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Whether we like it or not, our government is run by parties, not individuals. The stakes are much bigger than the candidates' personalities, character, or trustworthiness. Each of them would lead a party, whose influence in Congress, Executive Branch, Judiciary, and state and local government will be profound. The ballot is important from top to bottom.

Here are twelve very important issues. You should vote Democrat if and only if:

  1. You want to be ruled by judges, not constitutional democracy. (All 874 federal judges are appointed for life, and most of their rulings never reach the Supreme Court. Democrats consistently appoint judges who will make law, strike down democratically made law, even effectively amend the Constitution by citing things not written in it.)
  2. You want your behavior controlled and regulated even more by unelected bureaucrats and executive orders. (Regulators think their job is to make regulations. With no one to stop them, they'll make more and more of them and seldom eliminate any. Personal and economic liberty are eroded, the cost of compliance grows and economic growth is stifled.)
  3. You want your cost of living increased by higher corporate tax rates and/or "closing loopholes." (A business's taxes are paid by its customers--we the people---not by management or shareholders. Raise business taxes; raise prices. They're a hidden tax on all consumers, hardest on middle- and lower-income people. "Closing loopholes" means eliminating deductions. That sounds good, but it just increases business taxes and therefore our cost of living.)
  4. You want your employer's prosperity, and thus yours, held down by government regulations and high taxes. (Businesses create jobs, not government. "Investing in jobs" means expanding the government payroll or spending tax money on programs bureaucrats think will make businesses hire people. This has no history of success.)
  5. You want your health care managed by unelected bureaucrats--rather than doctors, hospitals, and patients--your coverage dictated by government, and your costs to rise. (There's now no doubt it's the "Deplorable Care Act." Democrats opposed all the sensible ways to correct our health care finance problems, apparently because they want a complete government takeover.)
  6. You want the illegal immigration problem to get worse, not better. (Loose border control for decades caused most of today's problem. It must be strengthened. And we have to crack down on drug imports, crime by illegals and returning deportees.)
  7. You want to give up American leadership and power in this world of enemies and destructive ideologies. (In particular, you want Islamic terrorism to go on for years, perhaps even take the civilized world down.)
  8. You want a permanently sick economy directed by government "experts" rather than free market forces. (They've never done it well in any country any time. America has proven beyond doubt that the way to prosperity is Free Enterprise.)
  9. You like your schools run by federal bureaucrats by controlling their funding and empowering teachers' unions. (School choice and Charter Schools--consistently opposed by Democrats--have greatly helped children in failing schools, especially in lower-income neighborhoods. More importantly, local public school boards now have little power to stop indoctrination with political correctness and liberal views nor fire incompetent teachers and administrators.)
  10. You want freedom of speech suppressed by public sector pressure for political correctness. (Religious liberty is not the only one at risk. Political and social issue speech are also under pressure--often as "hate speech"--and Democrats want to increase that pressure.)
  11. You like America divided into racial, income, and interest groups, with increasing anger, violence, and low respect for law enforcement. (Democrats profit from promoting grievances and increasing tension between groups. "Identity politics" sells, but it saps America's strength and threatens our future. To increase tensions, the left has redefined "justice," as "social justice," meaning economic leveling, to be accomplished by government coercion. This is the essence of socialism, which has damaged every country it's infected.)
  12. You want a growing national debt our children will have to service with high taxes. (They won't be able to service it, much less retire it, without entitlement reform and a much faster growing economy. Which party committed to those?)

If you do want these things, just relax. No need to vote. Hillary's going to win without you.

Bob Smith is a retired IT executive living in Greer. He can be reached at BobSmith864@gmail.com.