Why might I vote for such a disgusting, derogatory, vulgar man like Trump? While some may argue my vote will be cast in favor of him because of my partisanship toward the Republican Party, I care to argue further in depth. Let me put this out there: I do not endorse Trump’s wrong doings. I’m not fond of Trump’s speech, but I also want to make it known I do not care for Hillary’s actions! To think it is a possibility that she could represent America as the first female President disgusts me. With that being said, I side with most Americans in the sense that I am not one hundred percent pleased with either candidate. I’m quite disappointed that, in my first year voting in the presidential election, I’m left with these choices. Regardless, I’m still participating. My goal in this election is to look past Trump’s speech. Speech can be forgiven; actions cannot. I’m willing to look deeper into policies which I find of more value.

In AP Government, we were told to rank our political priorities and contemplate which candidate we found most appealing in dealing with our top issues. This activity was a deciding factor. If I had to vote for Donald Trump based on my number one political priority solely, I have more faith in him to choose the next Supreme Court justice. Whoever is elected has to nominate at least one, and probably two, or could potentially nominate up to five Supreme Court justices. The Supreme Court is responsible for an extremely crucial part in how laws are interperted.

I favor Trump’s choice of choosing Mike Pence as his Vice President. I see it as a smart move. My hope is that, if elected, Pence demonstrates the same wisdom in the selection of the next Supreme Court Justices. I have faith he would steer away from liberal minded nominees, and call it partisanship if you choose, but I want conservative minded individuals on the Supreme Court. It is currently tied with four conservative and four liberal appointed justices.

Secondly, I’m deeply concerned with the national debt. I have no idea how I would fix the national debt if I were president. I also have no idea how I would run million dollar companies successfully. But, Donald trump does. His career is to operate and negotiate. My hope is that he would in someway work with the budget to reduce the unnecessary spending.

Although it’s a highly debated issue, I find abortion to be an important problem in today’s America. When asked, Trump responded, “pro-life, but allow in cases of rape, incest, or danger to the mother or the child,” with which I can agree. This is not a journal entry arguing why I do not believe in abortion, but since it is a priority of mine, I state that it is a key determining factor for who I side with in this election.

At this moment, I have decided to vote for Trump. My hope is that if other individuals are so turned off by Trump, it will fail to have a trickle down effect on local elections. I favor the local conservative politician running for election, and would be very disheartened to see his chance of winning be jeopardized because of people’s dislike for Trump. In retrospect, I dislike Hilary Clinton’s policies and actions. I’m choosing to vote for Donald Trump, because I feel as if his views most align with mine.

“Trump is a bigot and a misogynist pig.”

“He might be, but Hillary is a liar and a cheater, so I don’t trust her.”

This election season has become as much about, if not more about, finding the lesser of two evils as it is about finding out which candidate is most agreeable with on policy issues. However, for the sake of time, we will forgo discussing the candidates’ many, many faux pas and focus on their positions on the issues.

Recently, Donald Trump has finally started to align himself with more mainstream conservative viewpoints, pandering to the religious right with anachronistic views on abortion and gay marriage while not really discussing the things that gave rise to his primary success, such as the wall. While conservative view points are all well and good, I believe that they are inherently flawed. Conservatism is inherently backward-looking, and conservatives tend to believe that America’s best days are in the past. This explains the massive use of Trump’s campaign slogan, which interestingly enough, was used by Ronald Reagan in the 1980’s.  The conservative viewpoint is based on the belief that the government that governs best governs least. But, in an attempt to gain votes from a certain group, such as conservative Christians, Republicans have adapted a newer concept that is called social conservatism. This flawed system focuses on legislating social issues while simultaneously claiming to want a smaller government, essentially making government bigger when it appeals to them.

Republican economic policy is based around a concept called supply side economics, or as it is rather tounge-in-cheekly referred to, trickle down economics, because they expect money supplied at the top of the system to eventually “trickle down” to the workers which will then stimulate the economy when the workers buy items, supplying more money to the corporations, thus starting the cycle over again. There’s a major problem here though: supply side economics requires the men and women at the top to put the extra money into the paychecks of the workers instead of into their own pockets; in essence it requires men and women who have spent their entire lives being cutthroat business people to all of a sudden care about the little guy. Highly unlikely.

Hillary’s economic policy is no nonsense. Tax increases on the wealthy and cuts on the middle class will actually stimulate the economy by directly putting extra money into the hands of the working class. Hillary Clinton has true experience in foreign policy whereas Donald Trump has absolutely  none. She has worked her entire life for the little guy, and Donald Trump has spent his entire life beating up the little guy to advance his desires.

All of this might not be enough to convince anyone that Hillary is the best choice, or even to convince anyone to overlook her many faults. But, I would hold that being a liar and having superior policy are not zero-sum. To say that they are would be like suggesting that someone who is an athlete cannot be on the honor roll simply because they are athletically inclined. The two are not mutually exclusive, and that, put as succinctly as possible is, why I’m voting for Hillary Clinton on November 8.