A final glance at our options
Published 10:09 am Friday, October 28, 2016
With two weeks left until the general election, millions of voters remain undecided or pledged to third party candidates.
For many of these, a vote for Hillary Clinton appears to be a vote for a money-soiled centrist with little regard for accountability. They are objectively correct in this regard.
These millions of voters are justifiably discontent with the prospect of either Donald Trump or Clinton in the White House. This accounts for hundreds of millions of “likely voters” pledged to third party candidates and more deciding they won’t vote at all. These numbers mean the number of progressive millennials is enough to split the Democratic vote, thereby electing Trump as president. So stand with me in “settling” for the centrist — or concede defeat to the far right.
Other than protectionists and discriminatory “deplorables,” millions of Trump supporters are merely anti-Clinton. This “protest vote” elects a greater evil than you wish to avoid. Hillary Clinton is no doubt a soiled candidate with the corporate establishment’s endorsements, corrupt finances and deceit. But do we wish to avoid deceptive establishment politics and corporate financing by electing an all-out sociopath who, by his own admission, is a product of the same and worse?
I should add most “Conservative Republicans” are strong constitutionalists. Trump continues to attack and even threaten reporters should they say anything against him or expose his faults. His attacks on the First Amendment persist with his call for “…a complete shutdown of all Muslims entering the U.S.” The First Amendment commands “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” Trump has no regard for the First Amendment.
Trump’s assault on diversity is also a constitutional issue. How will he deport 11 million sociopolitical refugees without violating the Third Amendment, sending uniformed persons into the homes of every known immigrant? This would be one of the darkest chapters in modern American history. He has vocally supported killing families of terror suspects and slandered and demeaned Muslims, the press, Mexican refugees, women and the disabled.
The president should be both intelligent and humble. The president of the “melting pot” should be both accepting and just. A president of the 21st century should be mindful of and act on key issues such as climate change. Trump is none of these things.
So, please, in the name of democracy, in the name of intelligence, get off the couch on Nov. 8, and vote for Hillary Clinton.
Devon Jones lives in Victoria. His email address is uvijekzaboga@gmail.com.