The Vote - 2016

I am a veteran.  Like most veterans, I know that “freedom isn’t free.”  The vote is more than a civic duty.  It is a sacred right in a free country.

Better men and women than I am have sacrificed to preserve and defend the Constitution of the United States.  They have died and been wounded.  They have lost spouses and lovers.  They have missed the final illnesses and funerals of parents, grandparents, and other loved ones.  They have missed the birth of children and seeing their children grow up.  That is one reason why I have never missed voting in a presidential election, and I have only missed voting in one congressional election; because I was recovering from serious burns.

I urge every American who is able to vote to do so.  Like Sen. Ted Cruz, I urge every American to vote their conscience; even if I disagree with who you vote for.  Sen. Cruz damaged himself by not endorsing Donald Trump.  Some say that, as a professing Christian, he should have been more forgiving.  Maybe it would have been a better witness for Christ if he had, and maybe not.  However, he followed his conscience, and urged everyone else to do so, as well.  He deserves our respect for being willing to stand up for what he believes, no matter what the consequences.  I can do no less.

Living in Idaho has a lot of advantages.  No matter how I vote, Idaho’s four electoral votes will go to the Republican presidential candidate.  That frees me to follow my conscience and write in for anyone I want.  I plan to write in for Sen. Ted Cruz.  If I still lived in Colorado, where the outcome of the election is in doubt, I would feel obligated to vote for Donald Trump.  I agree with most of his proposed policies, but who he is as a man makes me very worried about his becoming the president.

Hillary Clinton, and the platform of the Democratic party, are totally unacceptable.  If it was necessary, I would vote against Hillary Clinton, rather than vote for Donald Trump.  Following your conscience is more than who you vote for; it is also who you vote against.

Appointments to the Supreme Court, and other federal courts, are at stake.  The emphasis and direction of the Justice Department is at stake.  Therefore, the direction of our society is at stake.  Vote for traditional American values, and against socialism and godless secular humanism.  When you vote, I urge you to vote in such a way that candidates who support traditional American values will be elected.  Please vote against Hillary Clinton and the other Democrats running for office.  Please preserve who we are as a people and our way of life.  Pray, and vote as if your freedom depended on it.  It does.

Thank you.