Trump not perfect, but best we have

Posted October 2020

By Garon Jones

Staff Editor

One hundred million registered voters chose to stay home on election day in 2016. 100 million. To put that in perspective, Hillary Clinton got about 65 million votes, compared to Donald Trump’s 62 million. That means that if just two percent of non-voters actually voted, the election could have ended up entirely different.

People aren’t voting in America. And it’s no surprise. In 2016, we had some of the most polarizing and unpopular presidential candidates in our history. Both candidates acted like typical Republicans and Democrats, laying out many of the same policies other candidates would. But it was character that ended up being the defining feature of that election. Policy took a backseat.

So, people who were more left leaning and felt inclined to vote for Clinton, shuddered and stayed home as more news surfaced about her private email server. And conservative leaning people who felt inclined to vote for Trump, stayed home the more they learned about his brash and boarish personality. But in the end, it’s policy that will ultimately matter once the candidate is in office.

Yet, 100 million registered voters threw away one of their most important civic duties and privileges. They let the radicals on both sides of the political aisle pick the future for them. Something like that shouldn’t be happening. Voting is important. Too important to throw away just because both candidates aren’t enough.

Now does this mean that we should stop at voting? Absolutely not. We should stump for primary candidates without character flaws. Candidates who won’t be shills to big business. Candidates who most importantly practice and preach for the largest amount of freedom and the smallest amount of government.

Now some naysayers may be in favor of an active government with an extensive role to play. But I think limited government is a point where most Americans can find common ground. In a recent poll, the national trust in government has reached an all time low at just 10%. And yet we continue to give the government more power! We vote for candidates that promise to give us the most things, rather than protect our most fundamental rights.

Half the country goes into a fit of panic when Barack Obama is elected President, and the other half does the same for Donald Trump. But would you really care as much if Donald Trump was elected to an office that had limited power? Would you really care if the president wasn’t able to do all of the things they can do right now?

It’s clear that both Trump and Biden are in favor of big government. But Trump has shown more willingness and has taken more action to actually limit the government’s power. And he has shown more willingness than a Biden Administration would to protect our most fundamental freedoms.

I contend that whatever offensive or brutish comment Trump has made should be condemned when it needs to be condemned. But I contend that Trump’s character has been a distraction from real and influential policy his administration has conducted over the past four years. And most importantly, I contend that whatever reservations you may have about Trump, one thing is certainly clear: The modern, American left has gone completely off the deep end. And with Biden at the helm, and a radical like Kamala Harris right behind him, we’re just one election away from giving even more power to the government 90% of us distrust.

To start, we’ll look at Trump’s record during his first four years in office and examine the net effects of his administration. First, I would like to note that the Trump Administration has done things from a Libertarian perspective I strongly disagree with.

Spending is through the roof. The national debt hasn’t decreased one penny under Trump. I disagree with the President on free trade. He has pushed unwise tariffs, and has restricted free trade. On immigration, he has discouraged the free flow of cheap labor, and the process for an immigrant to get a green card is still arduous as ever.

But despite all this, his administration has done a multitude of positive things in the name of curbing the power of government. Most importantly, he cut taxes. For too long, the government under both parties has put the interests of Washington above the people, and these tax cuts are a step in the right direction-- putting economic power and mobility back in the hands of the people.

Trump has protected gun rights, refusing to take guns out of the hands of millions of Americans. He has appointed numerous textualist judges to the Supreme and lower courts, refusing to nominate judges who act as legislators.

He is the first president in my lifetime not to enter any major wars. He is the first president in my lifetime to stand up to the media and their clear bias. He is the first president in my lifetime to truly stand up to establishment Republicans. .

And on foregin policy, he has gotten the U.S out of horrible deals. His administration has strongly pushed back on ISIS, has brokered numerous historic middle east peace deals, and has been a bulwark against Russia.

So, when you get past Trump’s rhetoric and the cult of Trump hatred in the media, academia, and Hollywood, four more years of a Trump white house doesn’t seem all that bad.

Is it enough? Absolutely not.

There are plenty of actions this country must take to curb the power of our ever increasing overreaching federal government. But it’s clear that Trump’s policies are a good start.

At the heart of the modern American left is the idea that the government knows what is best for you better than you do. It’s the idea that they know how to spend your money, so they can raise your taxes. It’s the idea that they know what values to teach your children, so they run the schools. They know who should own what guns, so they regulate your right to protection.

And that’s exactly what’s at the heart of a Biden Administration.

Biden has promised to raise taxes. Not just on the wealthy, which would stifle job growth across the entire country, but on middle and lower class Americans.

And raise taxes for what? When you see a tax increase, look around. Do you ever see better roads? Better schools? Better morale? Do you see the homeless problem alleviated? Do you ever see the community lifted up in any way? Do you feel safer?

The simple fact is that politicians make deals with voters: They promise to give the most things in exchange for the gift of more power. And Biden is the most typical politician you can find.

When it comes to lockdown policy, it’s very likely Biden would expand restrictions across the country. On the supreme court, he would fill that vacancy with a judge who is more apt to create the law rather than judge it. On climate policy, he’s made it obvious that he would mirror the Green New Deal proposed by radical members of congress such as AOC. He would raise the federal minimum wage to fifteen bucks an hour, exactly mirroring Bernie Sanders’ proposal.

And Biden is supposed to be the moderate.

It’s clear that Biden’s own policies will be disastrous, but there’s nothing stopping him from further caving to the radical members of his own party. Biden is no unifier. And he is certainly no bulwark against his own party.

When considering who to vote for in this election, take a step back and turn away from the mob opinion. Trump may not be perfect, but is he really the monster the media makes him out to be? Look at his policies and look at his opponent’s. Again, there are certain things I think Trump needs to do better. But sometimes we must compromise when faced with tough choices in the moment to face real results in the future. All I’m asking is for is you to stand back and consider: Maybe there’s a chance Trump deserves a second term.