TO THE EDITOR:
When I attended the Republican National Convention earlier this year, I hoped to hear a positive, uplifting message about America's future. I wanted to hear the echo of Ronald Reagan who said at the 1992 RNC in Houston that "America's best days are yet to come. Our proudest moments are yet to be. Our most glorious achievements are just ahead. America remains what Emerson called her 150 years ago, the country of tomorrow." Instead I heard that America was full of "death, destruction and weakness" by the Republican nominee. There was no talk of American exceptionalism, no talk of the people's resilience through difficult times, or hope offered for the future. It was fear-mongering at its worst.
As a conservative, I am not pleased with the actions of our government over the last eight -- or really sixteen -- years. Government has grown and the prescriptions offered by the Democratic Party have largely failed. But I do not cast my vote against a party or person, I must cast it in favor of somebody. If I cross off Hillary Clinton's name in the ballot box, a vote will not be taken away from her; to truly lower her chances, I would have to vote for the only other major party candidate. But the question is why should I do that?
One major party candidate in this election has advocated a single-payer health care system and that is not Mrs. Clinton. One candidate in this race has advocated for the U.S. to cut military spending and that is not Mrs. Clinton. One candidate in this race has actively opposed the idea of American exceptionalism (saying "I never liked that term") and that is not Mrs. Clinton. One candidate in the race has actually been accused of rape under sworn testimony and that is not Mrs. Clinton. One candidate has been penalized for hiring illegal aliens and that is not Mrs. Clinton. One candidate has their charitable foundation being investigated for fraud and that is not Mrs. Clinton's. One candidate called for the impeachment of George W. Bush for making a difficult decision in Iraq; Mrs. Clinton supported our president's decision with her Senate vote. One candidate has called for massive tariffs on businesses and that is not Mrs. Clinton. There is just one candidate who has already projected American weakness by discussing the withdrawal of support from our crucially important allies in Europe and Asia and that was not Mrs. Clinton. There is one candidate in this race who called the murdering tyrant Vladimir Putin a good leader and that was not Hillary Clinton. And finally, there is one candidate who has discussed the possible defaulting of our national debt; this individual's answer to the question of how to lower the debt was "I would borrow, knowing if the economy crashed, you could make a deal." That, of course, was not Mrs. Clinton.
Now I am no Hillary Clinton fan. She will promote the same kind of failures that I've seen from the Oval Office over the last eight years. She will appoint a liberal justice to the Supreme Court and will increase the size of government. But the Republican candidate will too, except he is even worse. His plans are equally or more liberal except on issues of bipartisan agreement. The centers in both parties support Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Both parties believe the country should actively fight against racism wherever it exists. And both parties know that degrading comments about African-Americans, Latinos, and women are inexplicable and dangerous to our society.
So I urge every good conservative Republican to think about the choices they have and to understand that a vote for our nominee is just that and not a vote against anyone else. I am not handing a vote to Clinton by voting third party. The benefits are that I don't need to hold my nose in the ballot box and I will hold my head up high when walking out of the polling place knowing that I obeyed my conscience and my principles.
Caleb Stidham, stidhac2@miamioh.edu