An Honest Opinion on the 2016 General Election

First, let me say, I'm not here to tell you who to vote for, you have to decide that yourself; however, it is important that we discuss these things and bounce ideas off each other to help each of us better understand who will best represent us and allow our voices to best be heard in the political arena.

Certainly, the election contest best known by most U.S. citizens - not to mention many others around the world - is that of President of the United State of America. Most people today know about Trump's big (and often incoherent and sexist) mouth and Hillary's many seemingly evil scandals, but not many know much about other candidates like Stein, Johnson, their congressional representatives, and their state elections.

Gary Johnson Rally At Sky Harbor Airport

I supported Johnson in 2012, and up until now this year as well; because my political ideology most closely aligns with his, though certainly not entirely. In fact, there are a couple of big issues that I strongly disagree with him on mostly derived from my religious beliefs. Still, I believe in voting for the person who most accurately voices your opinion; regardless of their ability to win. This is a long-term-view way of voting as it influences future policies and candidates; especially when they lose by the margin close to or less than the other candidate's support.

Despite all this, I have come to the following conclusions this week:

• Trump is not evil, but just like Johnson can be brutally honest (though in a much more crass way then Johnson) and unfortunately a lot of people see that kind of honesty in a negative light these days; especially when disagreeing with truth.
• Trump, despite being way too much of a statist for my liking, is the most likely to fight against the corruption we all know is rampant within our government agencies and bureaucracies. While Johnson is much less of a statist of any of the other four candidates - that have a mathematical possibility of winning - I see him as much more likely to be duped the same way Bush was with bad information leading to the wars that have created the big mess in the middle east; certainly Obama and Secretary Clinton haven't made it any better, but likely worse with Russia and China now becoming very concerned with our actions against Syria.
• Hillary, while certainly having a lot of political connections and supporting corrupt cronyism within government, is not necessarily evil. She just seems to be willing to do whatever it takes to achieve her goals; be they good or bad.
• At best, Hillary is completely incompetent, and there are still serious questions about her health that I don't think have been sufficiently addressed; certainly they have not been independently verified. The e-mail server scandal is one where any contractor or other agency dealing with top secret information - without the political clout and connections as Hillary - would have been indicted. Benghazi is also a perfect example of Hillary at best being incompetent, and at worst being evil.

What I find most concerning about the Presidential Election is that it's a distraction from more important votes that will likely have a much bigger effect on our day-to-day lives. I'm not just talking about the congressional representatives and senators, but also state and local elections, that unfortunately, most people know very little about. If you want to read more of my thoughts on this, check out my web page designed to encourage people who don't want to vote, to go out and vote anyway.

In Arizona where I live, I get to vote on a senatorial race between a statist, warmongering maverick and another very liberal woman. I'm not too excited about voting for either of them, but unfortunately, Arizona recently made it much more difficult for all but the two statist political parties to get ballot access. Makes sense that the state would want to protect itself from parties wanting smaller government, but it's really not a fair system as the two statist parties get automatic ballot access.

I have similar problems as I continue down the line of state representatives, county positions, and local races, but I think I've ranted on long enough beyond what most people reading this would be interested in. I just hope that last sentence doesn't discourage anyone from looking into their local elections with the same intensity as they do for the Presidential.