In the digital age, we’re used to having pretty much everything available to us at the click of a button. In fact, many of us don’t even click actual buttons anymore. Our smartphones have screens that mimic buttons just fine. For the President of the United States, there are symbolic buttons that they can push. For voters in the GOP primaries, each candidate represents a different type of button that will determine the fate of the nation.
The field is too big, so I’m adding a fourth button to the mix: the Placebo Button. With this button, voting for particular candidates will be as effective as voting for nobody at all. While it’s hard to say that about a candidate like Rand Paul who I like, I have no problem with saying that a vote in the primaries and caucuses for the following people would be an empty vote. It won’t help them win because they can’t. It removes your ability to vote for someone who has a chance and who comes closer to your perspectives ideologically. Those people are:
- Rick Santorum
- Mike Huckabee
- John Kasich
- Carly Fiorina
- Rand Paul
They are all good people in my opinion. Any of them would have been able to beat Hilary Clinton. Any of them would have been better Presidents than Barack Obama. None of them have a chance of winning a primary or caucus and are therefore a distraction. They should drop out to prevent too many pushes of the Placebo Button.
Now, let’s look at the other candidates who have a chance of getting the nomination (though some of them have chances that are approaching zero).
The Nuclear Button
Those who push the nuclear button want to blow it all up. Washington DC is too corrupt and someone needs to ride into town and get rid of everything.
Nobody can do that, of course. There’s something called checks and balances that have generated a working government for over two centuries. The problem is that anyone with political experience cannot be trusted by those who want to push the Nuclear Button, so it doesn’t matter whether or not they can accomplish what they claim.
These are strange times, though. We need a shakeup. We need something different than the rhetoric and cronyism that has plagued the federal government for decades. We’ve been able to crank out one strong President in most of our lifetimes. If we can’t find another Ronald Reagan, then the Nuclear Button is the only option.
The candidates who represent this button are obvious: Donald Trump and Ben Carson. Their lack of experience is their strength. Their lack of knowledge can be overlooked. They haven’t been tainted and that’s more important to some people than knowledge.
The Reset Button
Most who want to push the Nuclear Button are likely unaware that there’s a Reset Button that will achieve the same basic goals without risking mutual destruction. It’s “Nuclear Lite,” not because it’s less devastating to the Washington Cartel but because it’s more strategic.
There’s no need to even attempt to build suspense. Ted Cruz has made more enemies in the Senate, the Congress, and the White House in less than one term than most Senators make in a lifetime. He represents a political form of anti-establishment that makes them uncomfortable at the least and potentially terrified, particularly if they’re establishment born and bred.
What he can achieve in DC is arguably more potent than the nuclear option. He doesn’t just know the Constitution. He’s memorized it. As crazy as that is to most of us (I had trouble memorizing 12 lines for a high school play), he knows the core document of our country inside and out. More importantly, he’s used this knowledge with cases that he’s argued and won before the Supreme Court. His time in the Senate may be limited, but his ability to navigate the waters makes him the perfect person to engage a Washington DC reset.
The Eject Button
There are two variations of the Eject Button. It is a button that never existed before Barack Obama became President, but he had to inadvertently build that button to because the unthinkable is happening. The country is falling apart. The ship is going down. The engines are stalled and most Americans are too engrossed in reality television to understand it.
The Eject Button represents a complete disregard for change. Pushing it essentially says, “Things are bad but if we change it we might make things worse.” It’s the safe button, not because it represents safety for the country or its citizens but because it means that the status quo can continue on.
Our country has been in the shifting hands between the Democrats and the Republican Establishment since Reagan left office. It’s no coincidence that things have been in a steady spiral since then with the most recent two Presidents pushing us towards the abyss.
While I don’t want to see us push the Nuclear Button, it’s a better choice than pushing the Eject Button.
The two variations of the button are voting for any of the Democrats or voting for the Republican Establishment candidates: Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, or Jeb Bush. They will be business as usual because they only know political expediency and playing to the whims of Neocons. They will continue the country down the Clinton/Bush/Obama path and give us no hope of seeing the Reaganesque change that can come from Cruz for sure and possibly from Trump or Carson.
I know it’s hard to hear the truth, particularly if you’re supporting one of the Eject Button candidates, but this is too important for anyone to let go. This is the most important nomination process in the history of the country. We have to get it right.
via Soshable http://ift.tt/1SnHD3Q
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