05 Nov 2016

Better McMullin

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evanmcmullin
Evan McMullin

Ricochet’s Mr. D is going with Evan McMullin. I think his argument is sound.

Hillary Clinton is awful. No question. This is not a matter of who is marginally more suited for the Oval Office – neither one is. We know Hillary’s sins – deceitful, scheming, greedy, paranoid, vindictive, incompetent, and very likely criminal (feel free to pile on if I missed anything). She has experience, I’ll give her that, but it is not good experience. She was my Senator for eight years, and I can’t recall a thing – good or bad – she did in that time. As Secretary of State, her hands were tied by Obama, but she still embraces his policy choices now. I will concede she may be better on trade and foreign policy than Trump, but that’s not a given.

To say Trump is better is like saying Charles Manson is more likely to go to heaven than Joel Rifkin. He is vain, lecherous, ignorant, and dishonest. He has done nothing to show he has thought through issues, or even cared to learn the responsibilities and limitations of the office he seeks. He has the moral standards of a pig, and a well-earned reputation for being a dishonest business man. Like Hillary, he lies nearly as often as he speaks, but she at least can craft plausible falsehoods. He will lie in his second breath about what he said with his first, and expect you not to notice. He lied about his faith, yet had such contempt for the faithful that he didn’t even bother learning enough to make that lie plausible. He does not have the history of abuse of power that Hillary does, but that’s most likely because he’s never been in a position to do so.

This is not a question of which candidate is more suitable for office. In my opinion, neither one meets even the minimum standard to be called President. I believe both will be bad for the country. Both are unfit.

If you are convinced otherwise, that’s fine. I have regretted votes I have cast in the past, so who am I to tell say you are voting wrong? And even if you are, you are as entitled to do so as I am.

But the point is over the past year both candidates have had the chance to sway me – Trump more so because he was more of an unknown factor. Both have failed. Hillary is still under investigation, still has no rationale for running, and her pandering has only become worse. Trump is marginally better as a candidate, but he is no more honest or decent than he was a year ago.

On a national level, my vote will not affect the outcome of the election. It only matters perhaps in what message it might send (even then it will be but a drop in the bucket).

So I am tossing my vote to Evan McMullin. As a former CIA field operative, he has already risked more for his nation than either major party candidate. On paper, at least, his policies most align with mine. More importantly, he seems to be a decent human being. His lack of executive experience would likely have kept me from voting for him in the primary, but that would have been a case of less fit, not unfit. It is a vote I can cast with a clean conscience, and to me, that is what matters most. Many of you will vote for Trump with a clean conscience. More power to you. As Shakespeare wrote in Henry V, “Every subject’s duty is the king’s, but every subject’s soul is his own.”

Read the whole thing.

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5 Feedbacks on "Better McMullin"

Seattle Sam

When I was little, TVs had vacuum tubes in them. The tubes would eventually burn out like an incandescent light bulb does. At that point you did one of two things.

1. You took the tubes out of the set and brought them to a testing station at a store that diagnosed which tube was faulty. Then you replaced the defective tube.
2. You kicked the TV set. Sometimes the filaments in the bad tube would rejoin and the set would work again for a while.

Trump supporters seem to be taking the second approach.



Boligat

McMullin says that he is trying to build a “new conservative movement” and that both Trump and Hillary are awful. Fine, I’ll buy that, but I am worried about him. Many have suggested that he is a Hillary plant to draw votes away from Trump.

Hummmmm. Well, he may say that both Hillary and Trump are reprehensible people, but he does spend most of his time bashing Trump. I would feel more comfortable if McMullin would address Bernie’s supporters with, “Look, Hillary and the DNC STOLE the election from your guy and then Bernie sold you out. I know that’s hard to digest, but they did. Neither Hillary nor Bernie nor the DNC is worthy of your vote.

“I may not be your favorite candidate, but you should not support the people that stabbed you in the back. If you have to, vote for either Stein or Johnson, but do not vote for Hillary. It is time to send a message that you will not be shushed like little children. Believe me, that’s how they see you, as little children.”

Come to think of it, Stein and Johnson should be preaching the same thing. All that said, I think I will be voting for McMullin.



Hrefn

I can respect any sincere vote motivated by revulsion, if it is a protest vote which has no possibility of affecting the outcome in one’s state. If you are in California, by all means vote for McMullin if it makes you happy.

Tipping Utah or Pennsylvania, for examples, into the Clinton column and precipitating her election by voting McMullin over Trump would be much more consequential. The consequences would be severe, substantial, and ongoing. Consider Hillary’s potential Supreme Court nominees versus Trump’s. Consider the absolute certainty our Second Amendment rights will be curtailed by a Hillary Court.

That’s just one sure consequencue of an HRC presidency. There will be many others, some worse, I suspect. I do not believe voters who gravitate to McMullin will be happy with a Hillary presidency. The initial warm feeling that protest vote gives you will turn bitter, and you will have to 4 or 8 years to savor that bitter taste.

Please consider the consequences to the rest of us.

P.S., JDZ, thank you for your tolerance of my views which on this score are opposed to yours.



Sennacherib

In the Hillary vs Trump argument people are missing a key ingredient. Trump just happens to be in front of a movement regardless of his vices or virtues. While Hillary “is” her movement. Without her they are nothing, while what Trump is in front of will keep coming with or without him.
What Trump has shown is that Hillary and the Establishment are not invincible, but you must be ready to stand up to them. Even if Trump wins there will still be a long hard struggle. These people in power will not give up without a fight and they have shown they will for every inch they have gained in the last 50 years. What does one expect them to do, but time is not on their side.



Nori

McMullin is a McGuffin.



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