A Few Questions for
Consideration
Published in Marietta Daily Journal June 5, 2016
The following questions are neither
posed nor framed to evoke any particular response. They are merely questions I have asked myself
over the past few weeks.
If temperament is to be an issue in
the presidential race, who is more arrogant, Donald Trump or the conservative
intellectuals, columnists, and talking heads who are faulting Trump for not
being “intellectual” enough?
Who is more vulgar, Donald Trump or
Bill Maher on whose television show the anti-Trump conservatives often appear
and yuck it up with the best of the show’s vulgarians?
Who better understands and genuinely
cares more about the vast middle class, billionaire Donald Trump or the
“movement conservatives” who, while in control of the Congress and the White
House, extended the scope of government, and who, while in control of Congress
only, demurred and lost battle after battle to President Obama?
Who speaks plainer, unpretentious,
non-trite English, Donald Trump or the career politicians who can’t open their
mouths without saying “disingenuous,” “resonates,” “participatory,” “you know
what,” “at the end of the day,” and “Let me be clear”?
Who appears more authentic and
trustworthy, Hillary Clinton’s defenders or Mike Huckaby, Ben Carson, Ed
Rollins, Jerry Falwell, Jr., Phyllis Schlafly, and Dr. Robert Jeffries?
Who sounds more serious about
unifying the Republican Party, Trump supporters former Senator Scott Brown and
Congressman Duncan Hunter or Speaker Ryan who speaks daily of party unity but did not even endorse his party’s nominee until last week?
Whose positions and rhetoric have
been more faithful to conservative Republican orthodoxy, Trump supporter
Senator Jeff Sessions or Senators McCain, Corker, Graham, Coats, and Flake?
If both of this election year’s
presidential nominees are highly disliked, how did they reach the status of
nominee? If Trump and Clinton are our only
actual choices, which one is a known whose political philosophy I disagree with
and which is the risk, chance, or possibility that my philosophy of government
will be followed?
Which of the nominees is Wall
Street’s darling? Is either Trump or
Hillary diametrically opposed to Bernie Sanders’ socialism? Who has the better understanding of and
deeper appreciation for capitalism? Have
the two candidates read Adam Smith or Milton Friedman? Which departments of the federal government
is each willing to get rid of?
What are the thoughts of each
nominee on where same-sex marriage will take us? To polygamy?
If not, why not or how not? To
acceptable incestuous relationships?
What is each nominee’s full disclosure of their thinking on sexual
mores? On faithfulness in marriage and
the importance of the home? How do they
view the Christian minister who must preach against homosexuality because his
Bible forbids it? Will they oppose him,
try to shut him down or jail him?
Wherein each nominee has changed his
or her mind on an issue, why the change and when did it occur? What was the chief impetus for the change?
Does either nominee think it is ok
to allow men to go into women’s restrooms?
Or ok to let something so obscure and trumped up as “transgender rights”
become a cause célèbre for the federal government? Which one will always be looking for a new
“right” to champion?
Is Trump or Clinton hesitant to use
the expression “states’ rights”? Can
they deliver at least a two-minute monologue on what the U.S. Constitution has
to say about the role of the states in our government, particularly what the
Constitution grants to the states?
Do Trump and Clinton believe there
is such a thing as western civilization? Do they believe that its most
distinctive marks are opposition to monarchy, advancement of human freedom, and
the worth of the individual? Is their
belief in “tolerance” and “diversity” absolute?
Is their belief in multiculturalism so multi that the center will not
hold? Do they believe that there are
those who are leeching off of America instead of legally becoming Americans and
contributing to America?
Which nominee will rein in the
IRS? Which will acknowledge that
Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, and other Christian
groups have built almost half of our hospitals and many of our finest
universities? Which will protect America’s pulpits?
How does each nominee feel about
abortion? What is their definition of
abortion?
Finally, which candidate will cease
sending our troops to fight in prolonged wars unless the goal is to win? Which one believes the essential purpose of
the Constitution was to limit government?
I, for one, have answered these
questions. I am now resolute regarding
for whom I can vote. Also, it’s clear to
me that any third party candidate will only aid either Mr. Trump or Mrs.
Clinton.
Roger
Hines
5/31/16
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