LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Focus on fundamentals, not the frivolity

The presidential race boils down to two despicable characters. In an age where morality is relative and approaching irrelevance, serial sexual predators in the White House are suddenly a dangerous model for our children. Didn’t that ship set sail in 1992 when a known sexual predator from Arkansas was nominated for president by Democrats, and was elected by a mostly unsuspecting public? That scoundrel is still revered by his party. This time, the public will at least be aware of the terrible choice they are being given. Hillary herself is no stranger to treacherous behavior, from a 30-year pattern of lies, enabling Bill and trashing his female victims, destroying government evidence (under a congressional subpoena, no less), risking national secrets and intelligence assets on a private server just so she could avoid Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and selling national favors to foreign powers. There was a time when she would have faced a firing squad for treason. The biggest difference between Donald and Hillary is that Donald’s indecency affects individuals, but Hillary’s criminal behavior is treasonous and affects the nation. “Women have a right to be offended by Trump’s words (and possible actions). But women have suffered a far worse fate from Secretary Clinton’s and President Obama’s actions. Pulling American troops out of Iraq, despite military advice to the contrary, led to the sudden rise of ISIS and their seizing of many women and young girls as sex slaves.” writes Thomas Sowell in Townhall.com. He continues, “A message from one of these women urged the bombing of ISIS. She said she would rather be dead than live the life of a sex slave. Some women who tried to commit suicide and failed have been tortured for trying.” Sowell adds, “Despite Hillary Clinton’s claims to be a champion for minorities, her political agenda threatens the education of poor and minority children (teacher union campaign contributions), the employment of young adults (raising the minimum wage) and the physical safety of minority communities (allied with Black Lives Matter).” So much for caring about minorities! Luckily, choosing the lesser of two evils is a relatively easy task today, thanks to a corrupt media. The First Amendment’s Freedom of the Press was intended to encourage journalists to freely investigate, get as close to truth as possible, and keep the electorate well informed. Their great sin today is that they choose sides. So, all that is necessary to choose the better candidates, is to figure out whom the media is protecting and whom it is trashing. The one being trashed is the lesser of two evils. That is the easiest way to make a quick determination. If you have the time to study the situation and plough through most of the information, misinformation, outright lies, and propaganda; perhaps a better way is to pay little attention to the candidates spinning their positions and promises, and spend most of your time studying the party platforms, side by side if possible. The platform is an indication of goals the party supports, and will encourage their candidates to strive for. It is not a contract or a guarantee as much as a direction. Staying in touch with your senators and representatives can help keep platform goals that are important to you uppermost in their minds. The platforms I have studied don’t seem to mention that Democrats seek to be globalists, secular, and establishment; whereas Republicans are nationalists, religious, and strive to be anti-establishment. A few good party platform sources are: https://stream.org/tag/2016Platforms101/ http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jul/31/glaring-differences-between-republican-democratic-/ This is a summary: https://www.gop.com/platform/.

Armand Carreau Bridgeville