Less Mud, More Substance Needed in Presidential Campaign

Easter has come and gone, Christ has risen, but the unrepentant hearts in politics seem to be digging deeper into the name calling that has come to characterize our American political system.

Quite simply, I am sick of it.

Within the past seven days Muslim terrorists have killed 28 in Brussels, Belgium, and on Easter set off a bomb killing more than 70 at a Christian event in Pakistan.  The bomb was placed in a location designed to kill and maim the most children possible, all because they were Christian.  Yet, Republicans who wish to run our nation are consumed with making spurious charges about one of the candidate’s sex life, rather than talk to the nation about the existential threats to our freedom that are very real.

It drives me nuts, and is a sign of the new TMZ celebrity culture that is driving our nation’s political discourse.  Politicians reflect those that they seek to elect, and the Kardashian culture has now fully infected the political system.  It isn’t Donald Trump’s fault that he has reporters clinging to his every 140 character tweet, trying to decipher what he means or using the short bursts to mock him, all the while propelling his campaign forward.  It is the fault of the reporters who reward brashness over real policy. However trivial the message, reporters turn it into easy copy and Trump gets more free media.

To Trump’s credit, he has opened a new line of thinking about what the U.S. military responsibility should be in the modern world simply by questioning whether the North Atlantic Treaty Organization still makes sense is today’s world.

This provocative national defense reassessment is born in both the reality of our nation’s need to spend tax dollars in the wisest way possible and an honest questioning of whether the countries in NATO are best suited to fighting the war on terror.

Ted Cruz for his part, has courageously put together a brilliant team of foreign policy advisors who have been at the forefront in alerting the world to the existential threat that Islam’s Sharia Law legal system poses to liberal societies.

Cruz has continuously argued that America must re-engage the world and lead rather than withdrawing and hoping problems don’t find their way to our shores.

At a time when national security is intertwined with our nation’s immigration policies, there needs to be a national debate over what the next decade of American security policy should be.  The GOP is putting forward two men with visions for this future.

While the Democrats in the race embrace the failed European model of Muslim immigration and assimilation, the Republicans are striving for something different.  Rather than waste our time in prurient discussions of hand sizes, the campaigns need to force these issues into the media.

The American public can take it.  The American people know that our nation cannot be restored if current immigration and national defense policies are not radically changed.  It is time to have that adult discussion about what America’s role in the world should be.

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Rick Manning is the President of Americans for Limited Government and the former Public Affairs Chief of Staff for the U.S. Department of Labor. Americans for Limited Government is dedicated to putting the principles of limited government into action. They work with local groups across the nation to promote freedom, limited government, and the principles of the U.S. Constitution. Their goal is to harness the power of American citizens and grassroots groups in order to put the people back in charge in states across the country.

Rick Manning

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