There is a better way

By Tom Quiner

A conservative voter swung by my house last night for a glass of wine.

We talked politics, of course. He told me he’s voting for the Libertarian candidate. He acknowledged that he could never vote for Hillary. But he said he can’t vote for Trump either, expressing his feelings something like this:

“I have small children. Trump does stuff everyday that I teach my kids is wrong. I wouldn’t be able to let them watch the President of the United States on television for fear he’d set a bad example for my kids.”

There’s no good defense for the argument, because he’s right.

There was a book out a number of years ago called, “All I really need to know, I learned in kindergarten,” by Robert Fulghum. The book presented basic rules for decent living and for getting along with people, stuff like:

√ Play fair.

√ Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.

√ Don’t hit people.

√ Clean up your own mess.

Perhaps Donald Trump skipped right over kindergarten and missed these basic building blocks of civilized behavior. Sure, he doesn’t physically hit people, but he hits people everyday with his insults and put-downs and name calling.

What about Hillary? In most respects, she’s worse.

So who will I vote for?

I am a conservative. Conservative ideas are smart, tested, and just. I will vote for the candidate most likely to advance conservatism’s “A Better Way” as espoused by Congressman Paul Ryan above.

Just about every problem facing America is fixable. The economy, for example, could be fixed fairly quickly beginning with things like tax simplification and lower corporate and capital gains tax rates. Writing in the Wall Street Journal today, a Hillary supporter, Alan Blinder, said Hillary’s way is better. What is the first thing she’d do? Raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.

Talk about doing exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Donald Trump, on the other hand, has also misdiagnosed the cause of Obama’s economic malaise. He blames it on free trade, even though data reveals how free trade has freed millions from poverty. I’d love to hear him talk as passionately about scaling back the tens of thousands of regulations imposed on us by Team Obama that drains the economy of its vitality.

I shall listen closely these final few months of this marathon election cycle to finalize my vote. I will pull the lever for the man or woman most likely to sign conservative legislation into law that reverses the economic and moral rot afflicting this nation.