Hillary and Donald: A Simple Question for the American Public

In a democratic republic, the people get exactly the kind of government they deserve. – Prof. Larry Ingle (et al)

The meaning of the above quote is quite clear: In the U.S., “we, the people” choose our representatives in government through elections, so we must take the credit or blame for the quality of that government.

There’s a famous quote: “Freedom means responsibility; without responsibility, there can be no freedom.”  The inalienable rights of man, as noted in the Declaration of Independence, are given by God, which means no man or group of men can ever rightly deprive us of them.  Those rights are what make us a free people; the U.S. Constitution merely affirms and guarantees them.

So, what responsibility is it that comes with the right, the freedom, to vote?

Before we vote we must seriously consider the qualifications and character of those who seek our vote.  We must ensure first that they are people of honesty and integrity, for no matter what great talent or skill they may possess, if they don’t speak the truth and limit their official actions to the powers authorized to their positions by the Constitution, the enormous power of government at their disposal means we will have created a modern day Golum, a creature meant for good but capable of inflicting great harm on its very creators.

How do we ensure that honesty and integrity, then?  By listening to campaign speeches and watching slick campaign ads on TV?  That’s akin to believing a used car salesman who’s extolling the virtues of some old crate!  His sole interest is in selling you that pile of junk, so he makes it sound like the best thing to ever roll off an assembly line.  Once you drive away in it, he has achieved his purpose (i.e., made money), and could care less if it breaks down on your way home.  Not his problem, for you bought it, hook, line and sinker.  Caveat emptor: “let the buyer beware.”

But you’re too smart to fall for the spiel of a used car salesman.  You do a little research about that model, then you test drive it to see how the transmission shifts, how it idles, how it handles, etc..  You find out what experience others have had with this model, you kick the tires, look under the hood to see signs of how it’s been maintained, and so on.  You only have so much money to spend, and you don’t want to get bilked out of it by a dishonest salesman.  That’s just common sense.

Why, then, don’t you do that with the person running for president, or Congress, or mayor or town council, etc.?  Because if they’re just spewing a line of malarkey, you stand to lose a lot more than just money.  The one truism of political campaigns is this: Do NOT ever…EVER…listen to what a career politician promises during a campaign!  Like what a teenage boy says to his girlfriend in the throes of passion, what a career politician says during a campaign isn’t exactly “lying”…but in either case, if you fall for it, you and the girlfriend get the same thing.

Thankfully, though, we don’t have to listen to anything a politician says, for there’s a public record of their previous official, and personal, actions; all we have to do is look at what they’ve done.  Have they fulfilled their previous campaign promises?  Have they worked as hard while in office as they did to obtain that office?  Have they shown a trustworthy character and exhibited decent moral behavior?  Or have their actions belied their pretty promises and shown something else entirely?

You check on the background of babysitters, or yardmen, or mechanics, so why would you entrust the power of government to one who makes the best speeches, promises the most goodies or claims to believe in traditional values, even if they’ve spent their lives acting against those values?

Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, et al, aren’t the real problem with American politics.  They’re politicians, and like dogs bark and bite, politicians lie; it’s in their nature.  The real problem is you, American citizen, for you haven’t fulfilled the responsibility that goes along with the right to vote.  This year, that means a nation of over 300 million people have the shameful “choice” for president between either a vile, amoral, power-hungry hag who has violated the law and the Constitution repeatedly and gotten away with it like the political royalty you’ve allowed her to be, or an arrogant, self-obsessed liberal billionaire who promises that he’ll do the exact opposite as president of what he’s done his entire life.

So, American voter, here’s the simple question:  Would you buy a used car from either one of them?

Then why in hell are you voting for them?

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Formerly a liberal and an atheist, Paul E. Scates served as a Marine in Vietnam and is a lifelong student of American history, politics and culture. A former contributor to national website TooGoodReports.com, he writes his staunchly independent Conservative and informed Christian commentary for his fellow ordinary, working Americans, the “we, the people” who are ultimately responsible for preserving our Constitutional liberties.

Paul E. Scates

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