men and women returning from the Middle East in V.A. facilities, who has never had one bill passed during decades in the Senate, and who believes in pitting the haves and have-nots against one another in what would become all-out Class Warfare under his presidency. He has more integrity than Hillary, but so did Pol Pot, Idi Amin, and Joseph Stalin. If anyone wants to see our country go for broke, he's the guy to get us there.
If ever there was a case of being caught between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, the 2016 election is turning out to be that time.
What are we left with, though? Are there really any candidates who are not only for a traditional conservative belief system but still manage to garner support from the infamous Mushball Middle? The tangerine-skinned real-estate mogul is leading the polls in the Republican field but is far too uncouth and opinionated to capture the hearts of most Americans. Besides, he donated to Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign and voted for Obama. Conservative? Nope - fraud.
Little Marco Rubio is an alright guy but I believe he suffers from the same symptom that is also one of Barry Obama's biggest downfalls: inexperience. He's also not quick on his feet during speeches, leading many (including myself) to wonder if he could go toe-to-toe with political and international foes. Ohio's Governor Kasich has done a decent job in his state as a now two-term governor and may yet provide a few surprises but so far hasn't inspired too much widespread support outside of New Hampshire.
Then there's George and Barbara's son John Ellis Bush - Jeb to the rest of us. Years ago I thought the GOP ran the wrong brother for president. With his record of being tough on crime and fiscally conservative, yet appealing to Latino voters and everyday folk, Florida's Governor seemed to, well, have it more together than George W. Bush. Now, a decade and a half later, his campaign (one that has failed to garner much enthusiasm) seems stalled. He's practical, comparatively soft spoken, and almost seems uncomfortable in the spotlight... he's the anti-Trump.
Finally we arrive in the Lonestar State with a rogue Canadian-born Cuban-American with a cocksure demeanor and a way of irritating both Liberals and some within his own party. Rafael Edward Cruz is probably the most dyed-in-the-wool Conservative candidate. He seems to have a distinct vision for where he wants to take America and doesn't give a darn if you like him or not. And that may be the problem: while he's got the decency to not play the populist vote (ahem, Oompa Loompa from New York, we're looking at you), he has thus far proven to be more polarizing than most. Yet, I kinda like the guy...
None of these choices are ideal, yet they still seem more respectable that a pseudo-feminist who voted for the Iraq War and is funded by the Top One Percent, yet claims to be for "the little guy" out there. Oh, and she got people slaughtered in Libya and didn't give a damn. Anyone who thinks Hillary Clinton cares about anyone but herself is foolishly misguided (at best). Hillary Clinton ought to be a synonym for evil in the dictionary.
And Bern? Well, there's a man whose leadership on Veteran's Affairs lead to the suffering (and in some cases, deaths) of our brave men and women returning from the Middle East in V.A. facilities, who has never had one bill passed during decades in the Senate, and who believes in pitting the haves and have-nots against one another in what would become all-out Class Warfare under his presidency. He has more integrity than Hillary, but so did Pol Pot, Idi Amin, and Joseph Stalin. If anyone wants to see our country go for broke, he's the guy to get us there.
If ever there was a case of being caught between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, the 2016 election is turning out to be that time.
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Hard Times in the Land of Plenty... of candidates, that is.
I feels hard to be a conservative these days.
It shouldn't be - goals of encouraging more people working and fewer ending up on welfare; having a smaller, less intrusive government; religious freedom; the right for law-abiding citizens to own a gun for hunting and to protect themselves... these are all principles that make sense to me.
Examples of why these principles work can be found everywhere you look. Take this past Labor Day Weekend in Chicago, IL: where the right to legally bear arms has been stripped away, 8 were killed and 46 were wounded in gun violence. In a city so culturally rich and with so much history in shaping America as we know it, this statistic is disheartening.
Then there's the video that went viral recently of a 30-year-old woman who has found every loophole she can in our welfare system and has been receiving government money for 12 years, and who doesn't believe she should ever get a job because she gets a check regularly funded by us. Government assistance was designed to help get people back on their feet during difficult times - job loss, health & medical issues, natural disasters, etc. - and that's a good thing because we should do what we can to help others. But it was designed to be temporary, not as a way of life for the lazy and the sluggish.
And then we come to religious freedom, brought to the forefront of the 2016 Presidential election thanks to the refusal to issue gay marriage licences by a thrice-divorced philanderer who fathered children by one man while married to another. The issue isn't really gay marriage (a divisive issue unto itself), but that's what it's turned in to. The hypocrisy of this lady claiming that gays getting hitched ruins the sanctity of marriage has turned the issue into a three ring circus featuring clowns of all varieties (Republican candidate Mike Huckabee, anyone?).
This brings me to the subject line of this post. Showcasing common-sense conservative values has become almost impossible thanks to the ridiculous amount of Republicans vying for the Presidential nomination. When there are 16 or 17 folks up there, it's hard enough for we conservatives to make a choice, let alone those in the mush-ball middle who may or may not vote Republican. Two have since exited the race: I liked Texas Governor Rick Perry, but losing Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was no real loss at all to me.
The orange-tinted overgrown Oompa Loompa still leads many polls, but I question the validity of those numbers. We have a strong female candidate in Carly Fiorina, who is gaining but whose professional past is posing difficulties. Governor Jeb Bush is a viable candidate but is plagued both by his name and lack of excitement. And the list goes on and on and on...
I do like Dr. Ben Carson. He's been gaining in the polls and he has a lot of common-sense ideas. His professional reputation is impeccable and he's the embodiment of the American Dream: that despite coming from the hardest neighborhoods and having the odds stacked against them, a person can become a success if he or she is willing to work hard for what they want.
Now, is he the perfect candidate? No, and none of them are. In reality, the only people who see someone as an ideal candidate is the individual running. No candidate will likely ever stand 100% for my values unless I run for office myself. For now, though, he's the candidate for me.
It shouldn't be - goals of encouraging more people working and fewer ending up on welfare; having a smaller, less intrusive government; religious freedom; the right for law-abiding citizens to own a gun for hunting and to protect themselves... these are all principles that make sense to me.
Examples of why these principles work can be found everywhere you look. Take this past Labor Day Weekend in Chicago, IL: where the right to legally bear arms has been stripped away, 8 were killed and 46 were wounded in gun violence. In a city so culturally rich and with so much history in shaping America as we know it, this statistic is disheartening.
Then there's the video that went viral recently of a 30-year-old woman who has found every loophole she can in our welfare system and has been receiving government money for 12 years, and who doesn't believe she should ever get a job because she gets a check regularly funded by us. Government assistance was designed to help get people back on their feet during difficult times - job loss, health & medical issues, natural disasters, etc. - and that's a good thing because we should do what we can to help others. But it was designed to be temporary, not as a way of life for the lazy and the sluggish.
And then we come to religious freedom, brought to the forefront of the 2016 Presidential election thanks to the refusal to issue gay marriage licences by a thrice-divorced philanderer who fathered children by one man while married to another. The issue isn't really gay marriage (a divisive issue unto itself), but that's what it's turned in to. The hypocrisy of this lady claiming that gays getting hitched ruins the sanctity of marriage has turned the issue into a three ring circus featuring clowns of all varieties (Republican candidate Mike Huckabee, anyone?).
This brings me to the subject line of this post. Showcasing common-sense conservative values has become almost impossible thanks to the ridiculous amount of Republicans vying for the Presidential nomination. When there are 16 or 17 folks up there, it's hard enough for we conservatives to make a choice, let alone those in the mush-ball middle who may or may not vote Republican. Two have since exited the race: I liked Texas Governor Rick Perry, but losing Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was no real loss at all to me.
The orange-tinted overgrown Oompa Loompa still leads many polls, but I question the validity of those numbers. We have a strong female candidate in Carly Fiorina, who is gaining but whose professional past is posing difficulties. Governor Jeb Bush is a viable candidate but is plagued both by his name and lack of excitement. And the list goes on and on and on...
I do like Dr. Ben Carson. He's been gaining in the polls and he has a lot of common-sense ideas. His professional reputation is impeccable and he's the embodiment of the American Dream: that despite coming from the hardest neighborhoods and having the odds stacked against them, a person can become a success if he or she is willing to work hard for what they want.
Now, is he the perfect candidate? No, and none of them are. In reality, the only people who see someone as an ideal candidate is the individual running. No candidate will likely ever stand 100% for my values unless I run for office myself. For now, though, he's the candidate for me.
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