{"id":5283,"date":"2015-10-01T06:07:33","date_gmt":"2015-10-01T10:07:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=5283"},"modified":"2015-10-01T06:55:54","modified_gmt":"2015-10-01T10:55:54","slug":"my-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=5283","title":{"rendered":"voting guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"8076635893_df93a7c514_b\"<\/a>No one should tell any of the rest of us how to vote. So let me try. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

I will not vote for<\/em> anyone \u2014 or against<\/em> \u2014 solely because they are a woman or a man.<\/em>\u00a0I, like you, have many female and male friends, and it is a fact that their gender does not automatically make them capable \u2014 or incapable \u2014 of being a wise President.<\/p>\n

I will not vote for<\/em> anyone \u2014 or against<\/em> \u2014 solely because they are black.<\/em> Nope. I, like most of you, have friends who are black, white, Hispanic, Asian, etc. Their race has not made any of them more \u2014 or less \u2014 qualified to be President.<\/p>\n

I will not vote for<\/em> anyone \u2014 or against<\/em> \u2014 solely because they have no political experience.<\/em>\u00a0Let’s face it; many of the elect have had substantial, lengthy political resumes. Resumes do not necessarily equate to wisdom nor success; resumes do not teach them how to work with other parties nor people. Hence, a political resume will not automatically garner my vote.<\/p>\n

I will not vote for<\/em> anyone \u2014 or against<\/em> \u2014 solely because they are a Christian or faithfully adhere to some other religion.<\/em> I\u2019ve known far too many who pick and choose which aspects of their faith to serve and observe. I\u2019ve known far too many believers and non-believers alike whose arrogance and lack of humility was a clear, non-permeable obstruction to effective leadership.<\/p>\n

I will not vote for<\/em> anyone \u2014 or against<\/em> \u2014 solely because they are a Democrat or Republican.<\/em> I realize this may get somewhat trickier, but the reality is we have witnessed far too many on both sides of the proverbial, partisan aisle who have been either narcissistic, crooked, or both \u2014 none of which, with all due respect, is worthy of representing me. Sharing similar political leanings is simply not enough.<\/p>\n

Hence, I will not vote for or against anyone solely because<\/em><\/strong> of their gender, race, religion, party, or other demographic factor. \u2028\u2028I will,<\/strong><\/em> however, vote for the following:<\/p>\n

(1) Someone, as best as possible, that I believe to be ethical.<\/p>\n

(2) Someone, as best as possible, who has demonstrated sound comprehension of economic principles. And\u2026<\/p>\n

(3) Someone, as best as possible, with whom I agree on multiple policy issues (…notice that I didn’t say “all” nor a single, specific one.)<\/em><\/p>\n

In that order. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

If a person isn\u2019t perceived to be ethical, then I cannot discern accurately whether they truly comprehend the economy. If a person isn\u2019t perceived to be ethical, then I cannot discern accurately whether we agree on policy positions \u2014 or if they are flip-flopping, evolving, or what. If a person isn\u2019t perceived to be ethical, I cannot trust them to tell me the truth.<\/p>\n

I want a candidate whose \u201cyes\u201d means \u201cyes\u201d and whose \u201cno\u201d means \u201cno.\u201d I want a person who will say what they think \u2014 as opposed to say what they think I want them to. This means more to me than consensus and agreement. (Note that I have yet to find a person with whom I agree on all things\u2026 not even in my own household.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Too ideal for today\u2019s culture? Too ideal for a culture where partisan politicians incite and divide more than listen and unite? Too ideal for a culture infused with a biased, 24 hour news cycle?<\/p>\n

Back to that ideal candidate\u2026<\/p>\n

Did I mention I\u2019d also like them to be a Bengals fan, support Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame, and believe Tom Brady should be suspended for \u201cDeflategate\u201d?<\/p>\n

Ok\u2026 maybe I am an idealist after all.<\/p>\n

Respectfully\u2026
\nAR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No one should tell any of the rest of us how to vote. So let me try. \ud83d\ude42 I will not vote for anyone \u2014 or against \u2014 solely because they are a woman or a man.\u00a0I, like you, have many female and male friends, and it is a fact that their gender does not … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “voting guide”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-event"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5283"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5292,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5283\/revisions\/5292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}