...this is a copy of my "speech" today.
Ken's Thoughts - Stardate 3-21-16
Warning - I am specifically addressing my Conservative and / or Christian friends here. This will not be a liberal vs conservative thread, and it will remain civil. I will delete any comments that are ugly or non-productive.
This might be the ugliest election cycle I remember. Not only are the Republicans and Democrats going for the jugular (and that will get worse); both parties are fighting with themselves, and it's nasty.
I was a loyal Republican for many years, but they lost my allegiance some years ago when they became almost as bad as the Democrats. Philosophically, I refer to myself as a Constitutional Conservative with a Libertarian streak. But one who no longer has any use for either party.
I find myself still voting for Republicans most of the time because they are usually the lessor of evils, but I usually have to hold my nose while doing so. And to prevent the Democrats from winning the White House back; I must vote for a Republican as president this time. We can make brave noises about voting 3rd party; but the reality of it is that until we get a 3rd party candidate who is viable, the next president will be either a Republican or Democrat.
I want to specifically address the ugliness within the Republican field and the supporters of the various candidates.
The ugliness I am seeing sickens me! Most of us have our favorite (of the bunch, anyway) candidate, and we each have the right to support who we want. But the hatefulness I see between the various camps is disgusting!
I am not a Trump fan, but if the man gets enough delegates, the GOP needs to let him be the nominee. It's partly the GOP's own fault that Trump has resonated with the people; we are sick of the big government policies and namby pamby attitude of the GOP establishment.
To my friends who are Trump supporters...I see tremendous animosity and some downright ugliness from many of you toward the other candidates. I see many outright lies and character attacks being spread. This is not productive in the big picture.
Ronald Reagan believed in what he called the 11th Commandment:
"Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican"
And as a true leader, Reagan reached out to others and said "Join Me" instead of driving them away.
Lest we remember the real mission here for Conservatives; to retake our government from the control of Liberalism and to change the course of our beloved country because it's too late. And "too late" is almost upon us, my friends. If we don't turn things around very soon, I fear that we never will. Our massive debt and growing dependence on the government is already at critical levels.
Meaning...we must prevent the Democrats from winning the White House or making any gains in congress. To do that, we must all pull together at some point and unit behind the nominee. Short of a brokered convention, it appears that Donald Trump is on his way to being the Republican nominee. Yes, there are threats of a brokered convention; but I think when it gets down to it the GOP leadership knows that most of us will not stand for it.
I think we all know who will likely be the Democratic nominee. Even if your favorite candidate doesn't win (mine will probably not); we should remember that the real goal is to defeat her, and we must be united to do so. In my opinion; even the worst of the Republican candidates is preferable to either of the Democrats that have a shot at the nomination.
So please; remember when posting things on Facebook that very soon, we must all be on the same team. We should be careful about burning bridges and dividing the conservative movement. It will take us all, together, to right this ship we call the United States of America.
I will leave you with one last thing to consider: There are a lot of "news" sites on the internet, and some of them are publishing exaggerations and outright lies. Some of the sites are nothing more than propaganda outlets for various candidates or parties. EX: On the same day last week, I saw two articles about Trump and Cruz. One claimed that Cruz was preparing to oust Trump at the GOP convention, the other claimed that the two had reached an agreement for Cruz to be Trump's VP pick. Well, one of them is lying. Please, be careful what you believe.
As the old adage goes: "United we stand, divided we fall'. Those words are as true today as they have ever been.
Ken's Thoughts - Stardate 3-21-16
Warning - I am specifically addressing my Conservative and / or Christian friends here. This will not be a liberal vs conservative thread, and it will remain civil. I will delete any comments that are ugly or non-productive.
This might be the ugliest election cycle I remember. Not only are the Republicans and Democrats going for the jugular (and that will get worse); both parties are fighting with themselves, and it's nasty.
I was a loyal Republican for many years, but they lost my allegiance some years ago when they became almost as bad as the Democrats. Philosophically, I refer to myself as a Constitutional Conservative with a Libertarian streak. But one who no longer has any use for either party.
I find myself still voting for Republicans most of the time because they are usually the lessor of evils, but I usually have to hold my nose while doing so. And to prevent the Democrats from winning the White House back; I must vote for a Republican as president this time. We can make brave noises about voting 3rd party; but the reality of it is that until we get a 3rd party candidate who is viable, the next president will be either a Republican or Democrat.
I want to specifically address the ugliness within the Republican field and the supporters of the various candidates.
The ugliness I am seeing sickens me! Most of us have our favorite (of the bunch, anyway) candidate, and we each have the right to support who we want. But the hatefulness I see between the various camps is disgusting!
I am not a Trump fan, but if the man gets enough delegates, the GOP needs to let him be the nominee. It's partly the GOP's own fault that Trump has resonated with the people; we are sick of the big government policies and namby pamby attitude of the GOP establishment.
To my friends who are Trump supporters...I see tremendous animosity and some downright ugliness from many of you toward the other candidates. I see many outright lies and character attacks being spread. This is not productive in the big picture.
Ronald Reagan believed in what he called the 11th Commandment:
"Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican"
And as a true leader, Reagan reached out to others and said "Join Me" instead of driving them away.
Lest we remember the real mission here for Conservatives; to retake our government from the control of Liberalism and to change the course of our beloved country because it's too late. And "too late" is almost upon us, my friends. If we don't turn things around very soon, I fear that we never will. Our massive debt and growing dependence on the government is already at critical levels.
Meaning...we must prevent the Democrats from winning the White House or making any gains in congress. To do that, we must all pull together at some point and unit behind the nominee. Short of a brokered convention, it appears that Donald Trump is on his way to being the Republican nominee. Yes, there are threats of a brokered convention; but I think when it gets down to it the GOP leadership knows that most of us will not stand for it.
I think we all know who will likely be the Democratic nominee. Even if your favorite candidate doesn't win (mine will probably not); we should remember that the real goal is to defeat her, and we must be united to do so. In my opinion; even the worst of the Republican candidates is preferable to either of the Democrats that have a shot at the nomination.
So please; remember when posting things on Facebook that very soon, we must all be on the same team. We should be careful about burning bridges and dividing the conservative movement. It will take us all, together, to right this ship we call the United States of America.
I will leave you with one last thing to consider: There are a lot of "news" sites on the internet, and some of them are publishing exaggerations and outright lies. Some of the sites are nothing more than propaganda outlets for various candidates or parties. EX: On the same day last week, I saw two articles about Trump and Cruz. One claimed that Cruz was preparing to oust Trump at the GOP convention, the other claimed that the two had reached an agreement for Cruz to be Trump's VP pick. Well, one of them is lying. Please, be careful what you believe.
As the old adage goes: "United we stand, divided we fall'. Those words are as true today as they have ever been.