Louis Roney: Here we go again!

• I was single for a long time — that is, until I got married. And now I’ve been married 36 years, made great by a woman who understands me well and still manages to like me — not an easy trick. I picked a good-looking gal, of course, just to avoid any monotony on our long trip together. She’s still the best view on my domestic landscape. I was born in Georgia, and I know a peach when I see one. So, I finally shut the door on that dangerous world 36 years ago, when I had landed the nifty gal I picked out to spend my last years with.

I’m still looking for things, but not for women, rather, things to write about and share with other people.

It’s football season, which I enjoy. When a small outfit’s 11, like Clemson, almost beats a big powerhouse like Alabama, my adrenaline flows. The Harvard/Yale game that used to enthrall us while in college is now viewed as just a family squabble.

At this moment the president of the United States has chosen to “wait out” every big world problem when we could eliminate any possible chance of our own destruction if we first obfuscated the problem before it developed. To eliminate an atom bomb is not the same as destroying it with a will to win before it happens.

That said, I now turn to the present state of things, which ain’t good and cannot be ignored. Our “dear leader” told us in his eighth State of the Union address, on all types of communication, how great he has been and how he has made our country safer and more prosperous since he has been in office. The president may not be “the smartest kid on the block,” but he is clever. With the best of speechwriters “telling it like the president wants” and with the best of advisors and “czars,” the president then makes his own decisions and issues “executive orders” (228 at present). That sounds to me more like a dictator than a president. I listened to him carefully, and I heard that “everything is wonderful.” Isn’t that great! I don’t have to worry any more. All presidents tell you how they have solved everything. There is only one problem: When I woke up this morning, no problem the world had yesterday, when the president said everything was fine, had disappeared.

Are you kidding me? Now who am I to believe?

• Being a staunch Republican, I am immersed in political doings these days. Politicians are not my gods, but only men of varying qualities, but I find some of them to be people with whom I manage fundamentally to agree. I gravitated toward the Republican Party because I felt Democrats seemed all too often to approach problems emotionally rather than from an intelligent standpoint. However, it still seems to me no citizen will ever find perfection in those for whom he votes. That said, we start without exaggerated illusions of what we can realistically expect. Like most things human, politics is rife with uncertainties.

Politicians are thrashing around right now to say what they must say better than their opponents. We are somehow expected to vote for the one who’s telling the “whole truth” and puts it in the best words. Deciding the politician to vote for is like deciding which car to buy, but far, far more important.

As Noah Webster put it, “In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate — look to his character.” Interesting, but is that possible by simply watching politicians debate? As one lives his life, his ideals usually evolve as he matures. Also things such as jobs, health, national events, etc. adjust one’s thinking. Today is different than yesterday.

Our job as citizens is to pick the person whom we think is the one who can solve today’s and tomorrow’s problems for the entire country — an awesome task.

We have now seen six Republican debates with one more to come before the ensuing voting begins in Iowa. There are now three prominent candidates: Trump, Cruz, and Rubio. There are still, at this time, 12 candidates remaining on the Republican side — any one of whom I think would be far better than either front running Democratic candidate.

Two other Republicans who have shown very thoughtful ideas are Christie and Fiorina. Our country could well benefit from the ideas they have proposed, and their participation in the national government. Will anything now change between today and the last debate on Jan. 28?

Have you made your determination? On what have you based your final decisions? Principle? Character?

Think very carefully. Your decision could affect the future of the whole world.