Chris Jepson: America is better than her choices

I’ll no doubt put myself in the doghouse with this column. My female friends of a Democrat (liberal) persuasion will question my party loyalty but, my gawd, can we not find another presidential candidate than Hillary Clinton? For a woman of such alleged intelligence to constantly put her foot in it escapes me. Who the hell’s advising this woman? Rasputin?

Charlie Reese when he was still writing for the Orlando Sentinel annually declared his “interests.” I’ll now do the same with my presidential voting record. I would have voted (if old enough) for Barry Goldwater in 1964. At age 15, I was still under the sway of my family Republican roots. I was also enamored with Ayn Rand and completely embraced her infantile, simplistic (Who is John Galt?) drivel. Forgive me that, please. In 1968, I would have voted for Richard Nixon because I held President Johnson largely responsible for the escalation and tragedy of Vietnam.

Beginning in 1972 I have voted Democrat in every presidential election but one. Gerald Ford (a quite decent Republican) ran against Jimmy Carter in 1976 and I could not bring myself to vote for Carter because of his religious beliefs. My mistake. Carter warranted my support. It has been all Democrats since.

I would easily vote for a Yellow Dog today rather than any Republican. If for no other reason than I am fervently pro-choice and the president makes nominations to the Supreme Court. I am a one-issue voter on this. Not supporting a woman’s unequivocal right to own her own body is a deal killer when I enter the voting booth.

The problems with Hillary are many. This is what I do not comprehend at all: Since 2008 she has been relentlessly pursuing the White House. No one can suggest otherwise. President Obama makes her Secretary of State and she decides to use private (non-governmental) email to conduct the business of the United States. Why? Why when you are going to inevitably run for the presidency would you hand your Republican opponents such a grenade? The logic absolutely escapes me. Either it is hubris on her part or her advisers are dumber than a box of rocks.

I could provide a rather extensive list of objections to Hillary Clinton, but one sticks out foremost in my mind: her unequivocal support of the United States invading and occupying Iraq. This has been the most egregious foreign policy mistake since Vietnam. Hillary Clinton, if elected president, could not be trusted to wisely determine when to prudently deploy American forces abroad. That is fact. Once burned . . .

America needs an election with actual options; one where the candidates present real choice for the electorate. Hillary Clinton, like Jeb Bush, is too beholden to Wall Street and corporate interests. Little choice there.

A real national election would pit the quintessential Republican against an exemplary Democrat. I’d relish a choice between Scott Walker (Wisconsin’s governor) and Elizabeth Warren (U.S. Senator from Massachusetts). You’d have the union-busting, anti-science, evangelical, every-sperm-is sacred Republican versus a pro-labor, pro-choice, pro-environment, let’s-rein-in-Wall Street Democrat. Give America a clear choice.

America is better than the choices we’re presented. Jeb Bush. Really? The best of that lot was the old man and he couldn’t be elected Republican dogcatcher today, so reactionary has the GOP become.

Hillary Clinton, give it up, please, and throw your considerable support behind Elizabeth Warren. You and the nation will be better off.