The Pr We Provide Election Candidates

Over the past week there has been a lot of information published and disseminated about the different candidates for federal office, and there have been some candidates that have notably received little to no pr time.

Take Hilary Clinton: During different speeches from different individuals across multiple governmental spheres, there have been numerous exclamations of her guilt concerning different aspects of her political life.

Personally, I detest the type of accusations and baiting that has occurred.  I think it is classless and detrimental to the well-being of this country and society as a whole.  I also believe, based on different reports, that Mrs. Clinton should not be running for President.  Whether she meant to or not, she did impart some falsehoods concerning her time at the State Department regarding her brief over electronic security.  While her personal servers may have been safer than using the Federal Government’s (which gets hacked and attacked frequently) it was off policy and illegal to do so.

Concerning the attack on the Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi, Libya; the Republican party is completely off base after multiple inquests, countless hearings, and missing the greatest point of all.  The State Department had requested additional funding for security in that region for their diplomatic missions, which the House of Congress had denied.  That is the Legislative Branch’s call, not the Federal, to which the State Department answers.

Does Hilary deserve to be President?

However, Mrs. Clinton does not have the cleanest record, and there are too many dark spots on her history for her to be qualified to run for President.  In my opinion.

Let’s turn to Donald Trump.  I love the economic platform on his campaign site.  I think that there are many huge benefits to having a flat tax with categorical brackets with increasing and decreasing rates.  I also believe that operating with a smaller government is a good thing.  And if it were just these principles and ideas he had, I would be voting for him in a heartbeat.

However, Mr. Trump also has a highly questionable reputation.  We can admire the great success that he has had in business.  There is no disputing that he is a worldwide name and comes with great power.  The ethics of his business, as cited by contractors he has broken contracts with, developers that he has harmed and many of the businesses of his that have failed all indicate a willingness to screw people over.  This may not necessarily be illegal, but I would not want someone who is willing to act on such a whim in charge of negotiations with temperamental governments opposite this one.

Added in, Mr. Trump appears to have a questionable moral character.  This is made known through at least two lawsuits for sexual harassment, and one lawsuit currently underway, concerning rape of a minor.  As a parent, this is something that pulls at my heartstrings, and if there is even a shadow of a doubt that he may have done something like that, I will not and cannot in good conscience vote for Mr. Trump.

Do we truly believe Mr. Trump would be a good President?

For me, Mr. Trump is not a qualified candidate.

If we delve a little bit deeper into the larger pool of our had been potential candidates, we can see how unqualified the general pool of people interested in being President of the United States of America actually is.

Ted Cruz, Senator of Texas (Republican) is probably one of the most divisive and antagonistic choice for President to have emerged as a contender for this position in at least half a century.  With a large swathe of this country who absolutely detest him personally and for his policy, including his contemporaries in office, there is no way that Mr. Cruz should be qualified to unite and govern a country that largely detests him.

Senator Bernie Sanders (Independent – Vermont), might be considered qualified for his years serving in governmental positions, but I am not quite sure if he should be.  I think he is an interesting figure who is pulling to revolutionize the country and make it more socially accepting.  But I also believe that Mr. Sanders has a poor grasp on the cost of such a revolution in ideals, and how that would very likely impact this country detrimentally.  For me, this lack of awareness, that I perceive disqualifies him.  The same goes for the Green Party’s, Jill Stein.

So, who do I think is actually qualified?  The one person whose name I haven’t seen in any article this week.  The one person who is willing to go over the edge about himself, and actually espouses a political belief system that this country’s founding fathers would very likely endorse.

Gary Johnson.

Mr. Johnson has executive experience being a former governor of New Mexico.  He has had plenty of business experience, and he actually gives off the vibe that he believes what he says (which many career politicians do not).

Additionally, Mr. Johnson believes in a similar economic platform to Mr. Trump.  Flat taxes are good, closing tax loopholes for corporate tax dodging are good, shrinking the size of government is good, and some regulatory agencies are unnecessary.  Ensuring that we do not have as many foreign affairs missions as we currently do is also a positive.  There is no need to have a mission or embassy for every individual country – regional embassies for those not world powers is perfectly fine. It was for Thomas Jefferson, it can be for Mr. Johnson.

The kicker though, is that as a Libertarian, Mr. Johnson also believes in social freedom and individual’s rights.  Should the federal or even state government be able to police a woman’s right to an abortion?  Should the federal or state government be allowed to regulate speech?  Is there any right for others to persecute members of any other religion?  If there is a freedom or right that affects the individual or society, the Libertarian party is more often than not supportive of its own expression.

Mr. Johnson stands for your freedoms, and so do I

To end my thoughts, I believe that as a country and a society as a whole, we all need to be much better at qualifying who is actually eligible to be an elected official and the pr we promote.  If there is anything that this election cycle can teach us, it is that we are all notoriously poor at choosing the people who are supposed to represent us, and that we should reexamine what sort of society we actually want to create.

In a modern, global society, there is no room to hate a specific population, and there is no way we can survive if all we are going to do is tear each other down and apart because we do not agree with opposing viewpoints on governance or life.

Share your views on our candidates and this election cycle.  I would love to hear what you have to say.