I don’t want this blog to be only about politics and I was actually thinking of another topic, but in a few weeks, an election will be held that will determine the direction of our Country. I have really kept my opinions to myself on Facebook this year, but I’ve shared enough stuff that I’m sure people know how I feel. I’ll break this into a few sections. I’ll talk about the Presidential Election first. Next I’ll speak about the elections for the House of Representatives and Senate. Finally, I’ll talk about State and Local Elections.

First up, the 2016 Presidential Election. Every election cycle, it seems like the political pundits say that this is the most important election. This time I believe it. The number 1 reason that I believe it, is the fact that Justice Scalia passed away and there is an opening on the Supreme Court. The conservatives had a narrow majority of 5-4 and Justice Scalia was the most conservative Justice on the Court. The next President will appoint his replacement and if a liberal is appointed, the entire Constitution is in jeopardy. The second amendment was upheld by a 5-4 ruling in the case of Heller vs. Washington DC, so if something like that would go to a more liberal court, it could go 5-4 in the other direction. This would allow cities and other local or State Governments to ban guns within their limits. That would be the beginning of the end for the second amendment and other freedoms could follow suit. Liberal Justices tend to legislate from the bench instead of interpret the laws and ensure they are legal according to the US Constitution.

We have spent the last 8 years with a socialist as President. We have added a record amount to the National Debt under this President. (https://www.thebalance.com/us-debt-by-president-by-dollar-and-percent-3306296) (http://www.usdebtclock.org/) President George W. Bush added the second most debt of any President, so in the last 16 years, we’ve more than tripled the debt. Our National Debt was $5.8 Trillion when President George W. Bush took office, it is now almost at $20 Trillion. I wasn’t happy about his fiscal policy either, but that’s another story. To continue with our present condition, our military is at record low numbers and the world doesn’t respect us anymore. President Obama’s foreign policy has been atrocious. He told everyone when we would pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Now we are back in both Countries dealing with the Taliban and ISIS. He made a terrible deal with Iran. He has estranged Israel. He has allowed Russia to fill the power vacuum that we have created by being weak in our foreign policy. North Korea has nuclear capabilities and now has a missile that can reach Japan. We’ve had numerous terror attacks on US soil. France, Germany, Belgium and Great Britton are all being overrun by Muslims who want to take control of their Countries. Our current President has brought in at least 10,000 Syrian refugees and we know that ISIS has planted operatives within that group. We have the open border issues with our current President refusing to enforce immigration laws and deport people who enter this Country illegally. We have more people on Government assistance than ever before. The Labor Force Participation Rate is the lowest it has been since 1977 (http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/record-94708000-americans-not-labor-force-participation-rate-drops). No one has done a thing to fix Social Security. Obamacare is a disaster. We’re on the verge of a race war. The Federal Government and its agencies continue to gain more power as they attempt to take away more and more of our freedoms. I’m sure there is more, but that’s enough for me to know that our Country is not better off than it was 8 years ago.

Now for the choices. I will start with the Democratic Nominee. Hillary Clinton. I’ll just start off by saying that she should be in prison, not running for President. Based upon her treatment of Classified Material, she should be in prison. People who have done less are serving time right now. She lied to the FBI. Martha Stewart lied to the FBI and she went to prison. Then there is Benghazi. The fact that she left an American Ambassador and his security team in Libya after all other western countries shut their embassies and then refused their requests for additional security just baffles my mind. In my opinion, she has the blood of 4 Americans on her hands and for that reason alone, I would never vote for her. My Warrior Ethos states that “I will never leave a fallen comrade”. She left them to die because she didn’t allow the military to provide additional security. After all that, she goes in front of a Congressional Hearing and says that famous line, “What difference, at this point, does it make?” I’ll tell you what difference it makes. She needed to have told the truth about what happened and not blamed it on a video. She needs to accept responsibility for her actions and admit that it was her fault that those Americans were left there without the proper security in place to protect them. If she couldn’t protect an American Embassy in Benghazi, how can anyone believe that she will be able to protect America? She has been caught in so many lies that no one can believe anything she says. She is a member of the political class that is ruining this Country. She is everything that is wrong in politics. She is bought and paid for by various Countries and Industries. She pledges to open our borders and continue our bad trade deals or make them worse.

She will not fix the economy because, like Obama, she is a socialist. If you noticed, the Democrats are always talking about the middle class hurting. As we have seen with the release of tax returns, the rich hire accountants and lawyers to find every loop hole in the tax code that they can take advantage of. This way they pay less in tax. The ones who can’t take advantage of these loop holes are the middle class and the upper middle class. They are taxed at a higher rate and that money is distributed to those who make less. This is called redistribution of wealth and it’s a principle of socialism. In a socialist society, there are the wealthy, the ruling elite who are also wealthy, and the rest of the people are all in the lower class bracket. The strain on the middle class is pushing them down and the money given to those who are in the lower class, thus bringing them up slightly. The goal is to bring them all together where they are all in the same wage bracket, but the goal is also to make them dependent on the Government for the free handouts through excessive tax refunds, welfare and food stamps. When you become dependent upon the Government, you vote for those who will continue to give you free money / stuff and this is how the Government controls the populous. Eventually we all become subjects instead of citizens. When the Government runs out of money, you get what has happened in Greece and Venezuela. People rioting in the streets wanting their free stuff from the Government, but the Government is broke, so it can’t afford to support the citizens anymore. These are all the reasons that I believe that the biggest problem facing our Nation is the National Debt. FYI, Republicans don’t get a pass on this either because they’ve controlled the Congress for the last 2 years and the House longer than that, yet the National Debt is still rising at an alarming rate and our annual budget spending deficit is still like $1 Trillion or more every year.

Hillary will not fix (repeal, replace, etc.) Obamacare. She wants the Government to control healthcare, so she will try and take it further into Government control. She was Secretary of State for President Obama’s first term, so the foreign policy mess that we have is partly her responsibility. That means that she won’t fix that. She won’t fix the military. She won’t fix the border. She will nominate a liberal to the Supreme Court. She won’t fix the tax code. She won’t fix Social Security. She will continue with the out of control spending and drive us deeper into debt. I honestly can’t think of one positive that would come out of a Hillary Clinton Presidency.

Instead of moving directly to Trump, I’ll next speak about the Libertarian Candidate for President, Gary Johnson. Gary Johnson ran in the Republican primary in 2012 and had no traction. He dropped out and ran as a Libertarian. Now he’s back on the ballot again as a Libertarian. I like the fact that the Libertarian platform is more of a non-government intervention platform. I just want government to leave me alone, so I agree with some of what they propose. I differ on National Defense because as a retired military member, I believe in a strong military for National Defense. I know that we can’t pull our military out of every country overseas and that there are times when we will have to intervene on behalf of other countries. Libertarians have a non-interventionist philosophy. I have watched interviews with Gary Johnson and I watched him in the 2012 Republican Primary Debates. He’s just not up to the task of being President in my opinion. He’s more of a RINO and when he couldn’t win as a Republican, he switched parties. To me, that seems like a quest for power, not like a man who has the public’s best interest at heart. I have written him off, but I did have some friends who were going to vote for him. I don’t know if they still will because he’s said some stuff that, as one friend put it, doesn’t sound very Libertarian. It sounded more like a Democrat.

Now I’ll move on to Trump. I know that Trump said some raunchy things that were leaked on a tape last Friday. We expect that of Trump, so I don’t know why everyone seems so surprised and wants to distance themselves from him. I’m not going to defend what he said or things that he may have done. I haven’t heard the tape and I really don’t care what he SAID. I care what he has done as a business man. I care that he hasn’t been charged with any crimes, but Hillary should be in prison. I care that he hasn’t made any decisions while in a position of leadership that have stranded diplomats and gotten them killed (Benghazi). I care that Trump is not a liar. He’s a straight shooter who says things in the moment. That would be why he says a lot of things that can rub people the wrong way. I honestly don’t like Trump as a candidate. I was hoping that a true Constitutional conservative like Ted Cruz would be the nominee.

Donald Trump will put together the best Cabinet this Country has probably ever seen. He has listed some good names for positions in the Government that matter. (http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/288817-trump-starts-considering-cabinet) Donald Trump will run this Country like a business and no business stays afloat by running in the red. I believe that he will do more to balance the budget than any other candidate. Trump will follow the immigration laws and improve border security. Trump will make good trade deals because business is based on making good deals. Trump supports our military. I believe that he is the only candidate that will do everything he can to improve the VA and the VA Healthcare System. Trump supports our police officers. He has already published a list of potential Supreme Court Justices to nominate for the current vacancy and they are conservative judges who interpret the Constitution, not try to change it. (http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/23/politics/donald-trump-judicial-nominations/)  Trump seems to be doing all the things that would make conservatives happy with his Presidency.

Having said that, these are probably the worst candidates for President in the history of our Nation. Trump can say some stupid and crude stuff in the heat of the moment. Hillary shouldn’t even be eligible because she should be in prison and it was found that the primary was rigged and Bernie Sanders never had a chance. If Trump wasn’t so polarizing, the Republican nominee should have won this election easily. The funny thing is that the Republican Party created the demand for Trump. The Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives in 2010 and they gained control of the Senate in 2014. The voters wanted a check and balance to President Obama. Instead, they got a do nothing Congress who hasn’t done anything they stated they would do. Spending is still out of control. The military has still shrunk. The VA is still a mess and the list goes on. The Tea Party came to be in 2009 and they wanted to move the Republican Party back to the Christian Conservative values that the party represented for so many years. Tea Party Candidates such as Mike Lee, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul were elected to the Senate. They are viewed as Party outsiders. They were supposed to change Washington DC. They have tried, but too many of the Republican establishment Senators still remain and refuse to back their fellow Republicans. The people voted for change and didn’t get any. When Trump launched his campaign for President, he was the plain spoken, say what’s on your mind, anti-PC candidate. This is what the Republican voters wanted after 2 moderate nominees in McCain and Romney. The Republican base is mobilized because they finally have the anti-establishment candidate that they’ve been looking for.

As I said, Trump wasn’t the candidate that I wanted to see on the ticket, but he may be what this Country needs. He’s not a career politician. He’s not afraid to speak his mind and doesn’t care if he hurts someone’s feelings with what he says. The contestants from The Apprentice and former Miss USA and Miss Universe contestants have come out to support him, so he can’t be a horrible person once you get to know him. I just think he’s cocky and egotistical. I hope that he wins and he is a good President. I don’t believe that he is crazy or that our Country is doomed if he is elected. I believe that our Country is doomed if Hillary is elected. This makes Trump the only one I can vote for because he is the only one that can win. I think that the political class needs a kick in the pants and he just may be the one to give it to them.

Next up is the battle for control of the Legislative branch. In order for any real change to occur, the Republicans have to maintain control of both houses of Congress. In Colorado, Michael Bennet is being opposed by Darryl Glenn. Glenn is a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel. He is a graduate of the Air Force Academy. I saw him at a debate during the Senatorial Candidate Primary and I was impressed. He is a genuine guy and he is a real conservative. I will be voting for him and I hope that he unseats Bennet. For more info on Darryl Glenn, please see his website: https://electdarrylglenn.com/

In the House of Representatives, we have another opportunity to unseat a Democrat. Republican Nic Morse is running against Jared Polis in House District 2. I have known Nic for a long time now and I feel 100% secure in voting for him. He is in House District 2 and lives in Fort Collins, so I’m not in his district. I believe that his heart is in the right place and that he has great ideas to advance our Country. If you live in his district, please vote for him. If you want to know more about Nic, please visit his website at: http://www.nicmorseforcongress.com/

Finally, for State and Local elections, we must elect people who will not try to take away our rights and who will do what is right for the State and Locality. I know that in my district for State Senate, Kevin Priola is running against the incumbent. Kevin has been my State House Rep for the last few elections. He is also a true conservative who will fight to protect us from a heavy handed State Government. For more information on Kevin, please visit his website at: http://kevinpriola.com/

That’s all I have for my political blog tonight. I really thought that I would talk more about Trump and Hillary, but everything has already been beat to death in the news and on social media. I hope you enjoyed reading it and thank you for taking your time to read my blog. Next up, relationships…