Harris and Trump

 

Politics, oh the joy! Harris and Trump. Republicans and Democrats. Left and right. Freedom and...freedom. Well, that's what they say. To listen to our major parties rhetoric, each one is right and each one is wrong. The truth of the matter is that both are, uh, both? Both have presidential qualities and both have proposed policies that are, honestly, good and bad. 

Trump is an overgrown child. An intelligent and successful overgrown child but a child nonetheless. One could argue wither his success is through bully tactics or business acumen, but he is successful. He is childish in his mannerisms and his speech, as far as public appearance can be perceived. It is interesting that his child-like public persona has been somewhat scaled down this election cycle. It is possible that his campaign finally understands that  middle-of-the-road voters have no desire to have the leader of the free world sound like a middle school bully in recess trying to take someone's lunch money. Trump does fight and he does seem to have a grasp of the situation - the situation being the country is in a mess. If Trump is right or wrong, he says it loud and proud, strong in his conviction. This is something voters expect a president to do.

Harris looks presidential, this is far more important than people wish to admit. She has the pedigree for a president, so to speak. She was thrown into this whirlwind of campaign and expected to succeed. She was well prepared for the  first debate but has struggled in one on one interviews. The more personal the atmosphere the more she struggles, it appears. Where there can be no rehearsal, she struggles. This is a problem for a president - a major problem. It shows no real plan and shows a lack of conviction of the situation and the promoted solutions - the situation being the country is in a mess.  The POTUS meets regularly in private settings and will have  questions to answer. The middle-of-the-road voters know this. Those who are in the middle of the political spectrum understand that some things sound nice, but when pressed, either in our own conversations or in front of a camera, fall apart quick. The rest of Harris' policies are progressive socialism, in whole or in part.

Harris' campaign has played reactionary in a few promises, albeit good ones. Removing tax on tips that servers and/or service personnel receive is huge. It puts more money in the pockets of real people. It results in less people breaking the law. Since taxation is theft - property seizure, this is a freedom thing. On the political spectrum, its very libertarian. The Democratic Party seems to speak less and less from a liberal stance and more and more from a progressive stance. Other promises she has made sound good on paper and at first passing in hearing. Standing at the water cooler discussing things, though, they fall apart quickly. Money to business owners sounds great! Where is the money coming from? We already spend more than we bring in. Is the plan to just print more money? That is catastrophic - remember the inflation? Of course, you do. More money to new home owners sounds great! Where is the money coming from? Also, see the above questions and answers - although there are no real answers. This is how we know the money will just be printed. Money cannot ever  be printed out of thin air without drastic consequences. When pressed on any of these, she cannot answer. Why? She is not convinced and she knows it really won't work without consequences. Her foreign policy is mostly incoherent and relies on America showing up and people responding to it - positively. If the last several years has taught us anything, more and more countries are valuing our opinions less and less. One only has to peruse news headlines to see this. 

Trump's campaign has went on the attack from the beginning. Trump has made a few promises which are great ones! Removing the tax on tips is a great idea and should be done! As mentioned above, it puts real money in the pockets of real people. Anyone read The Forgotten Man? You should. Removing tax on overtime wages is also a great idea and should be done! This will immediately put real money in the hands of real people. Real people will benefit, not some billionaire - although, they may benefit with increased productivity. While it is true that these two policies, if implemented, will result in less tax revenue - it will be negligible, looking at the whole budget. Even if negligible, there has been no answer in reducing spending to cover the difference. These are things that stand the "cooler talk" test a bit more, but still, to the one questioning, there aren't full answers available. The promise to increase tariffs is a horrible idea. Oh, it sounds good at first hearing: it is a direct tax on all citizens that purchase whatever product. Businesses pass that tax directly to the customer. This is true 100% of the time. It's horrible. Trump's foreign policy of "peace through strength" sounds good, but what does it really mean? Dropping another MOAB on a country to flex our muscles? The rest of Trump's policies are conservative socialism, in whole or in part.

At this point, it appears that there is much spit balling on the part of both parties. The Republican and Democratic parties are just throwing things out there to see what sticks. Maybe one day we will have someone who actually believes in freedom win a primary. The Libertarian candidate is an entire political joke and shows the party is giving up. The Constitution candidate is only there to attempt to pull black voters from the Democrats. The others are outliers and are, in my opinion, nearly wholly Communist, besides the No Labels party who had basically endorsed Trump via Kennedy's endorsement. 

Anyone else feel as though voting has become like the Hunger Games? In the spirit of that, "May the odds be ever in your favor." Vote your conscience. God speed and God bless. 

May the Lord our God bless these United States of America.