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I’ve gone back and forth with some of my friends on social media about the upcoming election. I’ve had me theories as to what was happening on both sides of the fence and I have been right with some things and wrong with others. Now, election day is almost here and this damn thing is going to be over soon. THANK YOU!!!
But before voting day gets here, there are a few things you should consider, if you haven’t already.
Both Trump and Clinton have their downfalls, and their upsides. However, it is for you to decide which one has the downfalls that you are willing to accept and live with. That is what they mean when they describe this election as being a choice between the lesser of two evils. Which candidate, in your eyes, is the least corrupt. That is proving to be a really hard choice.
Hard choice? Really, you say! Hillary has over thirty years of political experience and Trump has never held office. He is a buffoon and she is former Secretary Of State and former First Lady and a former Senator. the choice is obvious, you say. Is it? Lets find out.
The biggest knock so far on Trump has been his outrageous, sexist, racist and bigoted comments directed at groups of people, religions and genders. Here is the short list. He has some doozys in there. He goes after Muslims, Mexicans, women, etc. If this were a normal election year, those aforementioned comments would have most definitely sunk him before he ever got going. He surely would not have made it out of the primary at all. But in comes the rest of the GOP field and one starts to understand why Trump became the nominee.
Nonetheless, he has done things in this campaign that make it almost seem like he was trying to get booted. He said in a speech at a rally in Iowa “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot people and I wouldn’t lose voters,” Apparently he was right! I’m not sure of the numbers, but I think his poll numbers rose after he said that! Is that an indication of his voter base, or does the average voter just simply think he is the lesser of the two evils?
Now Hillary has her own demons. And they are coming at her in full force. Now keep in mind, being SOS, First Lady and a United States Congresswoman means that she has been in the spotlight for many years. Over 30, in fact. Regardless, that does not excuse one from corruption and the like. Now the list is long with her, and it covers many years. But there are a few not on this list that I take issue with.
It is well known that she has been a paid speaker at many wall street gatherings. She has been asked to release the transcripts of those speeches but has furiously refused. Why? Maybe this is one reason. In one (or maybe many) of her speeches to high level banking executives, she said that she has “both a public and a private position” on Wall Street reform and is reliant on wealthy donors to fund her campaign. Public and private? In it’s simplest form, it means that to garner votes, she has a public position on wall street reform. But to the guys on wall street who fund her campaign, her real (private) position is to keep allowing them to continue the status quo. Which is to say that they will continue to operate without fear of being governed and can operate above the law, as usual. Not cool.
Another thing I take issue with is the massive conflict of interest between her family foundation while she was SOS. Pay to Play was a very real thing and it played a vital role in not only the Clinton family using their foundation as an ATM machine but it also was an enormous factor in influencing American foreign policy. In the old days, this was called racketeering. Apparently today, it’s just called politics. But let’s give it a new name. How about Clintonomics!
During a speech as SOS to 30 to US corporate executives at a State Department Roundtable, she said “it’s time for the United States to start thinking of Iraq as a business opportunity.” This happened in 2011. The Iraq war began in 2003. Her vote, based on faulty intelligence (despite evidence that this intelligence was indeed false) helped send the United States to war and put the middle east into the most unrecoverable tailspin anyone could have ever imagined. To this point, there were approximately 186,000 recorded civilian deaths. There were also almost 4,500 US soldiers killed in Iraq. But to Hillary, these deaths represent a lucrative business opportunity. This one is a deal breaker for me.
Choosing a President is not an easy task. There are many things to consider. For some, just one thing could be a deal breaker. For instance, topics like abortion, guns or civil rights can swing a voter’s decision 180 degrees. Others look at the whole body of work to decide. The latter is probably the best way to do it. After all, no candidate is perfect and you are not always going to get everything you want out of a candidate. However, the lesser of two evils is not the way to choose your President. In fact, it’s absolutely the wrong way.
Consider for a minute the real problem with our politics. The two party system. Why do we allow it to exist? Why aren’t we open to choices and options? Why do we pigeon hole ourselves into this never ending cycle of corruption? Why do we accept the myth that a third party vote is a wasted vote? Watch this video and tell me why we allow this.
Courage. It takes courage. Find some and if you vote on Tuesday, take that courage into the voting booth with you.
Author
Don Zelichowski