Various people have recently asked me about how I feel about the Presidential candidates lately. I wanted to share a what little insight I have on the matter.

The question is usually raised like this “What do you think of XX?” The person is always asking about a candidate that you know they have a low opinion of. Because I like to discuss I nearly always bring up positives about that candidate. Few people have no good qualities.

Another thing I like to remind them is that the President is not the supreme ruler of the USA. We all learn about the three branches of government in school and promptly forgot about them but the short version is, the President is not a king. His word is not ultimate rule.

The third thing I like to do is remind people that the President’s term is limited to 4 years after which time we can vote in a new president and if he (or she) actually does something illegal they can be removed from office. It seems the trend lately has been presidents nearly automatically being elected to a 2nd term. That is not surprising to me. People are averse to change so it seems likely we might have the next person for 8 years, but not for certain.

Great video about Donald Trump and Ted Cruz’s tax plans

Great video about Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sander’s tax plans.

Those things being said I will make a few comments about the various candidates.

Donald Trump

A lot of people seem actually afraid of Donald Trump. That seems silly. If you actually go over to Scott Adam’s blog (cartoonist who writes Dilbert) you will get a lot of great analysis of what he believes Donald Trump’s tactics are. Summary: People vote (and generally act) on emotion. Donald Trump is (probably) a pretty smart guy. So smart that he is able to connect with (a lot) dummies (and maybe even some smart people). He is proposing getting rid of illegal immigrants, not something that should particularly worry you as a legal citizen (although you might have some moral aversion to kicking people out, I doubt you are taking as much action as you could to help those people so maybe think twice about your stance? Do a little more?).

The dumb about Trump. He (at least acts like he) is mad that companies (Ford most recently) are deporting jobs. That is stupid. In a capitalist economy (which he surely is a fan of), companies are free to give their business to the lowest bidder. It’s a bit ironic that people who do this every day (by shopping at Wal-Mart for cheap Chinese goods) then complain about “them” “shipping our jobs overseas.

It is utterly clear to me that the highest priority need of world society at the present moment is a realistic economic accounting system which will rectify, for instance, such nonsense as the fact that a top toolmaker in India, the highest paid of all craftsman, gets only as much per month for his work in India as he could earn per day for the same work if he were employed in Detroit, Michigan.  – Page 112 Operating Manual For Spaceship Earth, Buckminster Fuller

Overall I am not scared of Trump.

After I wrote about the other people’s positions I figured I should include Trumps here. I think he has to be joking about the wall don’t you?

Bernie Sanders

“My question to Bernie Sanders supporters: When someone in Bangladesh observes your lifestyle, it seems as incredible to them as that of the 1% seems to you. Why are they not entitled to help themselves to your things, the way you consider yourself morally entitled to help yourself to the goods of the American rich? In your answer, avoid moral irrelevancies like national borders; can we tolerate inequality just because it’s cross-border? Extra credit: Take a picture of yourself divesting yourself of most of your goods in the name of global equality.” – Tom Woods

See same quote above about equal pay for someone in India doing the same job as someone in the US.

To other Bernie issues, I honestly couldn’t think of them, or much about what Hillary (or other candidates) really were “for” either. Here’s what Bernie is “for”. Overall these don’t seem like bad things.
One thing people should also know about goals (and you would learn about if you read “Thinking Fast And Slow” is the idea of an anchor point. All candidates come out as extreme as they can and still be taken seriously. They will almost always have some extra built into their plan they are willing to concede. That’s the name of the game. Sanders wants to raise our taxes, ok. If he is elected, he probably won’t raise them as much as he is hoping (Congress & Senate remember?).

Hillary Clinton
As I work down the list it goes by how much I have heard people talk about candidates and how much I knew about them (before I started writing this). Hillary I knew very little about, and you probably don’t really know much either. You might think you do but do you really? Anyway, here’s what she’s “for”. The thing I hear people talk about most is Hillary “taking our guns”. That’s what people are afraid of. If you recall Obama was “taking our guns” for the last 8 years. You can still go to Wal-mart and buy a gun. I don’t think she’s taking our guns. What else is she for? Just reading through the list, again they seem like fine things. In fact that’s what a Presidential candidate is supposed to do, tell you the good they will do. As I mentioned before, things move slowly even after a President is elected.

Ted Cruz
Is he still in the race? Honestly knew very little when I started writing this. Now, I know just a tiny bit. His main issue? I couldn’t even guess. Being an alternate to Donald Trump?

Now that we are past the real candidates I wanted to share a few things I stumbled upon while doing political party research

The Prohibition Party is apparently still (semi) active. From their site “The alcohol issue sets this unique party apart from all others. This party has opposed the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages since 1869. Alcohol is America’s #1 narcotic drug problem. The use of alcohol and tobacco is responsible for 40% of the total cost of healthcare in America. We believe a program of education and legislation, coupled with sober leadership, will result in a change in society’s attitude regarding the alcohol issue. Tobacco is known as the “gateway drug,” meaning that early use of tobacco leads a person into the use of stronger drugs.”

Zoltan Istvan – Transhumanist Party

Zoltan founded the Transhumanist party. This is not to be confused with transgender (changing genders). Transhuman is actually in reference to “transcending” our humanity, via science.

Just a few of his policies

12) Because most jobs will be lost to robots and software in the next 30 years, support and draft logistics for a Universal Basic Income for every American (taking care to devise a plan that does not enlarge the government). A properly set up UBI could eliminate welfare, social security, and dozens of other major government programs.

16) Work to use science and technology to be able to eliminate all disabilities in humans who have them

The final point I want to make is that whichever candidate or party we are voting for we should take some time to try to understand what the other side is talking about. What you might find though is that really they are just people also. They have opinions that you might disagree with but you shouldn’t be afraid, of anyone. Because if you are afraid, the terrorists win. I hope to discuss fear further in upcoming articles as it is something that seems to be pervasive in our country (and the world).

Do not live in fear.