Why You Might Vote for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump

By Chuck Marshall

After a terribly contentious election year,  which is now drawing to a close,  I've decided to write a positive blog elaborating on the good in both candidates-- to help anyone who is feeling so flustered or concerned about their selection.  Don't fret too much about the whole thing.  We still live in a free society where the fact of the matter is, whoever is elected will have their power checked by the other branches of government and the press. In fact, that's one of the keys to my complaints about the election process is the candidates are never engaged with questions as to what they would do to work with Congress.  President Obama was, in my humble opinion, a failure in this endeavor.  

Why you might vote for Hillary Clinton:

1)  Hillary has a great degree of experience having served 30 years in various forms of the government.   Most importantly, as Secretary of State for 4 years.   An essential aspect of the American President is diplomacy and foreign affairs.   There is no learning curve here.

2)  Hillary served as a US Senator.  This experience should prove invaluable in her quickly getting to work,  in cooperation  with Congress,  to accomplishing  things done at the top level.   Can you imagine a government that actually gets things done ?  Again, there is no learning curve here.

3)  Having been married to the President of the United States for 8 years, surely she learned quite a lot, and with all due acknowledgement to Bill Clinton's problems, the 90's were a very prosperous decade.  As she learns the process, her husband should be an enormous asset for her and for the country.

4)  I think Hillary is (underneath all the rhetoric)  a moderate Democrat not a left wing Democrat like Obama., therefor she's more likely to work with Congress.  Again, one of the most important aspects of being President is working with Congress.  She has the knowledge and ability and political wisdom to get things done no matter which party is running Congress.

5)  She's obviously very intelligent.  I think we all want our President to be as highly intelligent as is possible.  The stakes are so very high.

6)   People say "she's not likable".   Not being "likable" is not a reason to dismiss a candidate.  As Oprah Winfrey put it;  "She's not gong to be coming over to your house".   In addition, she seems to be a good mother to Chelsea., and Chelsea seems to be a fine and successful young woman.  You can't fake good kids.


Why you might vote for Donald Trump;

1)  Donald has been an important part of raising his children, despite being divorced from their mother (except for the youngest, of course).   All of his kids seem to be very bright and successful and happy.  That takes a lot of doing, commitment and love.  Again, you can't fake good kids.

2) A successful businessman,  Donald understands how to negotiate and deal with situations in the best interest of his business and his family.   As the President he will be negotiating and dealing in the best interest of the American people.  I'm not sure we've ever had a good  negotiator as President, so this could yield even more than anyone thinks.

3)  Donald is unpredictable, which I know Wall Street hates, but our enemies also hate it.  I feel like ISIS  is far less  likely to attack our country when  President Trump has openly questioned why we don't use nuclear weapons "since we have them".  That will jolt them  awake from their sleep during any of their barbaric plans to harm our country.

4)  Tireless.  I am very, very impressed with his work ethic.  The man does not stop, and he is more determined than I've ever seen anyone to succeed.   That sort of determination is what we need in a President, and on the side of the American people.

5)  Although Republican, I think everybody knows the Republican hierarchy see Trump as a highly unfortunate nominee.  A political nightmare.   They have demonstrated this by not lifting a finger to help the man out.  Because of this, I think Trump will be in a prime position to be one of the least partisan Presidents we've had in a long time.  The government must get back to "doing things"., and stop arguing about everything.  Perhaps Trump, of all people, could be the one to do that. Can you imagine the irony ?

6) Trump owes nothing to anyone, he self financed his election and is already financially successful.  It's  nice  to consider there aren't little "deals" going on after he's elected to help wealthy interests get what they want ahead of the American citizen.  We come first, and that has been one of the more convincing mantras coming from the Trump camp;  "I am going to be working for you".

Finally, I say a prayer for  our country;  "God please direct our nation to the best outcome for all considered"    Amen.

Do We Expect Too Much from the Presidency ?

By Chuck Marshall

The election is drawing to a close in the next couple of months and I have to say I echo what most Americans seem to be thinking these days "None of the Above".  You may read the polls and see that Clinton is ahead of Trump by 10 points but to dig around the details shows that  most people are not happy with the options.  There is Gary Johnson, the Libertarian but the media largely ignores him and from some of what I've seen of him... I'm not sure I blame them.  (Stay tuned for another blog on Gary Johnson, Jill Stein and Evan McMullin)    But at the end of the day, are we placing too much emphasis on the White House/President ?

There is no one person that can fix the problems of a nation.  I think it's highly naive to think we can hand the keys to the White House to ANY one person and then have them move on to rule the nation with great positive effect in regards to our problems.  The reasons for that are multiple;  partisan politics, massive government, a three chambered government with checks and balances that contains the President (thankfully !).  So, the true power comes from the people and right now the people are looking for President Washington or Lincoln or Kennedy or Reagan.  That kind of leader only comes along once every generation and I think history tends to treat some Presidents a little too kindly through "rose garden" colored glasses (Ha, Ha).   Were they all really that great, or were there just glimpses of greatness and they are treated with higher reverence- in part- because they made two or three great speeches and then "got shot"?   You could pick any of the "Mt. Rushmore" presidents and make a list of their mistakes and lack of effectiveness or absence of personal morals.  They were all human.

Today we have President Obama who was swept into office with ringing oratory and high intelligence and a great deal of help from the mass media in love with "making history".   In addition, it didn't hurt that John McCain picked Sara Palin as his VP choice frightening many thinking people away from his candidacy.   Wall Street was in free-fall and the real estate market was cratering and the Republicans were suddenly the goats of public opinion.  You could make an argument for how "good" or "bad" a president he was but I doubt there are too many people that think he should be on Mt. Rushmore.  But... so what?   My life  has not changed much since Obama became President., and I don't think in all that time he really fixed much of anything.  However,  I don't buy that he's "ruined our country" like a lot of Republicans seem to think.  Health care sucks but it sucked before.  The lobbyists do their bidding just as they always have.  The national debt has doubled but it went up "times five" under Bush.   Also, in his defense the economy was pretty scary back in 2009 and, in my humble opinion, we did need heavy action on the part of the federal reserve- Obama could be said to have steered us through the icebergs.   I hear both sides saying "but" this and "but" that .... but nothing.... The President is not that powerful, and is essentially in charge of steering the ship to the right or to the left.  Yes, he can declare war but if he gets out of hand, then Congress has the power to impeach him.  

Folks, if there's a failing here, it's us.  If we really want our government to become more effective, if we really want the problems we face to be solved we all need to walk into our bathrooms and peer into the mirror.  It's not going to happen with any one "savior" single person.   It has to come from where the real power is and where the real power "IS" is with the people....thanks to our founding fathers...  John Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, Madison and Washington-- if anyone is to be revered it's this group of men and a few others from the late 1700's that set up this remarkable republic in which they empowered the citizenry from the very beginning.  The only reason we have lobbyists directing legislation, and Presidents overriding the constitution and a moribund congress and  a grotesquely overgrown federal government is because "We the People" have let all that happen.


In My Humble Opinion.....