He didn't have to. His anchor baby/America first diatribe is textbook Trump which will be one of the key elements in crashing the United States economy.
Voting for Trump would be like siding with my historical worst enemy growing up. Voting for Hillary would be like siding with a cruel ex gf after a particularly nasty breakup. I do not WANT or LIKE either of them. I am not FOR either of them. But let's face it, one of them has to win. That's how the game works. If you dig deep enough, they're both indefensible.
So I stopped drinking the Kool-Aid and I took a step back. Neither party is 100% right nor 100% wrong. On one hand (most of your hands) I am:
For gay marriage.
Believe in manmade climate change. (How are we not poisoning the atmosphere when running your car in the garage for 10 minutes can kill you? How can we have no affect on the planet when fracking has caused Oklahoma to become the earthquake capital of the US?)
Think we need to end the war on (most) drugs, and allow all of the low level offenders to get the hell out of the private prison nightmare we have created.
Believe in useful, educated multiculturalism. You might be surprised to know that I dated a Vietnamese girl for years, took a Hindu girl to prom, lived with (and reupped my lease with) both a Muslim from Kazakhstan, as well as a black girl, and that 2 of my closest friends at UNC were newly here from India and Korea respectively. My favorite neighbor for the last 30 years has been a Sikh male. I do not knee-jerk automatically hate all non-white people. Hell, I am Jewish, so I'm not going to automatically side with the Christian right or anything. But the key to all of my multicultural friends is that they and their families are educated, bring something to the table, and make this country better. They give more than they take. They are thoughtful, accepting, intelligent... They are like most of you on this board. They are what you think of when you say you want more immigrants. The reality is, most of the world is uneducated, has less to offer, and not the type of exceptional people we need. Any foreigner that needs welfare to live in this country should not be in this country. (refugees are a different story but, again, there has to be a limit)
I also wholeheartedly believe that Donald Trump is a dangerous loose cannon and is our best chance of being incinerated within the next 4 years.
On the other hand...
I think police have a difficult job and should be respected. You don't have to LIKE them, but they do a lot of good and they are important.
I'm disgusted at how many people are disrespecting the anthem and the flag. While far (FAR FAR FAAAARRRRR) from perfect, we have more rights and freedoms here than most of the rest of the world.
I'm extremely disappointed with the way Obama's administration handled the last market crash. In simple terms, a bank does something illegal and steals a billion dollars, we fine them 100 million dollars, they profit 900 million dollars, nobody goes to jail, and there is no incentive to stop. Who would have guessed that a bunch of corporate lawyers, like Eric Holder, would refuse to prosecute their own?
Also, I like many Democratic principles on their face, but they don't seem to think about unintended consequences. I'm going to repost this link. Again, I'm Jewish, and the rise of anti-Semitism in the West is something I am concerned with.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/22/middleeast/france-israel-jews-immigration/
Again, I am an independent. Put me in a climate change debate and I will shred the average Republican until they are in a straight-jacket. Out of A-Z, that's issue C. (Climate Change) I am firmly in the Democrat camp on that one. I just happen to examine each issue on its own, instead of saying if I am to the left on A, B, C, and D, I must also be to the left on E-Z. I prefer to examine the evidence. I think statistics are useful, but also easily manipulated. I read CNN, The Huffington Post, Washington Post, Fox News, BBC, and pretty much every news source I can find because I don't totally trust any of them and want a fuller picture.
I am free thinking, and I am worried. I believe Trump is the most dangerous candidate over the next 4-8 years. I believe Hillary's policies could keep us safer in the short term, but make the longer-term future much more volatile. I have 2 young children and worry that the country will be broken beyond repair by the time they are adults.
I have also essentially been to the left my whole life, including being for gay marriage (I'm straight btw) since well before it was in vogue. I really haven't budged on those feelings, but it seems like the line has moved and now I'm to the right of the current left, even though I'm still left of center. I used to refuse to criticize Democrats, but started becoming disenchanted with the party a few years ago. I cannot stomach either candidate and believe we are in a race to the bottom if this is the best the country can do.
Honestly, for those of you who are offended by an independent person who examines each issue individually and decides which are the most important/relevant for me, I am sorry. I am sorry FOR YOU. Just remember, we are all ignorant. Personally, I am ignorant of what it would be like to a woman, or poor, or rich, or black, or Asian, or Christian, or have grown up in another country, or be 10 years older than myself, or 10 years younger than myself. I am ignorant of what it is like to be you, because I haven't walked a mile in your shoes. I don't know what you know. I may not care about what you care about. I may not have all the information (or may have more) than you have on any given issue. I am an individual, and ultimately I am ignorant of what it is like to be living any of the other 7 billion lives on this planet. And so are you. Put your broad brushes away, we are not all the same, we don't all have the same dreams, and we don't all have the same problems. Everybody, including myself, needs to try harder to understand instead of to just accuse. As Americans, we all have the right to our own opinions, our own thoughts, our own ideals, our own causes. I would never fault any of you for having another opinion, because you have led a different life, with different experiences, and have different motivations than I do, which lead to different rationalizations. I just ask that people be more respectful of these differences among us.
