What I am about to
write is not intended to encourage you to vote for any one candidate, but I do
believe that we need to take a fair, insomuch as I can make it without bias
kicking in, look at some of the things that are going on this election cycle. Let's
start with the large elephant the RNC has placed in the room.
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Republican
Donald J. Trump
Ever since Trump
announced his candidacy last year I have watched in growing shock, amazement
and horror. I cannot believe how far he has made it in this election cycle!
There are so many things about him that make him a reprehensible person, let
alone a candidate for the highest office in the land.
As a political
science student I like to look at patterns and case studies of different
elections, I prefer other countries, but this election cycle is so horrendous
I've started to pretend it is another country and not my own. I was thinking
about the fact that Political Science is sort of a reactionary science. We take
a look at historical data, analyze it and then tell you what we can predict
based on that data set. So I truly wonder if some political scientist decided
to step into the experiment arena and tricked Trump into running "just to
see what will happen." But that's beside the point.
Trump is a
reprehensible human being. He has been from the very beginning. I mean I guess
we'll start with the thing that is on the forefront of everyone's minds: The
Trump Tapes. It is unfortunate that these came to light, but what is even more
horrifying is that they actually exist. Due to the fact that I listen to
several different political podcasts I have heard censored versions of the
transcripts. They weren't censored enough. It is horrifying to me that any man
could ever say such awful things about a woman, any woman, even if he never did
them. They are simply horrible. I cannot believe that every man talks like
this, that it is "locker room banter." I have grown up surrounded by
men all of my life. My father, brothers, friends, neighbors. Never once have I
heard such vulgar and awful references to women. He calls it "locker room
banter," that's an insult to locker rooms across the country. Real men
respect women, they don't talk about them like objects, and they always ask for
consent. What is so awful about these tapes is that what he is describing, if
he actually did it, is not locker room banter, but sexual assault. I work at a
university, I've sat through the Sexual Harassment Prevention training.
Literally EVERYTHING Trump says is sexual harassment in one way or another.
But why is it that
the Trump tapes are the straw that broke the American backs? He has been
talking like this since the very beginning of the election. Oh not in such
vulgar terms, but let's walk back to when Trump wanted to ban an entire
religion from entering this country. How those who practice Islam fear that if
Trump is elected even if they are here legally they will be forced to leave.
Why is it that comments about women in a sexual context are more insulting than
every racist, bigoted comment that has ever left his mouth? These issues should
not be ranked. We should care about those who are the subject of racism as much
as we care about how he treats women.
None of this even
remotely talks about his finances or his compulsive lying. His childish
behavior both on the debate floor and on twitter. His apparent disregard for
National Security and his lack of reservation and willingness to use
nuclear weapons.
So finances. One of
the reasons many people like Trump is because he is a businessman and he is
going to try to fix the national debt. People. Why would you ever trust a man
who has filed for business bankruptcy at least four times. A fifth came this
week when one of his casinos shut down over the weekend. In addition this is
the man who says he did a good job because he avoided corporate finances for at
least 15 years. And this is the man we want running our country? I can handle
my finances better, and I'm a 20-year-old college student.
His compulsive lying
gives me pause as well. Many have said that Trump is the better option because
Hillary is a liar. Yeah, Hillary has lied as well, but can we just look at the
debate from Sunday night? In that debate alone I'm pretty sure Trump lied 75%
of the time. He lied about his ties to Russia, he lied about saying the things
on the tapes. In the first debate he lied about releasing his tax returns.
Basically when Trump opens his mouth you can assume that over half the time,
what's about to come out is a flat out lie. And while we're on the subject of
Russia: Trump claims he doesn't have any ties over there economically which is
patently false. He may not have any loans, but he does have monetary ties. And
also, he and Putin are friends. That should make you worry. Trump has continued
to hold up Putin as an example of a strong leader and has even talked about Kim
Jong Un, the dictator of North Korea, as another strong leader. I don't know
about you, but a president who emulates Un and Putin would scare me into my
grave. That's not to mention the fact that early on in his candidacy there was
a comparison of Trump quotes to Hitler quotes and they were eerily similar.
DOES THIS WORRY NO ONE ELSE?????????????
As to his childish
behavior. Only a two year old repeats "Wrong" over and over again
when someone disagrees with him. Only a two year old, or extremely immature
70-year-old would continue to tweet at 3 am about a former beauty queen he did
say rude things about. Only a child would create and then fat shame a computer
hacker he just made up. Sometimes Trump can't even form coherent sentences, let
alone respond maturely to facts that he doesn't like.
As for national
security. The man has threatened to make Mexico, someone we're on rather
friendly terms with, pay for a wall that wouldn't help and would only serve to
make relations worse. In addition Foreign Affairs reported a couple weeks ago
that making Trump president is among ISIS's top priorities. Does that scare
you? Cuz if it doesn't it definitely should. ISIS, the bloodiest and most evil
terrorist group we have seen in a long while, wants Trump to be president.
As for the rest of
the world, most people are not about to work with Trump. Britain already tried
to ban him from their country. Now, in case you didn't know, the President of
the United States is actually the highest ranking foreign policy official in this
country. 75% of the president's job is foreign policy and national security,
and there aren't many checks and balances on that part of things. The president
pretty much has carte blanche, unless he puts troops on the ground, in which
case he has 90 days before he needs congressional approval, and a lot of damage
can be done in 90 days. So really what we should be doing is electing
president's based on Foreign Policy. Congress will decide domestic policy, but
the president, the president decides foreign policy, and he or she has to
interface with countries and leaders worldwide, which means we really need
someone who isn't going to offend another country with a tweet at 3 am. We need
someone who can be respected, or if not that, at least won't royally mess up
our relationship across the world. Trump would blow relationships within 2
minutes of attaining office. He doesn't know the meaning of the word discretion
or classified. We're worried about some emails of Hillary's from a couple of
years ago? A Trump in office could spell much worse disaster.
As for nuclear
weapons, Trump has shown an utter disregard for any reservations we as a
country have in using nuclear weapons. We don't war game with nuclear weapons
for a reason. They are literally our last choice. We would do ANYTHING before
resorting to nuclear annihilation. Trump doesn't share those same reservations.
I don't know about
you, but after all that , and this is just a short summary, a Trump presidency
scares me half to death. I have nightmares about it. It makes me cringe every
time I see his name in my twitter feed. I literally gag every time he tweets. A
Trump presidency is simply unacceptable, and if you can't see that after all of
this, I simply don't know how to convince you.
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3rd Party
Quick chat about the
third party candidates.
Jill Stein-Green Party
The woman is
legitimately crazy. Why we'd put her in charge of anything I'll never know.
Although some of her memes have been wonderful.
Gary Johnson-Libertarian
While Johnson is
definitely the one who stands the best chance against the two major party
candidates, there are some things about him that worry me. For one, when asked
to name four world leaders, he couldn't name even one. How can you lead foreign
policy if you don't know the players and or where the countries are? Also he
tries to play off his lack of knowledge in the foreign arena as a good thing.
But the first 100 days of presidency are critical, and you cannot be playing
catch up on who's who during that 100 days. You have to know the players, you
cannot afford to be ignorant.
Evan McMullin
While I truly
believe in a lot of what McMullin has to say, and he definitely is the least
crazy, and one of the most qualified, I think that there are problems with his
campaign, the first being that he jumped into this election so late and
therefore can't get on as many ballots as he needs to. I have been surprised at
how well his message is getting out there, but I do live in Utah, so that may
be it. I think that McMullin could make a great president, he definitely has
the foreign expertise to not blow things up internationally. However, the plan
to get him elected literally hinges on a technicality, and I don't know how I
feel about that.
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Democrats
Hillary R Clinton
Let me start out
this segment by saying, I don't actually like Hillary. In fact, prior to the
first debate I didn't want to vote for her, I'm still not sure I do, but I will
tell you one thing. I worry less about her being president than a lot of the
other candidates.
The thing about
Hillary is that she has the expertise and the background to make sure that our
international relationships don't fall apart. Do I want her to be president?
Not particularly. Has she lied? Yes, she has. But I think that it is fair to
say that her lies were not as egregious as Trump's are right now. Yes there
have been things in her political career that give me pause. But I truly
believe that in a world that is so unstable, we need someone with experience
and steady hand. Since I have only one feasible choice for that, I have to
believe that Clinton will only remain in place for four years and then I can
handle someone new.
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So now what?
Vote your
conscience. It doesn't matter what I've said here. It really doesn't. You vote
your conscience. If you can sleep at night after casting your vote, you've done
well.
If you aren't
currently registered to vote, GO. NOW.
This election could be one of the most important in recent memory, there
is NO real excuse not to vote.
And then be sure to
keep foreign policy in mind. The president doesn't control domestic policy as
Trump seems to think. We here in America have a system of checks and balances
called Congress, but in matters of Foreign Policy; well, friends, that's all on
the president and the man or woman he or she appoints as Secretary of State.
So no matter who you
are, if you are of voting age, it is your duty and responsibility to vote this
election season. Because regardless of what you do that night, after election
night we all have to live with the consequences of that vote. And I, for one,
would like to live in a guilty-conscience free environment.
