A Confession: I Voted And I Didn't Like It

I received my ballot this past Tuesday. I have since returned it. I used to wait until election day to actually vote, but not his year. I have always enjoyed voting on the actual election day, it feels very patriotic, very democratic, very…American to actually cast your vote at the exact same time as millions of other Americans were casting their ballots as we decided the course that our country would embark on over the next several years. I also used the extra time to ponder about various issues and candidates, to extrapolate the various implications and possible outcomes of my vote. Often, my mind was not truly made up on candidates and issues until I was standing in line, there have also been times that I changed my mind about issues on the ballot as I was voting. But not this year. This year, the issues were pretty clear for me. I was either for something on the ballot or against something on the ballot. No wavering, no pondering, nothing. This year I looked at the ballot and I knew exactly how I was going to vote.

My politics have stayed pretty much the same for years; fiscally/economically conservative, socially moderate shading a little towards conservative. I am a registered Republican and I have been since I turned 18. However, I have never in my life voted a straight Republican ticket. I vote for the candidate, not the party. Basing your vote upon the letter after the candidates last name is not only lazy but also irresponsible voting. Despite never voting a straight Republican ticket I did do something on this ballot I’ve never done before and never thought I would ever do- not vote Republican for president. Not only did I not vote for a Republican for president, I did something I never thought I would ever do- vote for a Democrat for president.

Now before my Republican friends castigate me and my Democrat friends praise me, let me be clear about this point: I did not vote FOR Hillary Clinton, I voted AGAINST Donald Trump. I have as many misgivings about Clinton being president as anyone else I don’t care for her, I do not trust her, I am not inspired by her. However, I do know she is smart, has a firm grasp of the issues, understands politics well, and is knowledgeable about the U.S. Constitution and how our government works. All of which is more than I can say about Donald Trump.

I have never been more horrified by a candidate from my party than I have been with Donald Trump. Aside from the fact that Trump seems to have very little, if any depth in his policy beliefs and seems to only speak in sharp soundbites designed to bring thunderous applause from his sycophants, there are other, just as troubling reasons why I could not cast a vote for this man to be my president. In addition to his horrific, disgusting comments concerning his views on how he thinks women should be treated (which really don’t need to be linked here in this column because I would prefer to keep this forum family friendly) there are numerous other instances and reasons that I simply cannot support Donald Trump for president.

The leader, the face of my party should never threaten, publicly or privately, member of his own party if they do not support his candidacy. Donald Trump did this to the Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. http://fortune.com/2016/03/01/donald-trump-threatens-paul-ryan/ The candidate for president from my party would never question the war hero status of POW’s such as John McCain. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/19/us/politics/trump-belittles-mccains-war-record.html?_r=0 Nor should my candidate question the toughness or resolve of combat veterans who suffer from PTSD. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/10/03/trump-ptsd-comments/91509626/ No candidate for president should ever tell the other candidate that if elected he is going to work to put the other in jail. Such remarks are what one would expect from a tin-pot, paper hat wearing, banana-republic dictator, not a candidate for president of the most powerful democracy the world has ever seen. http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/09/politics/eric-holder-nixon-trump-presidential-debate/ When a candidate declares in an open mic during a debate that their opponent is “such a nasty” person, this is not behavior I wish to have from my president. http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/09/politics/eric-holder-nixon-trump-presidential-debate/ When my party’s candidate begins claiming vote fraud before one vote has been counted http://www.nationalreview.com/article/441173/donald-trump-rigged-election-voter-fraud-claims-unfounded seems to indicate that he is laying the ground work to dispute a loss in the election. This belief is only emboldened when Trump refused to say if he would accept the outcome of the election. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-idUSKCN12J0ZM?il=0 Even Richard Nixon accepted the outcome of the 1960 election and refused to challenge it despite being encouraged to do so by members of his own party and had fairly substantial evidence that there was voter fraud in Chicago and Texas. As if all these above reasons were not enough for me and other Republicans to ostracize Trump as our candidate for president, the final nail in the coffin should be the fact that in 1985 Trump took out a full sized ad in the New York Times criticizing Ronald Reagan (one of my political idols) saying the same things that he is now claiming will happen if Clinton is elected. http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/10/donald-trump-ronald-reagan-213288 To criticize Reagan is anathema to Republicans (even though Reagan would be disowned by today’s Republican Party as a RINO) and Trump did just that in 1985. That alone should set Republicans hair on fire and cause them to disown him. Furthermore, Trump supported Clinton in 2008 saying she would “make a great president”, yet another reason for Republicans to disavow anything to do with him. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-in-2008-hillary-clinton-would-make-a-great-president/ And yet, here he remains. Bad hair, orange skin, hollow rhetoric, blustery arguments and all.

So, I begrudgingly cast my vote for Hillary Clinton. For the first time ever, I voted for a Democrat for president. It is truly disappointing that these two individuals are who we have to choose from. Had the Republicans run anyone of their candidates from the past few years- McCain of 2008, Romney, or even a 1992 George H.W. Bush-against Clinton, this election would have been wrapped up by the beginning of September. Conversely, had the Democrats run Kerry or Gore against Trump the election would be over by now as well. But, that didn’t happen and this is what we have; two choices and neither of them are all that desirable. So, yes I cast my vote for Clinton and dropped my ballot in the box. I didn’t like it, I’m not proud of my choice, and didn’t like either of my options. But then again, I haven’t liked, been proud of, or even felt good about my own party for several years now.

2020 can’t get here soon enough.