Fake news is when a source completely makes up a news story and portrays it as completely true. The latter bit of that definition really separates fake news from The Onion and other satirical sites because, they portray them as fictitious circumstances, just exaggerated to the point of humor. Fake news is indeed, sometimes exaggerated, but as we all know reality can be stranger than fiction sometimes. Is it a realistic possibility that a woman can disrespectfully stand on the American flag and wave a Hillary for President flag? That is in the realm of possibility. However, with a little more research, turns out she was just flying the Pan-African flag, and somebody just photoshopped her. Exaggerated claims and fabricated events are nothing new to journalism, especially on the Internet. But since the 2016 election has ended, and multiple libelous stories were tacked onto both mainstream candidates, people have been calling for some sort of purge against the phony storytelling, especially to those that attacked their candidate. For the Hillary supporters, InfoWars and Breitbart seem to be the ones in their immediate crosshairs, with them exaggerating Trump’s victory or Hillary’s flaws. For Trump supporters, CNN and various other left-leaning news sources attract their rage and frenzy. It’s amazing how the left went from criticizing Trump for threatening to “open up libel laws” to attack news that wrote inaccurately about him, to proposing to do the exact same thing when Clinton lost. There has been an abundance of vocalized support for the government taking a stand against these fake news stories, and multiple social media sites have promised to participate in the eradication of them. What we’ve seen so far is that these actions lead to bias and censorship, the limitation of freethought, and the continuing grasp around the right of freedom of speech’s neck. As usual, the solution to such a problem lies within ourselves. Let’s first ask ourselves what the purpose of fake news is, and why our fragile minds are quickly seduced and fall victim to believing it. Fake news is used, commonly, to portray the opposition negatively. Let’s go back to the woman standing on the flag. Do you think that was made by a person with a #ImWithHer bumper sticker? Now imagine you’re a Trump supporter, and you see this picture. You say, “I’m glad I chose the right side. Better share this.” It’s a form of self-validation. It makes you feel good about your choice, shooting dopamine (basically the happy hormone) into your brain. Now let’s change perspectives. You’re an on-the-fence voter, and you see this appear on your timeline or in your feed. You respond with, “This must mean Hillary’s values are un-American. I do not wish to associate with that person politically, therefore I will dissociate myself from Hillary Clinton.” You’ve been seduced by your patriotism and your fear of guilt by association. What can we do to fight these natural reactions, to fight self-validation and social fear? First, check your source. I follow the rule of “If I Wouldn’t Cite the Source in an Essay, I Don’t Believe It.” Would I cite an article from the New York Times? I probably would. Would I cite a Facebook post? Probably not. The waters become murky once you see a headline from a respectable source, like CNN or some other news organization. Find the claim that the article is trying to make, and look it up. Read other sources about it. What’s CNN’s perspective on the issue? What’s Fox News saying about it? CBS? Is there video evidence? If we were teenagers participating in drama, and I told you “Heather totally likes George and not you,” would you take me seriously? How would I know? What’s my justification? Do I have screenshots? Apply the same process you would do to petty drama, to the news. Second, if it's a picture, look at it. Most of the time, you will be able to tell if it's fake. Back to the lady, please. Look at her flag. See how flat it is? See how it looks like somebody took a low quality Hillary sign and just imposed it? Very clear sign of phoniness. Other obvious clues would be missing or extra limbs if a person was photoshopped, curved backgrounds (when you trying to make your body look more curvy), different lighting on various aspects of the picture, and different quality of aspects. What if you can't tell? Look at this photo. Someone tried to make that message match the shirts wrinkles, but alas, it doesn’t. The arrow would look completely off if it was dewrinkled. The words look crooked and all over the place. For those that can’t see these, however, Google has a handy feature that let’s you search the web for similar pictures. Sometimes you can drag the picture into a new window and it’ll search it automatically, sometimes you can right click (or alt-click it) and select the option, “Search Google for image,” or you can simply describe the picture in the search bar. To initially find this photo I typed in “hillary clinton i’m with stupid.” You’ll find articles discussing its fakeness, websites claiming that it is real, and even the original photo.
Additionally, if the headline seems clickbaity, trying to lure you in, odds are it'll be fake or disappointing. This is a staple of yellow journalism. Sure, click on it if you want to, but make sure to check more sources and look our for bias. The website snopes.com is usually on the ball with debunking fake news, but some have claimed that it has a leftist bias, so be sure to explore even more than just that one site. Soon you'll be a master, laughing at all the sad claims that everybody on the political spectrum fabricates to make their opposition look bad. Be a freethinker, and don't make the government do all the work that you can easily do yourself. The 2016 election, while entertaining to watch, made my generation realize that politics is a corrupt, exhausting, and frightening realm of society. A lot of us have lost hope, thinking there’s no way to fix this system. No way to make this government for us, by us. I have some proposals to accomplish this. The Media The media played a big role in this election cycle, and was caught red-handed for being biased and inaccurate. According to a Gallup poll, ⅔ of America have no trust in the media. Meddling with poll results, portraying their chosen candidate as an angel, quote-mining to make the opposition seem deplorable, and so much more. What can we do? We can boycott them. Stop watching them, stop listening to them. Boycotts will always scare companies into changing policy, as we’ve seen time and time again. Or, we can critically think about what they say, instead of blindly following their instructions. Fact check them ourselves. We can also push for the repeal of the Telecommunications Act, which allows mega corporations to attempt to create a monopoly on media sources. I support the existence of PBS, and we should apply the Fairness Doctrine to it. As a libertarian, I don’t believe in imposing the Fairness Doctrine upon other media outlets, because that is a violation of freedom of speech, but that doesn’t mean us, as consumers, can demand fair representation of alternative viewpoints on the networks. Debates We desperately need to put a nonpartisan organization in charge of the debates. The Commission on Presidential Debates is led by Michael D. McCurry (Democrat) and Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr. (Republican). It’s pretty evident that the two major parties control this commission, and that they deliberately oppose third party participation, because it’ll topple their control. Originally, the presidential debates were controlled by the League of Women Voters, which sponsored the debates from 1976-1984. Then the bipartisan Commission on Elections said control of debates should be transitioned to the two major parties, and that they should purposely not include third party candidates. Both Democrats and Republicans agreed, and that’s the way it’s been ever since. It’s time for a change. This election, we’ve seen the Republican debates turn into a joke, viewers just watching to see Donald Trump whip out his zingers against his opponents. We’ve seen Hillary Clinton get questions in advance, and a drastically unfair distribution of speech time. Here’s my proposal: Demand better debates from the parties, who shall be in charge of conducting their own debates. When it comes to general election debates, PBS shall conduct them, and include all the candidates that are either on enough state ballots to win the electoral college, or are polling at 5% nationally. Voting System Instead of just voting for a single candidate, I would love to see the implementation of ranked voting. How does this system work? I’ll let CPG Gray explain it. See? Doesn’t that sound beautifully democratic. “But Chris, America isn’t a democracy, it’s a Republic!” Democracy is one of the cornerstones of republicanism. Without it, we cannot elect, or at least feel content with electing, the representatives that actually participate in the inner workings of government. I would also support an abolishment of the electoral college system. Once again, here’s a video explaining that. Election Day I fully support early voting. This year, people early voted in record numbers. Every state should have early voting; it’s more convenient and allows people to participate in our democracy. Election Day should be a federal holiday, and shouldn’t be held on Tuesday anymore. It’s on Tuesday because the early American politicians knew most Americans would stay home on Sunday because of the Sabbath, so assuming Monday was used as a day to travel to the voting booth (remember, people were spread out and we rode horses and walked everywhere), we voted on Tuesday. This is an archaic and useless tradition that’s stuck around ever since. Make Election Day a Saturday or something, so people can actually afford to stay up for the results and more people can get off work.
Registered Voters The overwhelming concern for voting fraud was very hefty in this election, thanks to Donald Trump claiming that the race will be “rigged.” I’m sure he’s very concerned about that right now. We have to realize some things: voter fraud is not as rampant as you believe it is, and it’s nearly impossible to rig an election. That being said, we can have certain measures to prevent it. I do not support the requirement of an ID to vote, for it will disadvantage certain citizens, and fake IDs are created regularly. Consider this: men from the ages of 18-25 are automatically registered into Selective Service in multiple states. Why couldn’t we do this with voting? We should automatically register people to vote, so they wouldn’t have to worry about it. States should consider implementing affidavits to limit possible voter fraud. I support the classification of voter fraud as a felony, and the immediate deportation of any illegal immigrant committing it. Democracy is a valuable thing in society, and it shouldn’t be exploited. Education This is one of my biggest problems with American politics. The fact that people frequently ask me what’s the difference between a Democrat and a Republican is a sad reflection on our nation. The fact that people can’t properly define “the establishment” or explain how the Electoral College works, the fact that at least 42% of Americans can’t name the three branches of government. We need a better civics course. The fact that people don’t even know what else is on the ballot concerns me. We need to better inform the public. We need to get the citizens of the United States excited about voting, excited about our elections. America can do better than this. With a better informed population who are able to vote when they want to, without the feeling of guilt sparking from their choices, we can move towards prosperity. Improving the parties and the media, allowing people with different opinions to join the ring, these things will allow the citizens of the United States to be content with their choices. This election cycle has been a wild experience for me. I have made a large amount of connections, creating friends and interacting with the candidates themselves. John McAfee, Marc Allan Feldman, Austin Petersen, and Jill Stein have all communicated with me one way or another. My interest in politics flourished, and now I’m anxious to see what happens next. To summarize my journey in this election, I began as a simple Bernie supporter. His populist message spoke to me and inspired me to research more. He was one of the first politicians I’ve encountered that seemed to actually believe what they said. Sanders pushed nonintervention foreign policy, battled the establishment, and targeted crony capitalism. When I realized that his monetary policies would be catastrophic on the American economy, I merged over to the right. I voiced support for McAfee or Petersen, wanting a principled Libertarian to champion us to 5%. Alas, Gary Johnson was determined to be the “pragmatist” vote, and he was chosen as the Libertarian nominee. Since then, I have frequently fought for Johnson in my home state of Florida, even though multiple people told me not to, considering the fact that I live in a swing state. I don’t care. I know multiple people that hate Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Why should they neglect the ballot because both candidates are abysmal? Why should they remain ignorant to the other options? I shared articles on Facebook, complained about Hillary’s lack of indictment and Trump’s lack of competence, and made fun of the main two by dressing up as them. It was hard defending Governor Johnson. His controversy during the primaries made him unlikeable to many of the party members. For those unaware, Johnson had said he doesn’t believe in the freedom of association and said he was “open to debate” on gun control. Very liberal stances for a pro-freedom candidate. I didn’t mind though. The ultimate blow came with two words: What’s Aleppo? Ugh. Johnson fell in the polls. He was portrayed as an ignorant buffoon by the news networks. It was a hard thing to fight against, but I always said, “I prefer the way Johnson bombed Aleppo than they way Trump or Hillary would bomb it.”
Speaking of the news networks, this election opened my eyes and enlightened me on just how ill informed the populace is, and just how corrupt the media has become. It’s terrifying. As a liberal, I’ve constantly heard attacks on Fox News. As a libertarian, I can still say Fox News is complete garbage that no one should watch, due to its frequent inaccuracies, suspension of logic, and obvious bias. That being said, The Young Turks, CNN, MSNBC, Washington Post, Buzzfeed, Huffington Post… They’re all complete trash. Adjusting evidence and observations to suit their agenda, lying about their enemies, etc. Now, I only use these sources of “information” to get initial observations and their point of view on it. I alternate between them to get everyone’s side. CBS, Secular Talk, and The Jason Stapleton Program are pretty accurate and fine to watch. It all came down to election night. I had switched from believing that Trump had it to predicting a win for Hillary. This is my exact post from a Facebook group: “Hillary's winning tonight. Trump has to keep a hold on the states he has, win all the swing states, and get states leaning towards Hillary. The Weiner scandal occurred after early voting started, and people voted early in historic numbers. If voting numbers are high, we can expect neither Johnson or Stein to get 5%. Johnson will have a larger number than 2012, though, maybe 3%.” Well. I was wrong. Florida goes red. Ohio goes red. Pennsylvania. North Carolina. It takes hours upon hours to get these results, me staying up until 1 AM to hear them. But he managed to do it. Donald John Trump managed to win the election. At least the electoral vote. Clinton won the popular vote, which Johnson only managed to receive 3% of. Two points short of the goal. I won’t lie. I was rooting for Donald Trump to win. Scratch that, I was rooting for him to beat Hillary Clinton. I tweeted, “I don’t want Donald Trump to win. I just want him to beat Hillary Clinton.” Both candidates are liars, having terrible Politifact ratings. Both candidates have flip flopped, from Hillary saying she was opposed to gay marriage until 3 years ago and shifting to the left due to Bernie Sanders, or Donald Trump converting between single payer and free market health care and having an ambiguous relationship with Vladimir Putin. Both candidates are currently being investigated, Donald for Trump University and Hillary for her emails. Both candidates are authoritarian populists who have a sense of entitlement and greed. That being said, Donald Trump is the lesser of two evils. Trump has never been in government, never having a position. He doesn’t know who to rub elbows with. Hillary Clinton has been in state government, Congress, and the White House. She has big corporate donors. She knows how to get things done, and that’s what scares me the most. I agree with her around 20% of the time, and I don’t want her pushing her center-right tyrannical policies through the Republican Congress. You already know none of the Democrats will listen to Trump. Most of the Republicans in Congress have hostility or heavily disagree with Trump, so he won’t get anything done, most likely. Trump has also hinted at more libertarian positions, like getting out of foreign affairs, lowering taxes, etc. I could never vote for Donald Trump. I cannot be responsible for that. I will always vote for the candidate that represents my values and for the candidate I am comfortable representing me. I will prefer a candidate to win over another, I will root them on, but I refuse to support or endorse them. That’s my relationship with the Donald Trump of 2016, mere preference over a woman who has lied, who has climbed, who has manipulated, who has slithered her way to the top. The reaction to Trump winning has been absurd. Riots are happening in large liberal cities. The Canadian Immigration website crashed. There are (currently UNPROVEN) reports of trans youth killing themselves. Communist flags are being flown and Ole Glory is being burned in the streets. People are refusing to say the Pledge and people are crying on Facebook. Guess who the blame is thrown towards? To the Republican Party for letting this be their candidate? Not really. To the Democrats for rigging their primary and making Hillary Clinton, one of the most unlikeable politicians in history, their nominee? Only a few are saying that. No, “privileged white males” and independent voters are being shoved under the bus. Ridiculous. You wonder how the Democrats lost, and then they pull stuff like this. I cannot say how good of a president Trump will be. He could do a complete 180 on his beliefs and be a loveable guy, playing a character just to win. Who knows? We’ll all find out in January. He gave his victory speech, but it wasn’t the usual boastfulness we expect from Trump. He said we, as a collective, need to become a “united people.” He wants us to celebrate “our victory.” He is trying desperately to start the unification process after such a toxic election. Fights are happening in schools, people are rioting. We need to stop. If we elect a smart Congress and apply a level of social pressure on the Trump administration, our country will be fine. We need to chill. Let’s all come together, and enjoy the next four years of memes and the anticipation for Kanye West vs Donald Trump in the year 2020. In 2016, both of the mainstream candidates are the most disliked in history. We have a racist loudmouth who refuses to give us the details, and a corporate hack who has lied so much that we can’t be sure she’s telling us her actual name. Bernie supporters were cheated in this election, the DNC email leaks proving this. What is a liberal or progressive to do? Some will vote for corporatist Shillary Clinton, the epitome of the establishment. Some will flock to Jill Stein of the Green Party. Some will go to the socialist candidates. Some will even betray their principles and vote for Donald Trump to get back at the Democrats. There is a better solution. Have you met Gary Johnson? Gary Johnson is the Libertarian candidate for president. A libertarian is someone who wants to preserve personal and economic liberty. It’s very comparable to liberalism, which is a philosophy based on liberty and equality. There’s a lot of overlap between the two ideologies, especially when it comes to social issues.
For example, Gary does not approve of banning abortion. He believes that it is a personal choice, and should remain a right of the individual to decide. As governor, he did push efforts to ban late-term abortions, which means an abortion after the point of viability (when the fetus could survive outside of the mother). Johnson also disapproves of the death penalty. His position has shifted over the past 20 years, probably based on the development of his personal philosophy. Johnson now says that the federal government should not have to power to end a person’s life, and that too many innocent people are convicted every year. When it comes to education, Johnson believes that local and state governments are more efficient than giant establishment bureaucracies. He doesn’t believe in Ted Cruz of Texas dictating on what happens to the children in Florida. He opposes rigorous testing and “one size fits all” methods, promoting the uniqueness of children and their individual situations. Johnson believes in government regulation to protect our natural resources and the environment. He opposes the government choosing winners and losers, bribing politicians to target the wrong people and cause economic failure. Gary supports protecting national parks and trying to fight climate change. Gary believes in a non-interventionist foreign policy, meaning that if our interests or people aren’t directly challenged, we will not wage war against them. Surely that’s a nice change in pace from Terrorist Don and war-hawk Killary. Instead of sending our troops around the world to police the planet, Johnson wants to create a strong national DEFENSE, not offense. Immigration has been a hot button issue for this election. Johnson supports raising the amount of work visas and opposes the construction of a wall. Gary Johnson doesn’t support the discrimination of the LGBT community, supporting legislation to limit it as much as possible. Johnson is a supporter of gay marriage. His VP pick Bill Weld was excommunicated from the Republican party because of his support for the LGBT community and being pro-choice. The New Mexican governor is also sympathetic to the undocumented immigrants in America and Black Lives Matter. He believes that the system does target non-white people, to an extent. He opposes the War on Drugs, which was created to target protesters and black communities in the 60's. He supports amnesty to the working immigrants already in our borders, and a simple path to citizenship. Why should you vote for Gary instead of Jill Stein, or Gloria La Riva, or anyone else? Because he has the greatest shot. He’s on the ballot in all 50 states and averages around 8% in the polls, most of which don’t include 18-25 year olds. He would be the greatest middle finger to the two-party system, shattering it. Even if he doesn’t win the election, if he gets 15% of the popular vote, the Libertarian Party would get access to the debates next time. While you may not agree with Gary on everything, it should be known that President doesn’t have complete say in our system of government. You can elect progressive representatives in Congress and in local elections to preserve the revolution that you want to occur. You can keep fighting for what you think is right. Vote Gary Johnson in 2016. The Republican primary must’ve been a disastrous thing to watch for a conservative. Candidates who hold up conservative values were completely decimated by a trash talking populist. It’s obvious that the #NeverTrump people, the real conservatives, need someone to support in the presidential election. They need someone who wants to limit the power of the federal government and to deregulate small businesses. They need Gary Johnson. Gary Johnson is a former Republican governor turned Libertarian, meaning he wants to preserve economic and personal freedom as much as possible, like the founding fathers intended. The sense of individualism and liberty in his philosophy correlates with conservatism in a variety of ways.
For example, Gary Johnson opposes affirmative action quotas, saying the minorities should not get special treatment in the hiring process. Johnson believes people should be based on their character and their skills, not for the color of their skin or their private parts. When it comes to education, Johnson wants it to be brought down to the state and local levels to increase efficiency and take away the bureaucratic power of the federal government. Johnson is also a strong proponent of school choice, believing that competition is a great way to ensure appealing results. Johnson opposes Obamacare, and wants the slow and jankey federal health care system to be transitioned down to the state level. This respects the Constitution, and will make healthcare more efficient across the board. As a person who supports liberty, it’s needless to say Gary Johnson opposes strict gun control. Johnson says he is open to talking about restricting access to the mentally ill and possible terrorist subjects, but only after proper investigations. He opposes the concept of a gun free zone, saying that’s where most mass shootings happen. Johnson also supports property rights, opposing eminent domain (the confiscation of private property for public use). Let’s say you have a farm that’s in the way of a highway. Under a Johnson administration, the federal government would not be permitted to taking your farm and tearing it down. Johnson and the conservatives don’t only agree on these issues, but also the economy as a whole. Gary opposes long-term federal welfare, considering it is our biggest expenditure and all. Under a Johnson administration, he wants to cut every bloated sector of the federal government by at least 43% each, decreasing the tax burden on the American citizen. Johnson’s tax policy is a national sales tax called the Fair Tax, which means that the government won’t have to force you to give them part of your paycheck. It’s completely based on voluntary exchanges. The former governor also wants to deregulate businesses and eliminate corporate welfare, creating more competition and more jobs. When he head of New Mexico, unemployment decreased dramatically. Now, odds are you don’t agree with Johnson on everything. But you don’t need to! The president does not have unlimited power in the United States! We need to elect a smart congress that will push our agenda and keep the President in line. But to do that, we need a president that will listen to Congress. Hillary will most likely be another Obama: sneaking around Congress, forcing her party to support her agenda, executive orders. Trump is a fireball that does what he wants, when he wants. We need a smarter choice for President. #Johnson2016 I know, I know. After reporting on the presidential election, talking about local politics, it seems rather all to have this type of article on my blog. But it’s something I feel like needs addressing. Recently, politicians and important figures from all over the globe have been declaring what some call “A War on Memes.” That sounds satirical, doesn’t it? I wish it was.
That can’t happen in America, can it? We have rights here! The first amendment! I’ll have you know that both mainstream presidential candidates have been critical of memes, therefore attacking the first amendment and free speech as we know it. Hillary Clinton, in her speech directed towards the Alt-Right, was interrupted by a man shouting the name of a popular Internet icon. “Pepe!” he cheered, catching the former Secretary off guard. Later on, her campaign released an official analysis of a dank meme. This picture depicts Donald Trump and a variety of his supporters as a parody of “The Expendables.” One of these supporters was Pepe the frog, given wrinkled features and Trump’s signature hair. Elizabeth Chan of the Clinton campaign said that he’s “a symbol associated with white supremacy.” This accusation is based on absolutely no evidence and shows that either Hillary gives access to her website to whiney Social Justice Warriors willy-nilly, or that she agrees with her and wants to push the war. Well, Donald Trump has to be cool with memes, right? He’s practically a living meme. Well, Trump has been very opposed to any criticism of him. He has sued numerous people for saying he looks like an orangutang child, that he has tiny hands, that he isn’t as rich as he claims, etc. Trump has threatened to open up libel laws against newspapers to take down negative content, which could possibly encompass political cartoons, the grandfather to the dank memes of today. Donald has even voiced support of “closing down certain sections of the Internet.” Does Donald Trump know that’s the tactic of numerous authoritarian nations? Does he know that it violates freedom of expression and communication? Yes, he knows, but if you bring it up you’re “foolish,” according to him.
Can anyone other than politicians betray our trust with our memes? Yes. Yes they can. Facebook has removed memes before, especially if they mocked Mrs. Clinton. They’ve taken down entire pages before! Being Classically Liberal is just an example of this Orwellian purging. They don’t have to be politically based, however, to feel Zuckerberg’s wrath. Cabbage Cat, Gangster Popeye, and a variety of other pages were removed from the platform. It’s not just Facebook that people are being “zucked,” it’s Instagram as well. The only place left is Twitter, right? Well, famous troll Milo Yiannopoulos was kicked off the site. He was BANNED. This started a #FreeMilo campaign, but it ended up going nowhere. This is a fight over freedom of speech. Some will say it’s “foolish” to bring up freedom of speech. Is it? This is America, where we can say what we want, no excuses. “But you can’t yell fire in a movie theater!” Shut up. That’s different. It’s different when it’s a call to action. If you’re calling for violence or disorder, yes, that does have its consequences, especially if it actually causes the violence and disorder it was trying to accomplish. Some will say that “freedom of speech only deals with the government.” Freedom of expression is having the right to say what you want to say without anyone getting in your way. Of course, other individuals can respond to your speech and expression, but the government cannot. I apply that same philosophy to conglomerate corporations and social media sites. So… how can we fight back? Some people have put a filter on their profile pictures. You might’ve seen it on your friend’s profile: pink background, an upside down Facebook “F.” That is literally doing nothing. Sure, the support and thought counts, but come on. Does it mean anything after a tragedy? Not really. We need to have direct action to get actual change. Well, the social media attack on memes will only go down if one thing happens… If their profit is threatened. We’ll have to threaten to boycott social media. This won’t happen. Social media is intertwined with our life, and most of us aren’t willing to separate with it. Maybe some of us will, and will make a difference in this battle. What else? Well, we can start the #LetFreedomMeme movement. Tag politicians in your tweets, raid their comments, spam them with #LetFreedomMeme. Needless to say, it’ll annoy them until they change their platform, specifically their meme policies. It’s a nice callback to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and I’m sure it can make a difference. We can protect the freedom of expression for everyone on the Internet, and preserve the basic components this country was founded on. A lot of us are very concerned about the presidential election, as we should be, but there should be some concern directed towards other important decisions. Eighty-eight percent of Congress is open for new members, 34 in the Senate and 435 in the House. Going even further, here in our area, we have numerous elections on the local and state level, and odds are these ones will affect you more directly. I went to political forums, read the Lake City Reporter, and researched their platforms to help you out with getting to know the candidates. If any of these candidates suit you, you can request an early ballot if you call the election ballot or wait until primary day, August 20th. For more information, you can contact the Election Office at 386-758-1026, physically go to 17579 SW State Road 47, or just visit the website. Federal House of Representatives- Florida’s District 5 The only Republican running for this position is Glo Smith. In her speech at the Richardson Community Center, she used the time to describe her family and her 30 years of public service. She’s probably best known for the defacement controversy of June 2014, where her sign was vandalized to appear to have a white face. This was part of a series of incidents against black Republicans in the overwhelmingly Democratic district. On her website, she promotes business, praises the Constitution and limiting government, suggests either a flat tax or fair tax, commends our military, opposes Obamacare, and shames the federal government and their explosive spending. She is running against the Democratic incumbent, Corrine Brown, who you might’ve heard about, considering the fact she is currently being indicted for corruption. She’s not the only Democrat running, though. For example, LJ Holloway, who says she never met a reform she didn’t like. She wants to self impose a term limit on herself (six two-year long terms), fight big interests, abridge the Constitution, and reach across the aisle to address healthcare problems, education, criminal justice, economic inequality, and climate change. Another is candidate is Al Lawson, former Florida Senator and lobbyist. He has similar positions to Elizabeth Warren when it comes to the economy and college tuition, and says that he supports veterans, seniors, and students. Florida House of Representatives, District 10Frederick “Rick” Schutte IV is one of the Democratic candidates for this position. In his Richardson speech, he had brought a small bag full of various hats, giving his presentation in a “show and tell” format. He explained that he was an Florida State graduate, that he worked in law enforcement, and that he is a disabled veteran. As a lawyer, it makes sense that his campaign is emphasizing his knowledge of our current laws and the Constitution. Jerry Lawrence Bullard is the other Democrat running. He’s really pushing the down-to-earth approach, saying that work ethic was ingrained into him as the son of a farmer, which is probably why he promotes water quality and quantity. His wife is a teacher, and he opposes Common Core and supports teacher input. As a member of law enforcement for 26 years, he wants to support officers as well as push community-based policing. On his Facebook, he asks for “ideas on how to create good paying jobs and get our economy moving.” Next is incumbent Elizabeth Porter, who I’m pretty comfortable saying will win the Republican primary. Sorry Carol, maybe you should bring up that 0% from the NRA. She’s been endorsed by Florida Right to Life (she’s 100% pro-life), the NRA (she has a 100% rating), the Unified Sportsmen of Florida, and the National Federation of Independent Businesses. She has experience inside the government, and has sponsored numerous bills that protect our gun rights, businesses, and water. Lake City Council District 12The current holder of the position is Zack Paulk, who focused on being “proactive, not reactive,” looking for problems in his community and fixing them. His handouts look like a receipt, showing that he’s spent $579,489 in street improvements, $375,484 in recreation improvements, and $2,167,387 in utility improvements. That’s $3,122,360 in total. In 2012, he did an interview on North Florida Today which he addressed fixing infrastructure, attracting businesses, and tackling drainage problems. Paulk also works for Walmart. Jake Hill is running against Zack, who is actually his successor. He challenged Paulk’s effectiveness, specifically over the trash collection. He wants to be “your voice” on the council. He opposes the move of City Hall to the Blanche Hotel and the unavailability of the Lake City Police Chief. Lake City MayorMost people who live in this town don’t even know the mayor’s name. That’s a shame, people. His name is Stephen Witt, and he’s a lawyer. He boasts about his law schooling and his accounting degree, which he says has been beneficial in his 11 years as mayor. His accomplishments include the Blanche renovation, the Kicklighter Water Reclamation expansion, and the development of our local economy. On Constitution Day, he visited CHS and gave a short presentation on what it is and why it’s important. Audre’ J. Washington hopes to unseat Witt, but says she has no issues with him per se. Instead, she wants to give the citizens “another voice,” with “a new vision, new perspectives, new strategies, and new directives.” She portrays herself as the people’s candidate, pushing “community first” politics. She approved of the Blanche renovation, and recognizes its historic relevance. Her top ten priorities are addressing gender equality, aiding our veterans, tackling homelessness, helping the elderly, producing entrepreneurship, generating employment, updating infrastructure, promoting economic growth, assisting our youth, and improving public safety. How does she plan to do that? Initiate city-run mentoring programs and putting more of the budget in the community. That’s gonna cost money. Does she want to raise taxes? No, instead she wants the city to hire a grant writer to research and apply for state and federal money. Columbia County Commisioner District 1Ron Williams, who’s running for re-election, electrified the room with his speech at the Richardson Center. He was loud, he worked the room, and he interacted with the audience. His main points are bringing jobs to the county, and wanting his constituents to get a “fair share” of funding. Ron has held the position for 30 years, and says that his accomplishments “speaks for itself.” He brags that he’s paved over 150 dirt roads, developed four community centers, three parks, and three fire departments. Mr. Williams wants to attract higher paying industry jobs, and says after we recover from the Recession, we can start thinking about limiting incentives. Oni Brown Allen, who has criticized Ron’s frivolous spending and the use of “year-end cash” on campaigns, focuses more on policy and substance rather than relatability. She wants new park equipment, better fields, more street lights, and updated infrastructure. Oni has also voiced support for zero based budgeting and improving education. She wants to bring in idustry job, mostly by better training our population for such labor and showing off our ideal location. Not a lot of people are aware of Toby Register's campaign. This is most likely because he has only spent $23 on the entire endeavor and hasn't connected at all with the public. He says he wants the local government to stop spending so much money, instead save it for "rainy days." He supports business incentives, especially for industry jobs, which we currently have a lack of. Toby has also received an endorsement from Kyle Green, who is running for District 5. Columbia County Commisioner District 5Tim Murphy is a down to earth small businessman who wants the government to stop borrowing so much money, be more transparent, and protect our kids more. He shouted out his math teacher and shamed the county’s spending at forums, and pushes for better government-people relations. He has owned Murphy Fabrication, Inc for 22 years, and says that makes him aware of what businesses need. Scarlet Parnell Frisina has had the position for 7 ½ years, and says she has proven to be a smart, cooperative, and fiscally-responsible leader. She said that whether she’s at the grocery store or at a ball game, she’s happy to talk to you about the issues that matter to you. On her handout, she said that she has removed $7,000,000 from the budget, giving more ease on the taxpayer. She has recently received some criticism due to last minute changes in plans for a park, changing it from a normal children's park to one designed specifically for those with special needs. Befaithful Coker is trying to spark a progressive movement here in Columbia County. She has voiced support for Black Lives Matter, has criticized the Clintons, and hinted at possible support for Bernie Sanders on her Facebook. She supports transparency and sunshine laws, providing employment programs for teenagers, and fighting for diversity. Coker would also push for the creation of a Budget Workshop to analyze and review the budget. She said something along the lines of, “God gave us one rule to live a moral life. Be faithful. So when you go to the polls remember to Befaithful.” Kyle Green is another candidate for district five. Even though I haven't heard much about this candidate, watching his Facebook Live streams and scrolling though his timeline pretty much sums him up. He's a normal guy. He claims that his family helped found the county, and wants to bring jobs and businesses back to the county so no one has to travel elsewhere. He supports term limits on the local level, and wants to address the slow road construction we've been experiencing. He wants to provide after school programs that teach kids the skills they need to live, and help our veterans out. Kyle wants you to do the proper research before you vote, and doesn't want you to complain about stuff going on if you don't try to fix it. Superintendent of Columbia County SchoolsI have already interviewed the superintendent candidates here, but they have developed their ideas and have added more to their platform. Incumbent Terry Huddleston has been in education for 37 years, in a variety of positions. He’s an expert with the budget, going from 3.5 million dollars in the red to 2.7 million in the black. He wants to encourage student and parent involvement in school board decisions, and emphasizes graduation to the extreme. Huddleston supports raising teacher pay by pushing financial stability and competition. Terry would like to continue the robotics program, even “go K-3 with Lego robotics.” When it comes to school security, he would like to place more cameras in prime entrances of the schools and create a school ID system, having students scan them when they get on and off the bus. Huddleston opposes the President's request to let transgender people use the facilities of their choice. After further questioning, Huddleston said he's not very concerned about the bathrooms (due to the fact most are single stall), but rather things like changing or locker rooms. Lex Carswell, who has 31 years in education, has three main priorities. The first one is raising the teacher pay, accomplished by freezing administration pay and overall hiring. Second is increasing the number of kids in dual enrollment. Third, directing more money into the classroom. Lex seems like he would push for a reform of Common Core, and would consider a nonvoting student member on the school board. Carswell’s security policy is make all schools single-entry. He also wants to implement a First Jobs Program, where freshmen can learn work maturity and mingle with community members to learn more about having a job. He also wants to emphasize our tech education, CNAs, and culinary arts. Lex believes that people should go to the bathroom that correlines with their biological sex. LC Bradley is another candidate, and has worked in a large variety of education positions for 40 years. His wife has also been in education for 34 years. He also supports raising teacher pay, but he’d convince state legislators to redistribute more funds to the county to pay teachers more. He would promote global marketability, creating apprentice programs with vocational schools and an International Baccalaureate Program (which is a more rigorous version of the AP Program). LC says he will implement an Emergency Action Plan, which will instruct teachers and students how to deal with emergency situations through drills. School Board District 4Mike Jenkins has a degree in building construction, and has been in construction for years. Apparently he’s gotten so much money from that, since he’s saying that he’ll give his paycheck back. He recognizes college is a choice, and that you can be successful without a degree. He supports the closing of Richardson Middle and Melrose Elementary, and maybe Pathways Learning Academy. Mike reassures you that none of the teachers will lose their jobs, though, and that closing down these schools will actually increase their pay. Jenkins also supports bringing agriculture and vocational programs down to the elementary level, but opposes Obama’s request to allow transgender individuals to use the bathroom and locker room of their choice. Jenkins wants to bring back School Resource Officers, which he says the School Board abolished. The current holder of the position is Keith Hudson, who was first elected to the school board in 1976 (he’s actually the longest serving school board member in Florida). He owns two businesses, Keith Hudson Fiberglass and Hudson Discount Marine. Keith also says he “supports many youth activities in Columbia County” and “believes that the school system should always meet the individual needs of each student, whether it is academic, vocational or special.” Mr. Hudson also supports raising the teacher pay, through the means of redistributing our current funds. When it comes to safety, Keith wants to fence every campus, make all schools single-entry, and install more security cameras. Circuit Judge 3rd Judicial Circuit, Group 1It's obvious that this is the most interesting and spiciest election this year.
T. Bradley McRae emphasizes judicial blindness and being a Floridian (he’s licensed to practice in Georgia as well). He’s been practicing law for almost 20 years, and is a graduate of Mercer Law School. McRae wants to “listen to the people, not just hear them,” and strongly supports the police. Bradley was recently involved in a car crash, but has no serious injuries. Controversy shrouds his campaign, due to the group called Citizens for Honest Judges. This group has been targeting Bradley’s opponent, and he said there was no ties between with him and the group. However, after further investigation, it was discovered that his former employee Christy Weaver leads the organization and that it received a $500 dollar donation from Big Island Construction Co. of Monticello, which has McRae’s brother as an agent. McRae still denies any involvement with the attacks. Paul Bryan is emphaszing his experience on the campaign trail. Bryan says he has handled every sort of case, was a prosecutor for 14 years, and taught law enforcement for 20 years. He graduated from University of Florida Law with honors and has served in this position for 23 years (this will be his final term). Paul is currently being targetted by the group Citizens for Honest Judges, which claims he's being sued by his former business partners, that he filed for bankruptcy in 2012, and has been under investigation for ethics violations, all with links to back them up. Bryan says that they do not tell the entire story, and that we should ignore them. His website is here. Since the kickoff of his campaign, Donald John Trump has become the king of controversy. Bloggers, journalists, memers, Hollywood stars, talk show hosts, literally everyone can’t stop talking about the pumpkin faced media mogul. What are they saying about him? He must be super popular for a reason, right? Is it his clever ideas and expert policy positions? No, it’s because he’s hilarious. That being said, the media has completely ignored his policies, and even if they do they misconstrue them to the point of unrecognizability. They call Donald sexist, racist, vulgar. Other than a few archaic lawsuits and some sny comments, these insults hold little water. What are Trump’s policy positions, and what’s wrong with them? What’s the problem with Donald Trump? Position If you ask anybody what Donald Trump’s position on the political spectrum is, some will tell you where the he’s super conservative (some even say the most conservative presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan), while others call him literally Hitler or Mussolini. Hitler was a national socialist, meaning that he promoted a racial hierarchy, supports bureaucratic agencies, and pushes complete mercantilism. Fascists, like Mussolini, believe in strong nationalism, want a single-party state, enforce traditionalist values, and push a corporatist economy (which means instead of competition, they want collective bargaining and negotiating). Donald Trump is neither one of these things. He is a populist, pandering to the majority. Trump supports domestic competition, and wants to get rid of certain federal departments. He supports fair trade, expanded welfare, higher wages, and putting “America First.” He’s very similar to Bernie Sanders in those regards. Populists often preach against elites and minorities. Trump has said our leaders are “stupid” and have dissed Muslims constantly. After studying Trump's positions and taking the test similar to how he would, I got this result. You can see he is firmly populist, maybe leaning towards nationalism and left populism. He is pretty far away from the Republican Party. Con is the Constitution Party, Dem is the Democrats, Lib is Libertarian, Grn is the Green Party, and PSL is the Party for Socialism and Liberation. The app is I took this on is called "Voter 1." Minimum Wage Ignoring the fact that setting a federal minimum wage is unconstitutional, therefore should be handled on the state and private level, Donald Trump supports raising the minimum wage to $10. Further proof that he is a populist. This can have a variety of negative effects on the economy. We can see a correlation between wage increases and inflation, which means the amount of money goes up, and the value of that money goes down. Small businesses wouldn’t be able to hire people, at least not legally. Unskilled, first time workers will have a hard time finding a job because their work may not be worth $10 an hour. Prices will go up because businesses have to pay their employees and make a profit. Large companies will have to fire people and outsource their jobs. Don’t you worry though, Trump has a solution for that one. Trade Trump has had the same position on trade since the 90s, and it’s a very popular position (HINT HINT). He wants to punish companies that outsource their jobs to places like Mexico and China. Is he gonna spank them? Send them to bed without dinner? Trump wants to impose tariffs on specific goods and countries until the jobs and investment come back to America. A tariff is a tax on trade, and it’s a clear indicator of nationalism and economic populism. What these “free but fair” trade supporters don’t realize is that we’ve done it before. In 1930, Congress and President Herbert Hoover enacted a law called the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. What happened? Well it was passed during the Great Depression, and caused more economic strain on the agricultural sector. Some economists say it was a big perpetuator of the Depression. Exports and imports decreased because nations felt like they were being targeted. They didn’t see business with the United States as profitable. So, in short, tariffs will decrease imports, exports, and will cause toxic foreign relationships. “But we’re bringing back the jobs!” you might be screaming at me. What jobs are we bringing back with tariffs? Manufacturing, for the most part, maybe some agriculture. Well, those are hard working jobs, and most Americans won’t take them, meaning they’ll be taken by immigrants. Trump has our back on that one too! Immigration This has been the number one cornerstone of Trump's presidential campaign. Most know about Trump's Wall and making Mexico pay for it, but what else does he have planned? This is Trump’s full immigration plan, put into a simple bullet-point list:
Let’s ask ourselves why Mexico sucks. The cartels and large gangs corrupt their government, which would probably be hindered if the Drug War ended. Donald Trump said in the 1990’s, when he was a social liberal, that our drug enforcement was a joke. Now he says that we should legalized medical marijuana, and let the states decide on the legality of drugs. Legalizing drugs on the federal level is “not something that he would want to do.” 40% of Mexico is desert (compare that to the 5% of the United States). Mexico is one-fifth the size of America, but their population is almost one-third. That can hint at some overpopulation problems, and Trump has been riding the pro-life wagon for the entire election. “They’re stealing our jobs!” They take the jobs that no one wants, like manufacturing and agriculture. How do we know this? Alabama and Georgia cracked down on illegal immigration and their economy ended up failing. What’s the reason people hire illegal immigrants? Because they hate their country? No, because they work harder for cheaper wages. That’s capitalism. It’s not the government’s job to protect your job from someone who’s gonna benefit your employer more. And by the way, cheaper labor means that a company can lower prices, which benefits consumers. It’s not just the authoritarianism and misunderstanding of economics that makes Trump’s plan fail, it’s the lack of success. Mexico sucks. That’s why they move here. What does Trump want to do again? Get rid of free trade, which will cause their economy to suck, causing more illegal immigration. Decrease Mexican foreign aid, which could help Mexico, causing more illegal immigration. Dramatically decrease the amount of work visas and possibly raise the fees to get them, which will block up process and will (you guessed it) cause more illegal immigration! Not to mention the mere absurdity of building a wall on the border, considering the fact that Mexico already has tunnels, catapults, and helicopters that transfer people and drugs across the border. Motives It should be considered that raising the minimum wage, increasing tariffs, and getting rid of cheap employees will damage small businesses, and make the market less competitive, allowing large companies to take grasp. Established companies that already have lots of money, like, this is just hypothetically speaking here, the Trump Organization. It’s not like it was founded by his grandmother, like he’s been with the organization since 25, like he’s basically built it into a commercial empire, like he’s going to leave it in the hands of his beloved children when he leaves. I see no conflict of interest here. Budget Donald Trump has said, “We've got to start balancing budgets.” To be completely honest, I don’t think Trump knows what the federal budget looks like.
Along with expanding our biggest debt-causers, Trump also wants to cut taxes across the board. Instead of seven tax brackets going 10-15-25-28-33-35-39.6, there would be four going 0-10-20-25. Trump will also get rid estate and death taxes, and cut corporate taxes to 15%. Our debt will explode under a Trump presidency, and that can lead to fiscal crises and higher costs of living.
Environment Donald Trump is complete garbage when it comes to the environment. In his book “Crippled America,” the chapter explaining his energy and environment positions was called “The Energy Debate: A Lot of Hot Air.” And, of course, we all remember this glorious tweet. He wants to create the Keystone Pipeline (which will require the confiscation of private land), he wants to plunder the Outer Continental Shelf for oil (land that isn’t ours for the taking), and cancel all the progress we’ve made on protecting our planet (like the Paris Agreement and other resolutions). Global warming, the Holocene extinction, and other effects have been appearing as we continue to produce mass pollution and raid the Earth for her resources. Phony Patriotism To be a populist, you’re gonna have to pander to national pride. “But Donald Trump actually love this country, unlike Hillary!” No one just hugs a flag out of the love for their country. They might post a cute picture with it on Independence Day, but Donald Trump, not once but twice, literally hugged the flag like it was a good friend. That’s grade A panderin’, right there. People who support Donald Trump, like the person who posted that video, love to call themselves patriots. A patriot is someone who loves their country and its values, willing to defend them against enemies or challengers. What are America’s values? The answer to that question can be found in a single document: The Constitution of the United States of America. The oath to become President is, "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." So… Will Donald do that? “I Alone Can Fix It” While Hillary Clinton took this quote from Trump’s nomination speech and used it to promote hard-working Americans, I was concerned when I first heard it. Alone means with no one else, so my first thought was Trump scribbling down executive orders and actions all day long. This would be a violation of Article I, which gives law making power to Congress. It is possible that he just meant that he was the lone candidate to fix America, but considering Donald has praised executive orders on the campaign trail, I wouldn’t rule Trump-branded tyranny out. I Like the First Amendment But... This is perhaps the biggest red alert when it comes to Trump’s views on the Constitution. For those that don’t recall the first amendment protects freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom to petition, and freedom of/from religion. The Donald wants to “open up libel laws” so he can easily sue newspeople and news organizations that he feels are “horrible and false.” Trump’s press advisories declared that events in public shall have “no homemade signs, banners, professional cameras with a detachable lens, tripods, monopods, selfie sticks, backpacks or large bags.” One can argue the homemade sign ban is an infringement on one’s free speech, and the camera restriction is obviously targeting the press. While it’s true, Donald has the right to ban the media from his events, it does show that he does have a toxic relationship with it, and can lead to a Nixon-esque administration. And, of course, there’s Donald Trump’s battle with freedom of religion. Donald Trump has been pushing his Christian side, which makes sense because they still make the majority of the nation. With his “two Corinthians” comment, it was pretty clear Trump was pandering to the majority yet again. I don’t think we’re gonna have to worry about Donald Trump, the man who has a model wife and has been on the cover of Playboy, imposing evangelical law on America. However, he does come pretty hard with the discrimination of Muslims and the Islamic religion. Banning Muslims from entering the United States, which Trump has advocated for, is against the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The Right to Bear Arms “What,” you must be saying, “Donald Trump has praised the second amendment, and even got the endorsement of the NRA!” That’s true, but he also received that endorsement before he pushed banning people on the federal terrorist watch list for buying a gun. Trump did this after the Orlando shooting. Now, the federal watch list is an inefficient method of prevention. Innocent people get on the list all the time, and if Trump’s ban is imposed, that means innocent people won’t be able to buy their guns. This is a violation of the second and fifth amendment, which protect the right to bear arms and the right to due process respectively. Err Towards Security Trump supports the National Security Agency (NSA) and PATRIOT Act. Most people found out what these two aspects of our post-9/11 society are back in 2014 when the Edward Snowden story picked up speed. Basically, the government was spying on us. Some of us are cool with the federal government collecting metadata and information on us, while others say it is a violation of the fourth amendment, which protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures. To quote Rand Paul, “Get a warrant!” Due Process and Eminent Domain Jeb Bush was completely slaughtered by Donald Trump. There was only one time on the campaign trail where Jeb fought decently, and that was on eminent domain. Jeb absolutely destroyed Donald on that one issue that no one cares about. Basically, eminent domain is when the government takes your property because it will “benefit the public.” Donald fully supports eminent domain, to the point of abusing the system multiple times. He wants to create the Keystone Pipeline, which would require the confiscation of private property. Donald doesn’t support due process for Muslims and suspected terrorists, wanting to shove more people into Gitmo, supervise and shut down mosques, and create multiple databases and watchlists. Once again, this is an infringement of the fifth amendment. We Have to Beat the Savages Trump has had the same position on the death penalty since 1989, which is that he 100% supports it. He calls it “vigilance,” while others call it justified murder. Innocent people are killed every year because of government trying to keep us “safe.” Donald also supports torture and “enhanced interrogation techniques,” when it comes to terrorist suspects. He has voiced support for waterboarding and “a lot more.” What does that mean? Well, a CIA report released in 2014 detailed some EITs that America used on certain prisoners. These include such methods as rectal rehydration and exploiting entomophobia. I’m willing to believe that Trump will try to deregulate torture methods, therefore making these common practices in our military. Let's not forget the comments he made about "going after their families," suggesting the torture and murder of innocent people, which is just going to create more terrorists in the process! The 8th amendment protects people “cruel and unusual punishment,” and it needs to be enforced. Kasich Administration If you didn’t hear, Donald Trump, Jr. contacted one of John Kasich’s aides to offer up the Vice Presidential position to the Ohioan governor. He said that Kasich would be the most powerful VP in American history, in charge of domestic and foreign policy, while Trump will be in charge of “making America great again.” Kasich, hating everything Trump stands for, denied the offer, and Trump moved on to select Indiana governor Mike Pence. Article Two of the Constitution gives the Vice President no execute powers, and this further shows Trump’s lack of knowledge on how the government works. So, if Trump wins, odds are Mike Pence will be leading the nation. How bad could he be? Mike Pence As an average Republican politician, Mike Pence has some things right, like the deregulation of the economy and supporting gun rights. Pence also proposed a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, pushed the creation of a nationwide AMBER Alert System, supports transparent campaign financing, and promotes tax cuts across the board. So what’s the problem with Mike Pence? Well, Mike supported the Iraq War, which Donald Trump has forgave him for. He wants to make the PATRIOT Act permanent, and opposes whistleblower protection. He wants to impose his traditional Christian values on the nation, including banning abortion, getting rid of gay marriage, opposing the idea of secular nation, and supports abstinence-only education. He is anti-science, rejecting facts such as climate change and the dangers of tobacco. He also wants to stop teaching evolution in our schools and limit stem cell research even further. A Trump/Pence administration would just be a more erratic version of what we’ve seen before from establishment politicians, appealing to the majority to get elected and ruining our nation even further. Donald Trump is not a fighter, like so many people tried to say at the Republican Convention. He's not the savior of our nation, the image of pure patriotism that so many try to portray him as. He simply is not. Trump is a media shill, trying to get attention 24/7, using populist rhetoric and absurd ideas to do so. Trump doesn't want to fix America, make it great again. Donald Trump simply wants another hat to wear, another title to have under his belt. He wants to be the figurehead of our nation, giving all the duties and responsibility to other people. Trump is the guy you get for a school project that wants to do the presentation, not the actual hard work going into the project itself. He's not a fighter, he's a mascot for his company, and wants to be one for America. |
Christopher CaldwellJust some thoughts on current events and such. Archives
January 2017
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