God Bless America

God Bless America...'nuff said.

Enjoy!

Adoptive Son

The saga continues…and what a saga it has been! We are well on our way to choosing our Republican nomination for the Presidency. But in reality, we are not looking very Republican. You know, - "the party of values". Yeah, right. Not so much anymore. We adopted the Donald and everything changed.

Still, we did bring him into our family, albeit unwillingly. If we are to practice what we preach, we must accept him, warts and all. It’s not like we can kick him out; that’s not the American way. He has his rights to run on any party he chooses. It is up to the American people to say Yea or Nay. And we’re smart, aren’t we?

To tell you the truth, I am sick at the whole thing. I actually can’t believe this is where we are.

Now, as I have said in previous posts, I have had a political bent all my life. I very strongly believe it is our responsibility to pay attention and do all we can to maintain the government as our Founders saw fit. I believe God ordained them and that God is behind the dream that is America. We are to be good stewards of all that He gave us - and that includes the gift that is our nation and government. I don't want to even get started on Christians who think Christians should remain a-political. If we don't protect our nation, no one else will.  Rather, some will actively seek to destroy it. Many do not have our citizen's best interests in mind. Politics is nothing more than a tool for good or evil. Make your choice!

Republicans have always been the party of values. We are the conservatives, the protectors of social mores and traditional ethics. I was proud to be a member of this party, though in recent years I cringed at the in-fighting and I was sure the popular new term RINO could only bring divide. I was right. It did. And it is a divide that continues to this day.

But finally this year, I felt like people were beginning to see the importance of getting involved in politics. People were responding, asking the right questions, excited to see the debates, getting to know the candidates. But not for long!!

Merciless personal attacks; vulgarities and playground battle fights; talk of brokered conventions; confrontational speeches by former losing candidates; talking over one another in debates and showing absolutely no respect for each other, or our traditional values has been the norm this election cycle.  Paths to victory have been detoured in a way that will lose us all. Who wants to go there??? Certainly not new recruits who were at long last at least semi-interested in what is taking place. And most assuredly, old timers like myself are growing weary, as well.

None of the candidates are being very wise in my opinion and none of them seem to be thinking of anyone but themselves. My nightmare is Donald Trump (the adopted son) which I will address momentarily. But first, I want to explain what I feel about each candidate that is left in this race.

It seems Rubio has recently proven he is not a leader. Instead, of staying classy, as he has always been, he has joined in the low-blow antics - digressing, instead of rising above the fray.  He is taking us into the mire, instead of lifting us out. He didn't have to follow Trump there; he could have set another example and continued in the vein with which he started. I like Rubio. For myself and many, he is too weak on the immigration issue, but he has been excellent in the debates until his recent decision to go negative. I have come to understand why "the establishment" (for lack of better title) seem to prefer Rubio. If his latest change in tactic is any indication, it appears he is the one willing to follow their bidding. He has taken the wrong path and it is a shame because he is not the RINO many have tried to subscribe to him. He is a strong, conservative Republican, but he has now shown he is not yet a leader.

In my opinion, Kasich has come across as a coward and will do anything to look like "he is the adult in the room". But in reality, he seems to be the one without strong conviction on anything. He went left when he needed a win in New Hampshire, and at other times he stayed silent when he should have spoken his convictions...if there are any. Kasich does have experience and has done good things for Ohio. He understands our national defense and need to support Israel, but I believe he is a little too familiar with compromise. One can find discrepancies in his stance regarding Israel.[1]
 
I also believe if Kasich were a true patriot, he would have dropped out a long time ago. He has no chance to win, other than a very small possibility if a brokered convention were to take place. For now, he is pulling votes and delegates from the other two candidates that actually do have a chance to win against Trump.  

Rubio is past that point now, as well. I believe he too should drop out of the race and that we should start to get behind one candidate if we want to win our party back from Trump. I don't believe Rubio has any chance to win outside of a brokered convention, either. Oh yeah, a brokered convention is legal and within  rights, but it is a really, really stupid and dangerous idea. It ignores the will of the people.

Trump....ahhhh Trump! He is the bully on the playground. He acts like a spoiled, junior high brat going through puberty. If Trump were not in this race, I truly believe this race would have remained civil.  But besides all the vulgarities and inability to discern when crass talk should NOT be used (like EVER during a bid for the Presidency, in my opinion), he has been too hypocritical (think over-seas jobs) and he has flip-flopped on the issues entirely too much. He continually speaks before he thinks. He is new to this conservative stuff, so it doesn't come easy for him. I honestly don't believe conservatism is in his heart. There have been a few too many times that he has had to retract statements after he has come to a better realization and understanding of the facts and the truth. The recent statement that the military will do what he says even if it is illegal, is prime example. At least it was only a day or two before he retracted that one. Good grief! Changing positions can be commendable if one is willing to learn and alter directions, but do we really want a Commander-in-Training? Especially at this time in our history.

Many like Trump, because they believe he can't be bought and that he answers to no one. However, they forget exactly what he CAN buy. Votes, perhaps. A big donation to a Christian organization, for example and naturally that organization would feel compelled to endorse him or support him. That would gain Trump great strides within the conservative movement and dupe people into voting for him if the endorsement came from a trusted organization. I'm not saying that happened. I am saying it could! And if one is comforted by the fact that he can't be bought, perhaps they haven't considered exactly all that he could buy, or considered the opposite side of the coin. If we consider one problem, we must look at the other side, as well.

The candidate I have come to support is Ted Cruz. He has always been toward the top of my list, but he hasn't always been my number one candidate. I cringed and all but scratched him off, when I heard he had voted with Rand Paul against a defense bill (National Defense Authorization Act) that would  increase funding to the military - the only 2 senators to do so![2] This bill also supported Israel's Iron Dome. This is extremely important to me - probably my number one issue. And Cruz voted against this! There were other candidates running that were correct in what they said about our national defense and how it should be supported, I didn't need Cruz with a record like that. But he redeemed himself with an adequate explanation and went further to say where he had gone wrong. It satisfied me. (I do still cringe over this at times, and hope I am not being ignorant in his true stance. I do not want isolationist policies! And I want some one totally supportive of Israel.) Finally Cruz voted with Rubio in March of 2015 on an amendment to increase military spending, though it did not pass.[3]

 

Cruz also lost me at the fiasco in Iowa when someone said Ben Carson's campaign had been suspended and Carson's votes should go to Cruz. It wasn't true. Cruz apologized as he should have, but the damage was done. I gave Ted the benefit of the doubt, assuming he didn't know the whole situation, but I didn't like it. When other antics occurred on the campaign trail a bit later, for a time I put my support toward Rubio. Cruz fired his campaign manager, Rick Tyler, as well he should, but a sour taste was left in my mouth over the trickery taking place. Tyler, had also worked for Ron Paul on Paul's campaigns. That explained a lot for me. Paul used some rotten tactics, as well. Had Cruz not fired Tyler, I would never have supported him again.  But again I was ready to give him the benefit of the doubt when the only thing we were left with were the childish antics of the other candidates now occurring through out the campaigns. The truth is, there is always going to be a lesser of evils that we may have to chose.  NO one is perfect. That brings me to the group that vows to never vote for Trump.  

There are many now who are saying they will NEVER vote for Donald Trump should he win the nomination. To me, these are the most dangerous people of all. They are willing to throw away an election for their pride and self-righteousness. If they have to settle for a man they don 't like, they simply won't vote at all. Real smart! Unfortunately, there are some people in this groups I highly admire and respect. But there are also people I love that have come out and endorsed Trump. I can understand that a bit better, though I don't like it at all. They are angry. They are fed up. They want things changed. They hate the establishment. (Like hating the establishment is ever going to get us anywhere.) But I can understand this group, at least. I will NEVER understand someone that refuses to vote, "on principle". Especially when the other principle lies with Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton. I want to tell these NEVERTRUMP people to come down from their lofty perch, roll up their sleeves and get to work to take one step at a time. Even if it is just a baby step like having to vote for Donald Trump in the general election. 

Well there we have this messy, messy election cycle in all its glory. I now feel Ted Cruz is the best candidate going forward. He has come out against the brokered convention which I believe would be an absolute nightmare, and could even throw us into revolution. But Cruz also has the best chance to win against Trump without going into a brokered convention, having won 6 states and only being about 80 delegate votes behind Trump at this time. Ted Cruz is a born again Christian and has always stood for conservative ideas. That is important to me. I vote for him not because he is perfect, but because he is better than the others. And in that regard, he, too, is only the lesser of evils. That is simply the way of life. No perfection this side of Heaven.

And about that adoptive son. I don't want to send him back from whence he came. There are actually some things I kind of like about him. Even some things that are kind of endearing. (Think Dennis the Menace) He simply needs to clean up his act and get rid of his childish ways. He needs to  learn to be Presidential at ALL times and understand the importance of respect. He needs to understand conservative values just a bit better.  It isn't #NEVER TRUMP; but rather, #NOT YET TRUMP. I just want to be sure our new adoptive son gets raised right. And that's going to take some time.

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I would love to hear your comments.

Footnotes:

[1] http://forward.com/news/breaking-news/332914/gop-http://forward.com/news/breaking-news/332914/gop-candidate-john-kasich-defends-israel-settlements/

[1] http://freebeacon.com/politics/report-kasich-once-proposed-freeze-on-israel-military-aid/

[2]http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2015/dec/22/marco-rubio/marco-rubio-says-ted-cruz-voted-defense-cuts-rand-/

[3]http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jan/15/ted-cruz/gop-debate-cruz-says-he-voted-rubio-defense-spendi/

[3]http://freebeacon.com/national-security/cruz-rubio-feud-defense-spending-civil-liberties/