Who Deserves My Vote?

With the final debate complete and less than two weeks until the election, have you made up your mind?

When I look at the candidates running in the 2020 Presidential election, I see two vastly different individuals. Which, if any, deserves my vote?

The short answer is that neither deserves a vote nor the opportunity to hold office for the next four years. They are both flawed in many ways. But that could be the answer in most elections. It seems commonplace these days to vote for the lesser of two evils. So, where does that leave me as I contemplate the future of our country?

If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you will understand that the life that we live is temporary compared with the eternal reality for which God created us. That lessens the significance of any given moment in our lives, decisions that we make, and arguably the importance of our entire earthly existence.

Yet we still have to live out each day, enduring trials, and dealing with the consequences of the decisions that we make. Every moment is not a trial, and many of our choices lead to pleasurable outcomes. But the temporary nature of our existence never goes away.

I think the best approach to this election is to look four years out. No matter who wins, the next four years will fly by. What will the national socio-political landscape look like in four years?

To do that, one must look past the person representing each party and focus on issues. It is with this approach that I will explain why I am voting for Donald Trump.

COVID-19 is a hot-button topic right now. Yet, regardless of how we got here and whether or not any individual or group is more or less responsible or could have lessened the overall impact, we will experience it’s effects for months and years to come.

The next president will deal with it, and the economy will eventually stabilize. The measures undertaken to combat the virus will differ depending on who is at the helm, but by the end of the next presidential term, and most likely much sooner, we will experience a semblance of normalcy. I firmly believe that locking down the country again would be a bad thing. With Trump, I am confident that this would not happen, but with Biden, I am not so sure. I also do not think that the economic policies espoused by Biden and the Democratic Party bode well for sustainable recovery and growth in the years to come.

Healthcare and the ACA are also on everyone’s mind, especially with the SCOTUS appointment of Judge Amy Coney Barret. Democrats tout the elimination of coverage for pre-existing conditions if the Supreme Court overturns the ACA. But I think that is an empty threat. With or without the ACA, healthcare is important to both candidates, as is protecting coverage for individuals with pre-existing conditions. The ACA has never been perfect, and I think that an alternative approach could benefit more people overall.

Aside from those two issues, I look at the base platform of each party. The Democratic Party is becoming increasingly liberal, and I fear the ramifications for conservative Christian values. Freedom of religion, not in the sense that one can’t worship where and how one chooses but more the exercise of faith in the public sphere, is at risk. Censorship occurring now will only get worse if liberal values continue to take over.

Other arguments against voting for Trump are not overly compelling to me. People complain about his lies, but I hear far more lies coming from Democrats, including Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and mainstream media than from Donald Trump and others in his administration. His attitude is atrocious at times, but he has done more in his first three and a half years than some former Presidents have done in two full terms.

Accusations of Trump being a racist are unsubstantiated, and the record of his political activity benefiting the Black community shows his commitment to bettering life for all races and classes.

Joe Biden has promised that he will not raise taxes for anyone making less than $400,000. But in almost the same breath, he says he will roll back Trump’s tax cuts on day one. Doing so will hurt middle-class Americans who have benefited under the policies enacted during the Trump Administration. Not to mention that merely raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans will not be enough to cover the hefty price tag of his political agenda.

Additionally, I disagree with climate change arguments and the Democratic Party’s environmental initiatives.

I like what President Trump has done with his Supreme Court nominations and with his lower court appointments, and I am leery about the talk of Supreme Court revisions coming from Democrats.

Before COVID-19, Trump accomplished a lot in his first three years in office, and the economy was running great. Within the last few months, he orchestrated historically significant peace accords in Israel. The economy is coming back, the jobs market is strengthening, and the unemployment rate is dropping. The majority of the worst run areas are governed by Democratic leaders who stunt economic growth with prolonged lock-downs. We need to take precautions to limit the spread of the virus, but life must go on. We cannot live in fear.

God is in control. Unless Christ comes back again while I am still alive and takes me up to be with him, my short and relatively insignificant life on earth will one day come to an end. It may be the result of an accident, old age, or before year’s end from COVID-19. No individual knows if he or she will live even one more hour. Thanks to the death and resurrection of Jesus, my life at that point will only be in infancy, eternal existence in the presence of God. You, as well, can have that same certainty by placing your full faith and trust in Jesus and His completed work through the cross. It is a decision that everyone must make that is much more important than the election, carrying eternal ramifications.

With my eternal destiny secure, I try to live each day as best I can to the honor and glory of God.

It is unclear what Joe Biden’s future holds. Even if he wins the election, his health and the new revelations about the Biden family increase the probability that he will not serve a full term, if he even lasts a year. Should that happen, Kamala Harris will be the President, and radical left policies will undoubtedly follow.

Right now, Democrats and mainstream media are trying to dismiss allegations against Joe Biden. One solitary goal currently unites the Democratic Party; defeat Trump at all costs. Though merely speculation, I would not be surprised if the Party and media turn against a victorious Biden, forcing him to step down shortly after taking office, especially as he tries to distance himself from the radical left.

I won’t make excuses for Donald Trump’s history, attitude, and behavior, but I can wholeheartedly support the policies that he espouses. And to be honest, I would probably vote for any Republican given the current state of an increasingly corrupt and liberal-minded Democratic Party.

Please also see my book, Lives at Stake.