This is a really long rant.As I have stated in recent days, I am a devout constitutional conservative. I passionately defend my conservative principles and make no bones about it, whether they are popular in the moment or not. I don't care to be among the popular clique, it's just not fundamentally important to me as a person. I had rather stand for convicted principles any day. I realize this election doesn't offer the best of candidates and some might argue, it offers the worst of candidates in a very long time. In my lifetime, I've never experienced a presidential race where I've agonized more about who to vote for or not to vote for. I've heard all the arguments... I know all about the ramifications... I understand this is a crucial time in our nation's history and much hangs in the balance regarding our future as a nation. That simply makes this election even more agonizing to contemplate. There is really no good option.
Numerous Trump supporters have raked me over the coals for my lack of support for Trump. I'm okay with that, I don't come here to be liked or slapped on the back and embraced. I come here to speak my mind and engage in debate with people who want to hash out our differing and contrasting viewpoints in the arena of ideas. I'm not trying to change minds, just hoping to open some eyes and make people think. I don't generally follow news cycles, pundits or talk radio hosts. I will occasionally catch someone like Mark Levin on podcast, and I enjoy watching various debates on YouTube on subjects of interest. I tell you all this as a precursor so you know where I stand. As a conservative, I don't really feel I have a dog in this hunt with regard to the presidency. I think Hillary and Trump are both bad news for Conservatism. But here are my major problems with Trump, for those on the right who think my views are just "sour grapes" because my guy (Cruz) didn't win. It's not about hurt feelings or personalities... it's purely core constitutional conservative values.
1. Trade Policy.
I am all for having good trade deals. I believe our nation is stronger when we have trade alliances with other countries and those arrangements should be beneficial to both parties. Trump has repeatedly called for slapping tariffs on other countries to accomplish various things... pay for the wall, in the case of Mexico... compensate for devaluing currency, in the case of China... even to punish outsourcing by American companies.
Tariffs can be tricky and complicated. It's easy to armchair quarterback and say you'll just apply a tariff to solve this or that problem, but doing so might cause some undesirable and unintended consequences you didn't anticipate. You can trigger trade wars and suddenly, our economy is effected dramatically. This is precisely what happened with Herbert Hoover's trade policies which brought on the Great Depression. His application of tariffs sparked a tariff war against our agriculture products and farmers suffered. Entire seasons of crops sat in warehouses and rotted because of the counter-reaction from export nations, and the farmers of America took it in the shorts. Hoover never intended that to happen but it was the consequence of his actions.
We currently have over 12,000 tariffs in place. Trump has not specified what sort of tariffs he has in mind, it's all over the board... he has mentioned as much as a 45% tariff in some cases, and that is quite extreme. I can't imagine such a jolting tariff could be implemented without a consequence. And let's be clear, aside from the consequences, even if the tariff is accepted, it simply means the prices of import items goes up for the American consumer. So that's 'best case scenario' of this sort of trade policy. Trump supporters cheer loudly when he talks tough about slapping tariffs on people to get them to step in line, but the results almost always come at a price. These things have to be deliberated very carefully by people who know what they're doing.
2. Make America Safe Again.
Playing off his theme of making America great again, Trump also promises to make us safe again. Of course, this sounds wonderful to his followers and they cheer even louder, chanting back... "Make us Safe! Make us Safe!" He hasn't really laid out any specifics on how he intends to accomplish this, but wasn't the Patriot Act and TSA also supposed to make us safe again? I worry about platitudes like this without specificity because when the federal government promises your safety, you best cling to your freedom because that's what is in jeopardy. Don't get me wrong, I am all for safety, I just want more details of the specifics on this before I sign on. I mean, Smith & Wesson, Colt, Remington and Mossberg are doing a pretty damn fine job of keeping me safe.
3. LGBTQ Agenda.
Does anyone know, without Googling, what the 'Q' stands for? Trump mentioned it a few times in his acceptance speech and I honestly had to look it up to see what we're now supporting as Republicans. It stands for "questioning" ...I guess now if you are not sure what you are on any given day, that's perfectly okay... whatever? So now we have moved the party to the radical left on social issues. Forget about religious freedoms or attacking moral traditionalism, this is a new age and we've all got to get with the times. Jump on board the LGBTQwxyz train and go wild baby... get your freak on! So what's next? Are we going to start indoctrinating kids in kindergarten with this nonsense? Will it be forced on private schools, home schools and churches? Maybe we'll adopt some kind of Constitutional Amendment to ensure rights for every perverted sexual deviancy? Yeah, that will be nice... can't wait!
In his hour and a half marathon acceptance speech, Trump mentioned LGBTQ numerous times but became the first Republican presidential nominee since Roe v. Wade not to mention "right to life". Apparently, though in the platform, this is no longer a priority for the Republican party.
4. Ethanol subsidies.
Perhaps Trump was simply pandering for votes in Iowa, but he repeatedly made clear that he was in favor of federal ethanol subsidies and actually proposed an expansion to the program. As a fiscal conservative, this is the first thing that raised my eyebrows at Trump. It is the single biggest wasteful government handout we do. Designed to placate the Global Warming initiative, it pours billions of taxpayer dollars into a program that literally causes the destruction of automobile engines and does not conserve one ounce of energy. In fact, we would be better served from an energy standpoint if we simply burned the billions of dollars instead. It takes more energy from fossil fuels to produce the ethanol than the ethanol saves. Companies headed by crony corporatists are getting rich off the subsidies and Trump wants to make sure their gravy train continues... actually said he wants to do more of it. Folks, as conservatives, if we can't stand firm on cutting ethanol subsidies, there is literally no federal handout program we will ever be able to cut.
5. Federal land acquisitions.
Trump has said that he favors these. He thinks the feds do a great job with the land and he's all for it. This is where the federal government intercedes to take away land rightfully owned by the states. It could be land the states could use for resources such as water, coal, oil and natural gas. It could be lands used by the locals for fishing and hunting.. but that doesn't matter to Trump. Apparently, Federalism doesn't matter either. If the Feds want it, the Feds can take it. In the east, it's not that big of a deal but out west, some of the states are more than 50-60% state land. It's frightening to think he believes the Federal government should have this kind of power over the states.
6. Taxing the Rich.
Trump has said "We're going to tax the rich!" His original tax plan calls for cuts to the top marginal wage earners in America but he has since recanted and says that will be subject to negotiation and would probably change. Translation: I'm giving that up before negotiations even begin to the Democrats. So... since the top marginals are who pay the majority of the tax in America, his wonderful tax plan that everyone applauded including conservatives, is basically gutted so that we can adopt the liberal meme... tax the rich!
Someone should inform Mr. Trump that we don't tax wealth in America and the so-called "rich" don't actually pay much earned income tax because they no longer earn income. They do receive dividends and those are taxed at a lower rate, but that's not part of the top marginal earned income tax. Those people are mostly small business owners filing as individuals, as all small businesses do in America. The whole entire "tax the rich" meme is left wing Marxist propaganda and Trump should be ashamed of himself for getting sucked in to repeating it like a fool.
7. Our poor roads and bridges.
Another gem from his speech at the convention was his mentioning of the sad shape of our roads and bridges. This was a line parroted by Clinton and Obama in the 2008 campaign and considered a championed cause of the left. You see, somehow our nation has survived 250 years without proper roads and bridges being built by the federal government. It's true! I'm not sure how we've managed but somehow we have. I guess people have had to use machetes to cut paths to work and maybe swim across some creeks? But now, we suddenly have this wonderful man who is going to take care of that problem for us! Praise the Lord! But.... didn't we already give Obama a trillion dollars to build roads and bridges? And didn't he end up admitting there were no "shovel ready jobs" out there?
Now... I know many of you across America are tired of having to hack your way to work with the machete and swim across the creeks and rivers... but here in Alabama, we all get together in our cities and the capitol and agree to appropriate funds in order to build roads and bridges where we need them. Everyone pitches in and pays a little property tax or sales tax, and all is well. And while we do have our share of pot holes here and there, we have yet to lose anybody in one. When they get really bad, the states and cities have fleets of trucks that go out and patch the holes and life goes on. Just an idea, Mr. Trump.
8. Health care reform.
Trump shouts out that he is going to "repeal and replace Obamacare!" And the crowds go wild! Cheers go up to the rafters! What he doesn't say is what he actually wants to "replace" the ACA with. He has said in the past (like a few months ago) that he wants universal health care for every American and that he likes the individual mandate. So, in other words... he wants to replace Obamacare with the health care plan that even the Democrats couldn't get passed in Congress with their own liberal cabal... Single Payer. Now, of course, he is going to try and open this up to the private market and allow interstate portability, but with the federal government writing the checks to private corporations, what do you think will likely happen there? Is there maybe a chance there will be some collusion? Some crony corporatism and influence peddling? Naahhh... our politicians and federal bureaucrats and private sector opportunists aren't corruptible. What could possibly go wrong?
9. Defeating ISIS
Again... the crowds roar when he talks tough about wiping out radical Islamic terrorism. And I like that he is taking this on in such a bold and forceful way but he says some things that worry me. He has intimated that he thinks the way to defeat them is to "cut off their oil supply" and that is a fine strategy if we are up to the task. I'm not so sure that we are. This is going to mean US military boots on the ground to surround and control the oil wells in the Middle East. Lots of players are not going to like that. People will have to die. It's not going to be a picnic like he seems to think it will be. People like Putin in Russia are probably not going to be cool with us controlling all that oil they've been buying from the bad guys. What are we going to do when the flag-draped coffins start sailing into New York? He's a republican president, so you know the news will have the "daily body count" reported for the nation to ponder. Will Americans have the stomach for this policy or will he have to cave to political pressure?
It brings up another aspect regarding Trump... his personality. We've already seen many prime examples of how he reacts when people don't go along with his ideas. Well, this is an idea that a lot of people aren't going to go along with. He's good at criticizing Bush about Iraq but he doesn't seem to understand that he is essentially proposing the same sort of thing. US military intervention in a foreign country. Cowboy diplomacy... it's easy to talk the talk, but can he walk the walk?
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Okay... so there are my list of grievances with Trump policies in a nutshell. All are reason-based and rooted in my principled conservative convictions. I like some of his ideas... The wall, cracking down on illegal immigration, tougher vetting of immigrants from radicalized areas, opening up energy production capabilities... all very good and reasonable ideas that I can support. So it's not ALL bad... it's a mixed bag. On a scale of 1 to 10, Trump is a 5 where Hillary is probably a negative integer.
I would like to hear Trump talk more about reducing the size and scope of government. He said not one word in his speech about where he wants to cut the federal budget. He mentioned it, said it was out of control, but all I hear him talking about are things that will increase the budget by billions of dollars and there's not much he has said in terms of cuts other than "eliminate waste, fraud and abuse" which is boilerplate doublespeak. I mean, I don't recall waste, fraud or abuse being included on the lines of the federal budget, nor do I think congress appropriates such items when they approve budgets. There has been no talk of what he plans to do about Social Security and the clock is ticking on when it's going under. It's something we really need to know about and do something about very soon. But of course.. the LGBTQ issues... those are far more important these days, I guess?
Can you trim it down to a few sentences please?
