Super Short Summary: Trump is a social moderate, an economic libertarian and a small government conservative.
I have been asked why I support Donald J. Trump so strongly. There is far too much to discuss in this one post, but I will hit the high points. There will be other posts as we go forward that look into the internal party politics and so on.
One of the most important things we will have to discuss in future posts is that the REAL QUESTION they are trying to ask me which is how can I support Trump in the face of all that collective outrage. How can I make and trust my own judgments when it is so “obvious” that this is a horrible person? Essentially “who are you to stand by your own judgment, when so many disagree?”. They don’t really know that is what they are asking… but it often is. We will deal with this in-depth some other time.
For now, I want to look at the major areas of policy that I am concerned with, and why Trump is good for me.
- Reforming education. Common Core needs to go. Federal micro-management of school systems needs to go. The entire student loan system needs to be scrapped.
- Repealing and replacing Obamacare. Obamacare was a disaster when drafted and it has only gotten worse. As the full weight of the economic damage starts to manifest it becomes ever more clear. It has to go, in its entirety. Here is the Trump position on this topic.
- Much stronger foreign relations, both as an economic and strategic partner with our allies and trading partner with our foes. Trump is well-traveled, has done business in many places and knows how to interface with their cultures while still remaining capitalistic. Example: his platform about China
- Empowering States, and re-introducing the idea of a Republic. Trump is strongly in favor of allowing the individual states as much freedom as possible. This ability of our states to have different cultures is a core strength of the US and one that federalism has been destroying.
- Securing our borders is a critical national priority. Any nation that does not and cannot gain control over the passage of others across its borders is no longer a nation. This touches on but is also much larger than immigration. That said, here is his position about immigration.
- Support for our police. We have a president who openly showed remorse that a man who attempted to murder a police officer was dead but has rarely express remorse for the officers assassinated by criminals in what may be retaliatory attacks. It is absolutely clear he cares little for the police outside of their use as political cannon fodder. Trump is a strong and open supporter of our police forces, while acknowledging that there some who abuse their positions and need to be removed.
- Rebuilding our military, and rediscovering the will to support it. For 8 years now our military has been the whipping boy of a failed foreign policy wielded by an administration that is openly contemptuous of both the institution and then people who serve in it. As a result China and Russia are getting bolder and we will soon lack the ability to project sufficient power globally to remain a key player.
- Recognizing and fighting terrorism. You cannot fight something you won’t even name. When an Islamic extremist can murder US soldiers on base and the administration labels it “workplace violence” you know you have lost your way. The result? Leaving good men and women to die because to re-enforce them would disrupt your “we won!” narrative and blaming it on a YouTube video to hide your culpability. Trump is willing to face this issue head on and that is a critical strength.
- Significant reform of the tax code. The regressive, manipulative and stifling tax code we operate under now is killing or economy and warping our society. Here is his position on tax reform.
- Energy independence. We need to actively develop domestic energy sources. That includes more drilling, more pipelines and more associated infrastructure.
- Strong and unwavering support for the second amendment, something we have not had from a presidency in more than a decade. We absolutely need “constitutional carry” and the PRESUMPTIVE right for ownership of firearms to be the law of our nation. The Trump position on the second amendment is one I see as a huge step in the right direction.
Most importantly, the election of Trump may well preserve our country as one where free expression is valued. Currently we are in the grips of a form of social tyranny driven by a cry-bullies and professional offense takers. They have used this moral authority to acquire to manipulate the democratic process and as a result they have trashed our immigration policy, destroyed our foreign policy, ruined our universities and ripped the core of our legal system to shreds.
In their ignorance the wish to turn us into another collectivist, far left state like most of the EU. In their Euro-worship they simply either fail to see or don’t care how the EU is floundering, riven by economic disasters and rising violence. As with all collectivists, they will simply claim that somehow it will be different if we throw more people / nations into the grinder. It is a form of collective suicide.
The only way to suppress the resulting rejection of this suicide pact is fear and oppression… transform our society from one that values dissent and open debate to one where the howling mob can accuse you of a crime for holding an unpopular opinion.
The election of Trump changes all of that. Hell, the popularity of Trump has already done a lot to change that. People see now, and will continue to see, how insane it is to care when someone who is your enemy calls you a racist in an attempt to shame you into silence. Reversing this trend to social fascism and the resurgence of being willing to say “fuck you” to the people who presume the right to tell you to shut up so you don’t offend them is the single most critical task facing our nation and possibly our planet.
And Trump goes a LONG way to bringing that revolution about.