On politics, voting and the White House race.

Many people ask who I'll be voting for, but when they ask me that they aren't actually looking for a name. What they're truly asking is "are you a republican or a democrat?". People have closed their minds off to everything outside of republican or democrat. To them, there is nothing else. In fact, what the republicans and democrats actually DO matters little. There is only one thing that matters, and that is the letter R or D behind a politician's name. That politician doesn't have to do or say anything in particular to warrant the love or hate of the people on either side, as long as the people can easily identify the letter. Voting for the right party matters more than principles and more than convictions.

I used to vote that way as well. I would simply vote for whoever the party nominee was. The "lesser of the two evils" they said.

But I'm done voting for evil now, and I don't care if one side calls themselves republicans and the other calls themselves democrats.

Politics can be very complicated of course. So I've simplified it down for myself and made it easy. My political belief system is based on maximum freedom for the maximum number of people. My poltical beliefs are based on the letter of the US Constitution, a document written to protect us from the horrors of an oppressive, powerful, centralized government system. We all have natural, God given and inalienable rights. We all have the right to defend ourselves, to travel freely in our own country, to keep and do as we wish with our privately owned property. We have the right to be free from oppressive taxation and waste of our money. We have the right to be free from invasion of our privacy. These rights and many other liberties are our's to keep and no one's to infringe upon, especially a government of people just like us who see themselves above us.

The only candidates currently left in the 2016 US Presidential race who have any hope of winning the White House are Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

My beliefs on Trump are pretty simple, which is how I try to keep all political thought processes. He's donated many thousands (or even millions) of dollars to any cause or person he feels would have benefitted him the most at that time. Occasionally this includes republican polticians and "republican" causes, but most often the receipients of his money and support have been progressives and statists, democrats, neo-liberals and the like. A few examples include Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Rahm Emanuel, Chuck Schumer, Bill Deblasio, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Trump has also supported unconstitutional efforts, such as the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban. He's supported misuse of eminent domain, increased taxes and increased spending. He's been  pro-choice (AKA anti-life). He has little understanding of what the US Constitution is or what it is there for. He changes his positions with the political winds, which is why I do not trust him. Having the letter R after your name does not earn my vote by default, especially if that R used to be a D or an I.

I am well aware of how Trump is currently branding himself and my problem with it is that it is completely different from his entire history, including his history as recent as 2014. I do not trust the man one inch and there is not one single argument I've heard from anyone as to why I should trust him. When asked why I should trust him or vote for him given his history, his supporters always resort to something to the effect that he isn't Hillary Clinton. Sorry, but you can't simply say "I'm not Hillary" and earn my vote by default. No, you need to base your political positions on an originalist interpretation of the US Constitution. Funny that no one has EVER accused Donald Trump of being a Constitutionalist, isn't it?

I don't even need to say much about Hillary Clinton and her failures. The news media has given Hillary a full pardon for her "Russian reset", which turned out to be a total disaster. Our relations with Moscow haven't been this bad since the Cold War, and even now Vladimir Putin talks regularly about the strategic deterrent capabilities they posses. Her role in the Benghazi incident goes without saying, those the press is prepared to let her pass on that mistake as well simply because they've grown bored with the story. Still left is the FBI criminal investigation into the classified information Clinton stored on a personal server inside the basement of her private residence. Obviously this behavior is totally illegal and left US secrets wide open to be gleaned by any half-capable foreign actors. The most likely would be Chinese computer network exploitation experts. Her actions as Secretary of State alone (I could pile on her inappropriate actions during her time as First Lady and her dismal record as a senator) should at least disqualify her completely from ever stepping into public office again, and more likely should land her behind bars.

Bernie Sanders is a more appropriate punchline than an appropriate consideration for any office in a society that calls itself free. The man is an avowed socialist and his entire political platform can be summed up as such: "I'll give you the most free stuff". He's proposed raising taxes to a 90% rate and proposed that all schooling and all healthcare should be free. But if it's "free", then why the 90% tax rate? Because it's not free. He either doesn't understand this or he is lying. On many occasions he has shown himself to be a complete economic dunce, despite running his entire campaign virtually on his economic policies alone. One example is when he stated that student loans interest rates should be as low as home loan interest rates. If he had any understand of economics at all, he'd realize that home loan interest is lower because if you default on your home loan, the bank will get your home as repayment. But what will the repayment be on an education if you fail to pay the student loan? Can they repossess your brain? Can they take back the knowledge? Of course not. This is a simple economic principle that has totally escaped Sanders. His many years spent in Congress (first became member of Congress in 1991) have been a huge waste as well. Since 1991 he has failed to author a single bill that was ever passed into law.

Ted Cruz has been a thorn in the side of the so called "establishment" since he defeated David Dewhurst for the US Senate in Texas. His voting record reflects an originalist interpretation of the US Constitution and this has earned him many enemies on both sides of the aisle. While certainly not the perfect candidate (are there any?), his record of voting and the issues he supports represent the closest opportunity Americans have had since Ronald Reagan to vote for a candidate with strong Constitutional Conservative leanings. There is no other candidate left in this race (since Rand Paul has dropped out) that is widely described as a Constitutionalist by anyone who understands the meaning of the word.

I can no longer hold my nose while voting  and I will no longer simply settle for whoever is less evil than the rest. I do not have any use or value for made up

political parties. I will forever base my votes on which candidate holds a strict, originalist interpretation of the US Constitution and who's actions display this. If no candidate exists on the ballot, then I will be forced to write the name in myself. Surely many will chirp and screech about my failure to vote for their candidate is a de facto vote for the opponent, but I disagree. My vote does not belong to any one candidate by default. Failing to give it to that default candidate does not represent a theft of a vote from the default candidate. It is my vote until someone, a Constitutionalist, earns it. Having a certain letter after your name is not enough. Not being Hillary Clinton is not enough. Vowing to give away free stuff is not enough. I require a thorough understanding of the US Constitution, the importance of it and the will to abide by the constraints it contains.

There is one and only one candidate left in this race who fits that description and that is where my vote will go.