Wednesday, March 02, 2016

Respect the Presidential Process: Get Involved

The activity for the 2016 Presidential Election is heating up, and emotions will ride high in the days and weeks ahead.

In all of this, it's imperative that people respect the process, and do what they can to support the kind of America we want.

I will support Hillary Clinton. She has devoted her life to public service and as a lawyer, former First Lady, former New York State Senator, and former Secretary of State, she is keenly aware of what it takes to lead our country and she'll be able to lead from day one. I also appreciate the leadership, new ideas, and inclusion that Bernie Sanders is bringing to the race.

Mostly, I don't want the Republican candidate to become President because he's inexperienced and he's very disrespectful to almost all groups of people, and it's frightening to think what he'll do as President particularly with regard to foreign relations in our ever increasing global society. He seems to take joy in ridicule, sensationalism, and disregard for the hard work and individuality of so many. To think that he could lead our country is frightening with regard to our future.

I'm wondering why he has gained ground. I'm curious about the demographics with regard to who is voting for him.

Are his votes mainly men or is he attracting an equal amount of male and female votes?

Are his votes mainly from older Americans and/or younger Americans who are not raising children? It's hard to believe what he would choose with regard to education and family support.

I hope that Hillary Clinton can withstand the ridicule and insult she's about to receive. I hope she can stick to the issues, and get the facts and figures out about what's really happening in our country, and what's really needed.

I hope she can show the need we have for more responsible gun use, such as the way we have responsible laws related to driving cars. I like this analogy and think it offers a good way to move ahead with regard to guns. It seems like most people that misuse guns are either mentally ill or do not use the guns responsibly, with better regulation, it seems like this will be less of an issue.

I hope that Hillary can tell the stories of how government and collective effort can result in positive care and service to citizens across the country, and I hope she can move beyond the sensationalism that the media loves to tell to the true stories of what we need to do to live in a peaceful world.

I want Hillary Clinton to look for ways to support our armed forces in positive, proactive, and modern ways.

She will need to use words well--powerful, kind, good words, but few words to win this. I like her emphasis on kindness and love. She will have to take the words from the GOP and use them to forward the democratic mission of pulling the country together and moving us ahead.

She'll have to figure out why Trump is appealing to so many with his disrespectful rhetoric--what do those people want and why? Three Trump supporters that I know are men who are fairly well supported financially, live in nice homes, and have had a life of good jobs and thoughtful work. These men share the experience of fairly extreme personal hard knocks with regard to family life during their early years--sad, unfortunate events that no one would wish on anyone. Is this a common thread for more of his supporters? What themes tie his followers together?

We have a great country with so much potential for positive development, growth, and peace, and I hope the end result of the 2016 election process will be President Hillary Clinton, and I hope that she will lead us ahead providing opportunity for every American to live in peace and prosper towards happiness and a good life. Onward.