Moving toward the presidential election

The presidential election cycle moves steadily toward the drama of debates before the drama of election night. Just as we get to the point of making the most important decision a citizen can make, our attention wears thin and the people want the whole process just to be finished.

However, now is the time for people to exchange ideas and thoughts and make the best selection they can, not only for the future of this nation but the future of the free world. The emotional and intellectual exhaustion may be understandable but the timing could not be worse.

Never has there been a more clear choice between the two major candidates than in this election. One candidate, in the most charitable description, is completely unprepared and unfit to lead a government or to make decisions that literally effect the future of the entire world. The other candidate is exceptionally well prepared to lead and tested on the international stage.

The partisans want the decision to be made on emotion and not intelligence because they realized, once the primary process unraveled, that by any realistic and practical measure there were only two qualified candidates to be president and neither was Republican.

Now Donald Trump, in a display of desperation that will increase as the election draws near, has unbelievably advocated assassination as an acceptable form of political expression. In a public speech, he inaccurately described the election of Hillary Clinton to be the equivalent of the abolition of the Second Amendment.

Even though the thought is nonsensical, that never has stopped him from adopting or publishing crazy lies as the truth. He claimed that Second Amendment supporters would be the only persons able to stop her if she were elected from appointing Supreme Court candidates who would be inclined to appove sensible federal gun regulations.

If Trump was trying to be flip or funny, then it is a strong indication of his presidential style when dealing with war, diplomacy, foreign policy and nuclear proliferation.

Even when the selection seems to be an easy one to make, we should discuss and debate amongst ourselves what we want and need in our leader. This is the time for media and political figures to keep the discussion about the next president focused on ideas and issues, and encourage the people to look at real and important things because the stakes could not be higher.

It is time for news outlets to demand answers from all candidates that contain details about how the issues would be resolved. It is easy to promise more jobs, better jobs, more government spending and lower taxes but the promises mean nothing.

The test of a leader is if he or she has workable ideas that can be implemneted and if that leader has displayed the strength to carry a plan to fruition. In that case, there is only one choice, and it is not the man with the swagger and sneer but the former senator and Secretary of State who can control her emotions and get things done.

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