By Randy Simmons, West Chester OH
In my recent article “Which Version of the American Dream are you Fighting for in this Election”, I made the point that all of our presidential candidates have character flaws and that it is important to keep in mind that this election is more than just about the candidates – it is about the ideology and platform of their respective party they were elected to represent.
This Coming Election Is About Big Government vs. Small Government
- Expanding Social Services that encourage dependency vs. Social Services that encourage independence.
- Higher income taxes to support expanding social programs vs. lower taxes where you keep more of what you earn and stimulate the economy with your own spending.
- Socialism, where wealth is redistributed to others while discouraging those working to build wealth vs. Capitalism where free markets and competition drives innovation, determines business winners & losers and encourages personal wealth and savings.
- Irresponsibly managing government spending and carrying a high national debt vs. Responsible government spending and a balanced budget.
- Affordable healthcare for all, but offered through a competitive healthcare environment that encourages healthcare insurers and service providers to keep premiums low and services high vs. a failing healthcare system with declining services and care and where premiums increase drastically from year to year.
- A declining military and world presence where we lead from behind vs. building a strong military and leading the world with strength from the front.
- Feeling safe and secure in our home, community and our children’s schools vs. feeling insecure and always being on the defense.
- Enforcing our immigration laws which welcomes people through an orderly process that leads to assimilation and American Citizenship vs. Open borders with an unabated influx of people from around the world entering our country illegally without assimilating.
- Protecting our First Amendment rights of free speech vs. political correctness that squelches free speech and divides our nation.
- Feeling disenfranchised by our current economic, social and justice systems vs. feeling that these systems are fair to all and blind to race, religion and creed.
With the never ending political wrangling and character assignations, we are all suffering from political fatigue – more than ever before NOW is the time to look past the unsavory character traits of our elected candidates – They Are Who They Are! – we need to look at the platforms they have been duly elected to represent and cast our vote on that basis. If we continue to insist on dissecting the character traits of our candidates and placing disproportionate weight on this, over the real attributes needed to lead the initiative to solve the problems of our country, who do you vote for? They could hold an election where no one would vote. Who among us have never said unkind words, have never told a lie or have never used foul language – sure there is plenty to be offended about – but at this point in our country’s history what kind words would you if our economy fails, or you lose your job that moved out of the country, or your loss of healthcare because you could no longer afford it – What kind words would you have for our leader?
SO PEOPLE, LETS GET REAL ABOUT THIS ELECTION! – It’s not about calling out politicians who have a potty mouth, It’s about electing a strong individual that has the best shot at solving the problems facing this country.
I would be remiss if I didn’t say that there are likely many people better suited to be President of our country than our current candidates, but until we as a people decide to stop unearthing every bad thing an individual does or has spoken from the day the left the womb – until we quit holding them to an impossibly high moral standard, great leaders will never step forward.
Our President should be someone who is strong yet compassionate, understand financial matters, be a problem solver and have the presence of a leader. It would be great if that person also had a flawless moral compass, but if not, we have plenty of great role models in this country to turn to and most of them are right in our own communities.
We must all remember, if our government fails because we didn’t enforce our own laws or hold our leaders accountable for the decisions they made on behalf of “We the People”, then we will slowly lose the country our veterans have fought and died for; We are one election away from our government and its laws going liberal or conservative in character. We are at the proverbial fork in the road – “The Tipping Point” – At this point in time, there is plenty not to like about both candidates – So let’s all use our minds to sort out what matters most rather than relying on “hurt feelings or being offended by foul words” to determine how we’ll use our vote – If one insists on making their decision on the candidate alone – I suggest looking at their deeds and actions rather than their words and promises.