A POLITICAL SOPHIE'S CHOICE

After the last presidential election, I came to the conclusion that what I would like was an election between two political philosophies, not two political personalities. I thought maybe if we had two people who represented the extremes of the Democrat and Republican parties, we could ditch the personalities and focus on what each party would do for/to the country. I envisioned the likes of Ted Cruz and Elizabeth Warren. While they would follow the standard political procedures of name calling (Unlikable Ted and Fauxahontas) and stay away from any in depth discussion of the topics, at least they would be relatively transparent in that we could see through them to the beliefs of their respective parties.

As they say, "Watch out what you wish for." I got two very different candidates. The Democrat Hillary Clinton, a far left ideologist who has never let principles get in her way and will go in whatever Liberal direction she feels she needs to and still get elected (Against same-sex marriage, then for it. For the Iraq war, then against it.) On the other side we have Donald Trump who is really no political party or particular ideology at all but is representing the Republican party. Both Hillary and Donald are so polarizing and have such negative and positive forces surrounding them, we voters are having a hard time getting through to what they actually represent, and what they represent is what we should be voting for. It seems for every one issue discussion, there are nine slings of mud. They both may be adults, but they are adults playing kids in the school yard.

Let's take another look at lil' Donnie and Hilly:

As a Conservative, here is my take on Hillary. She has been in public life for almost three decades. She has been the wife of an Attorney General, the First Lady of Arkansas, and First Lady of the United States. She has been a State Senator, Secretary of State, and has run twice for the Presidency. Pretty impressive resume! There is an old saying in business, "Does a person have 30 years experience, or one year experience 30 times?" With a resume like Hillary's, there should be pages of her accomplishments at the ready, but sadly they are not easily available or maybe she is just humble and doesn't wish to publicize them. There are a couple of reasons we should look carefully at Hillary and her qualifications to be President. 1) We are paying her salary. 2) President Obama has said, "There has never been a man or a woman more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as President of the United States." ( Take that Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Kennedy and Reagan). This is a curious statement given that in 2008 Obama said, "(Hillary) will say anything and change nothing" That doesn't sound very positive for the most "qualified" man or woman to be President. If you wish to find out what her accomplishments have been, you can check out the small print in Wikipedia.

Today the surveys show that 70% of the population is dissatisfied with the direction of the country.

This does not reflect badly on Hillary because your previous research, I'm sure, will have revealed that she didn't do much to help or hurt the country. I wonder who then is causing this 70% dissatisfaction? If it wasn't Hillary, and Obama's approval numbers are 54%, possibly the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development is dragging everybody down?

Hillary said in 2001, when she and Bill left the White House, "We came out of the White House not only dead broke, but in debt," and after a stolen furniture mix-up with the White House, they must have settled down to maximize their earnings. In a mere 15 years The Clintons are now worth about $111,000,000 from paltry book sales and a few $250,000 20 minutes speeches to primarily financial institutions. I assume the speeches were very good because of what she charged. (Why else would an industry pay that kind of money?) But, I guess we won't know because the scripts seem to have been misplaced. Could she have emailed the scripts to herself on her private server?

I don't think it is any secret that many women will vote for Hillary because they identify with her. She leads Trump with women 59% to 35% . I understand the significance to women of the first woman President. Women have had the vote for 96 of our country's 240 years. It's about time, but let's not blow it. Hillary is a woman in chromosome numbers and appearance only. Internally Hillary has shown to possess every manly trait all politicians who have reached that level possess. She is ruthless, plays very loose with the truth, is conniving, calculating, shrewd, ambitious, arrogant, foul mouthed, and untrustworthy. Now, I am not saying that Trump isn't all of these things and maybe more, I'm just saying when the pro-Hillary folks say it's time for a woman in the White House, I think they mean it's time for someone who thinks like a woman to be in the White House, a President who has all the good traits of successful past Presidents plus charm, kindness, compassion, and is supportive, loving, considerate and nurturing. If she doesn't bring these generic female attributes to the table as it relates to getting the job done, a man will do just as well. Let's not waste the first woman President on someone with more baggage than O'Hare at Thanksgiving.

As a Conservative, here is my take on Donald Trump. It would be fair to say that he was not my first choice as the Republican Presidential nominee. I thought he was good to shake up the primaries but that would be it. I did not properly gauge the discontent of the folks. With 70% of the country dissatisfied, and most people with an understating of the concept, "you keep doing what you're doing you keep getting what you got," I guess none of us should be surprised. Trump has a message that resounds with many people, it's the messenger people have trouble with. He has, to say the least, a "unique" personality. He is a loose cannon with a malfunctioning filter, but he's what we have.

An important thing to remember, when analyzing Trump's approach to politicking, is that he never directed his life towards politics. He was a business man in Real Estate and he did what he needed to do to succeed in his chosen field. Hillary chose politics and did what she needed to do to succeed in a very different profession. Yes, he failed big time in certain ventures. You only fail big time if you try big time ventures. When discussing Trump's failures, let's not forget HillaryCare. (Apparently the media has.)

Trump has been called racist when ever he says some thing about another race, true or not. He is called a misogynist when ever he says something uncomplimentary about a woman, true or not. He is called a bigot when he has an opinion differing from the PC crowd, true or not. He is accused of being a liar, and with that it's hard to tell him from his opponent. He is accused of being a narcissist which I'm surprised people even notice after eight years with Obama.

The establishment of both parties belittle Trump's "basket of deplorable" at their peril. From Obama's evaluation that small town America is" bitter and cling to their guns and religion," and just recently in an Article by Garrison Keillor where he wrote about Trumps following of "angry white people" saying "Maybe instead of selling luxury condos and golf memberships, he’ll (Trump) have to turn to trailer parks and tattoo parlors. " Isn't that sweet!

My vote is primarily for who can deliver the Conservative philosophy. Therefore I am not happy to be basically called a gap-toothed ignoramus for voting for Trump. Who else would I vote for? What the Left is forgetting is the deep passion the poor, uneducated, angry, white people have for their country, traditions, military, police, old people and heroes. The committed Left is moving the country away from all of those elements of life the common folks hold dear, and Trump has tapped into that.

I've just been re-watching the movie Patton. The beginning is classic. George C. Scott, playing the general, is standing in front of a giant flag and giving a pep talk to his troops. This movie played in 1970. In the 46 years since this movie opened, the US has changed, and in my opinion, not for the better. If that scene were played today on a college campus, half the audience would run screaming from the theater looking for their "safe place." (I'm sure it would be OK if the scene were replaced with one of the General humping his secretary.) This kind of change I lay in the lap of Liberalism.

Remembering all the major issues we're dealing with today, issues such as ISIS, the economy, immigration, budget, crime, debt etc. is important because Trump has had nothing to do with any of it. Hillary has been in on all of it, and 70 % of the public is dissatisfied. Trump would provide new eyes on the problems, the eyes of a successful, experienced business man. I personally believe the executive branch needs to be run as a business, but I have heard a progressive radio host say the government is not a business, it's more like a family. If that's the case, maybe Trump wouldn't help, and we would need to put ourselves in the loving, caring hands of Momma Hillary. With differing beliefs like that, it's a wonder we get anything done.

As a Conservative, I vote for Conservative political principles. The name representing those principles can change every 4 years. Our Hillary and Donald options this time around are flawed, but we owe our country our vote. As a Liberal, the way our system is designed and if you are happy with the direction and the philosophy of Liberalism, you should vote for Hillary. If you are a Conservative and see your vision of America fading away to the detriment of your children and grandchildren, you should vote for Donald. (If you are not really sure if you lean left or right, check out my previous Blog entry dated 9-2-16 titled, Let's Get Into The Weeds.)

With these last 8 years of attempting to put down America to a place equal with all other countries, I'm looking for a cheer leader. With these last 8 years of gridlock, I'm looking for the art of the deal. With these last 240 years of politicians, I'm looking for a real person. So, with reservation but optimism, Donald Trump (this election cycle's name for my political philosophy) will have my vote.