Listen folks, I am just as troubled and apprehensive as anyone with the GOP choice, but our Party and it's voters have spoken. For whatever reason and logic that escapes me they have been willing dupes gulled by and drawn like Lemmings to simplistic marketing slogans like "Make America Great Again" heretofore lacking in any specificity or concrete detail. I am disappointed as are many lifelong Conservatives, but there is obviously some real anger and resentment that has festered and been inflamed like a boil ready to explode and this is now the result. The GOP identified electorate is so angry with the past 8 years of Obama and I believe with some unrealistic understanding of how party leadership has had to deal with it that they don't care if the baby is thrown out with the bathwater. I think just as in the heat of an argument, reason gets lost within rhetoric. Gaining the House without the Executive branch and only having control of the Senate for 2 years raised unrealistic expectations which have obviously not been met by Trump devotees.
We Conservatives in the past have eschewed the folks that backed Ron Paul or were Tea Party Conservatives and some of their actions when they didn't get their way with their Candidate winning. Many of them instead of unifying behind Romney made the intellectually dishonest emotional argument that Mitt would be no different than Obama. I am also sure that many Evangelicals misguidedly withheld their vote for their principles because Romney is a Mormon; regardless of the fact that his faith on Moral and Social issues would have mirrored EXACTLY the same as theirs did. So back in 2012 they took their Ball (Votes) and went home refusing to vote for Romney on principle, or voted Ron Paul as write-in. Collectively, they all likely voted Obama in for 4 more devastating years.
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| Disgruntled GOP voters burn Voter Cards in protest |
Anyone with a capacity for logical analysis knows that there would have been a huge difference in the past 4 years, under Mitt Romney vs. Obama. Lets start a list, shall we? Economic policy. Foreign Policy. Defense/National Security policy. Terrorist policy. Justice Dept. Policy. Immigration Policy. Health Care Policy.Energy Policy. Environmental Policy. Regulatory Policy. Tax Policy. Trade Policy.... AND of course Supreme Court Judicial Appointments. My point is simply this, for those that would flippantly argue casting away their crucial and critical votes for Hillary directly or indirectly either by casting a superfluous 'principled' vote for an impossible write-in failed nominee or candidate choice, or voting her in with a Trump vote withheld. Those considering this path best think long and hard about the consequences of 4 or 8 more years of what the last 8 looked like and brought us. Think about how difficult it will be to reverse our National decline and indebtedness if we lose this year. Yes it is true that Trump is not my 1st choice, probably he would be near my last of all that ran, but I will vote for him and I will support him, not with the enthusiasm of Reagan but I will because in the final analysis, pragmatism and logic will "Trump" my emotions and disappointment in his gaining the Nomination. (oh jeez I think I feel better already, that metaphor didn't hurt nearly as much as I thought it would) I shall temper my disappointment with the realization that while his positions and policies may not entirely reflect my personal checklist; I know with certainty that there will be a terrific difference between Trump vs. Hillary or Sanders on the issues and policies I cited above. The differences will be as stark and mirror my own as they were between Mitt Romney and Obama. Ironically this analogy and metaphor was lost on Romney himself with his recent tirade and ill-advised effort to undermine Trump. We cannot afford to abandon logical pragmatism any more than those that boycotted Romney back in 2012 that we found fault with and likely gave us four more years of Obama and policies that Comrade Hillary and Sanders would double-down on. The stakes are simply too great. Game on.
Michael Bednarz
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