Biden? Trump? Neither. Here’s why.

Nyet to Donald J. Trump.

No man, to Joe Biden.

I can’t vote for either of them. In fact, I didn’t. I voted by mail and passed on the males.

Why?

Trump? I don’t have all day to list the reasons. Here are a few off the top: He lies, constantly, and when not lying, twists facts out of shape. He is needy and thin-skinned, and arrogant, and ingracious, and petty, and mean, and downright stupid.

And those are his good qualities.

But I’m not throwing racist, and xenophobic, and homophobic, and misogynistic, and Islamophobic into the mix.

Here’s the sad thing: Even when he and I agree on an issue, say illegal immigration, he casts it into a racist light that throws shade on everyone who believes our borders should be enforced. He is the last person I want on my side. He embarrasses me and most of America.

He has loosened ties with our allies and given comfort to our enemies. He is short-sighted, vulgar, and butchers the English language. He is unfit to sit in the Oval Office. 

Biden? I could have supported Uncle Joe. He’s got better character than Trump, he is a moderate — no, he is not a socialist — but he did something stupid. After beating the socialists (Berner Sanders, Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren) he then inexplicably moved to the left to placate their supporters. Why? They weren’t going anywhere. The Bernie Bros and Warren Witches (sorry) would crawl across hot asphalt to vote against the man they (and other bed-wetters) are convinced would destroy American democracy. They are pessimists who don’t really love this country because they believe their own crap about how bad America is.

America is not bad; some Americans are, and we work on that, all the time.

Going back to the first Democratic debate, all but one of those duds held up their hand when asked if they would provide free healthcare to illegals, although the moderator used the PC term — “undocumented” or something like that.

The question was not about free emergency care — that already exists. It was free medical care, and all but one said yes. (Whoever was the odd man was quickly eliminated.) So the rest of them are willing to give people here illegally more than they give my children. Are they crazy? That is a big F U from the Dems to my kids, so it’s a big F U from me to them. 

Biden also has been squishy on border enforcement and I believe his last word was, like Bernie, that he would suspend deportations. If you don’t deport those here illegally, that is actually Open Borders, which in normal times would sink our already crippled economy, but in COVID-19 times would be opening the floodgates to people who are a threat to our health.

This is not about skin color. It is not about ethnicity, it is about legality. If you don’t have secure borders, you don’t have a country.

And I want to have a country — my country, with American values, welcoming those who share those values and who respect our laws enough to come here legally.

That is pretty much the position of the Libertarian Party, that wants as little government as possible, but realizes some controls — like at the border — are essential.

So I voted for Jo Jorgensen for president. She is an educator, teaching psychology at South Carolina’s Clemson University. She’s 63, married with two daughters, and has a Ph.D. in industrial and organizational psychology. 

The platform of the Libertarian Party stresses the rights of the individual over the authority of the state. People should be free to pursue their dreams when they are honest and peaceful. Libertarians support the right of free speech and thought, freedom of the press and respect for private property. It wants free market forces to deliver health care, and would make Social Security optional. 

There’s a lot more that I won’t get into here, but I have provided a link for you to the Libertarian platform. There’s a lot I don’t agree with, just as there are a lot of Democrat and Republican ideas I don’t agree with.

But to me “freedom” is a really big deal and Libertarians are big on freedom.

Mine is a qualified protest vote. I always vote, but I do not always vote for candidates of the major parties. I have voted third party before, and have written in names of candidates. I am not just being a contrarian. I try to not settle for the evil of two lessers.

Jorgensen follows in the footsteps of other third party candidates such as Ralph Nader, Ross Perot, John Anderson, George Wallace, Eugene V. Debs.

My Democrat friends say my not voting for Biden is actually a vote for Trump. Oddly, my Trump friends do not say it is actually a vote for Biden. The Democrats have a weird sort of hubris about their own self-anointed excellence.

Mine is a vote against Trump and it is a vote against Biden. 

I’m hoping more people join me in sending a message to the Dems and the GOP that they are doing a lousy job and we want them to change, and that we will change if they don’t.