ReformingChristianity.com

We will elect a new President very soon!  Millions of people across America have already cast their votes in the 2016 Presidential Election, and millions more will be voting over the next few days, culminating with the closing of polls on the evening of Election Day, November 8th, 2016.  In every election cycle, the dramatic refrain is usually,

“This is our most important and high-stakes election ever!  We MUST ensure that ____________ (fill in your candidate’s name) wins and _________ (fill in the name of the other “BOZO”) does not win.”  

Friends, while the end of the world may not immediately ensue upon a Donald Trump  or Hillary Clinton win, nevertheless we indeed face an election that is critical to our nation’s future.  Why?  Because the next president will either halt the momentum of the runaway Obama transformational train, or stop and reverse its momentum.  We’ve experienced eight long years of President Obama’s “transformation” of America.  What was he aiming to change this nation into?  Clearly, a socialist welfare state built on a progressive ideology.  And to a large degree, President Obama succeeded in moving the country further in this direction. But was this the legacy Americans really wanted?  

The Truly Terrible Legacy of Obama and Hillary

Increase in Racial and Social Tensions

I think when Americans elected Obama they were receptive to the idea of “hope and change” the candidate promised.  They were perhaps thinking the nation’s first black President would bring unity to a nation still dealing with racial tensions. And Barack Obama artfully promised his Administration would pursue a bipartisan approach to government, with legislative transparency.  But on these fronts the President has utterly failed to deliver, to such an extent that his promises must be seen now for what they were– nothing but insincere campaign rhetoric.   Instead of being the great unifier, the President consistently blamed Republican opposition to his policies as motivated by racism.  He was quick to insert himself into sensitive public cases involving race, not as an impartial observer, but deliberately taking sides before all the facts were in.  In doing so he encouraged the liberal narrative of rampant, systemic racism in America, which most Americans reject.  The point is the President had a wonderful opportunity to be a healing force– and squandered it.  Our first black Presidency could have symbolized an America ready to fulfill Martin Luther King’s dream of judging people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin, but President Obama consistently brought the focus back to the color of people’s skin, constantly accusing hidden racial and social tensions as being the forces behind the actions of most Americans, including his colleagues in government.  This tactic certainly has had a negative impact on the state of race relations.  One cannot but help think that the riots and violence happening in cities across America in response to tragic deaths, would be less if the President would speak more responsibly to these matters.  But rather than cooling down racial flames, the President and his team of poor advisers (such as Al Sharpton) recklessly douse them with gasoline.  

In addition to  inflamed racial and social tension, the President leaves the country a terrible legacy on many other fronts, as outlined in this excellent article titled, Obama’s Real Legacy: Ten Ticking Time Bombs:

1.  Another Iraq war. With the Friday the 13th Paris Attacks, it’s clear we are once again at war in the Middle East. And while some of the blame must go to George W.  Bush for needlessly toppling Saddam Hussein in 2003, a good share of the blame must accrue to Mr. Obama, for having mismanaged the withdrawal so badly that a kind of Neo-Mordor has been able to erupt from out of nowhere to seize vast stretches of the Arabian peninsula. Mr. Obama’s half-hearted aerial bombardment campaign against ISIS, which seems designed to run out the clock on a problem deemed insoluble, has acted as an invitation to the Orc armies of radical Islam to bring the battle to us — and has enticed Russia into filling the regional power vacuum. Public support for American boots on the ground is soft; but that could change with a single, Paris-style massacre on American soil. A Third Iraq War is no longer out of the question, and would be an ironic legacy for the 2009 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Prognosis: war.
2.  A nuclear Iran. Supporters of Obama’s controversial Iran nuclear deal argue that it has bought us ten years — a decade for Israel to figure out how to defend itself against a nuclear-armed theocracy bent on its destruction. But that argument optimistically assumes the mullahs aren’t planning to cheat. Photographic evidence suggests they already are.  Prognosis (for Israel): poor.
3.  A flat-lined “recovery.” Job growth remains so weak that our definition of what constitutes a “recovery” has been redefined downward. We’re generating a mere 230,000 new non-farm jobs a month — too few to achieve escape velocity. Although Democrats are celebrating the fall of headline unemployment below 5 percent, the real unemployment rate is closer to 10 percent. Labor-force participation is historically low. Real wage growth is stalled. The stock market is essentially flat. The Fed has held interest rates at zero percent for seven years now, flooding the economy with cheap money; and while it is teasing markets with hints of a rate hike, under current conditions that could easily kill off what “recovery” there is.  Prognosis: continued malaise, with a chance of recession.
4.  Higher deficits. Even if the Fed holds off for now, the deficit, which is currently $439 billion, is expected to rise to $540 billion by 2020. When the Fed does pull the trigger, the deficit will shoot up because of higher borrowing costs and countercyclical welfare spending.  Everyone’s cost of borrowing for a home or automobile will go up, too. Prognosis: a run on aspirin.
5.  Higher energy costs.  On its way out the door, the Obama EPA has finalized an ambitious trio of massive environmental regulations aimed at winning its war on coal, war on carbon, and war on ponds and ditches. If the costly new rules aren’t stopped, U.S. coal-fired power plants, and affordable energy prices, can be expected to undergo manmade extinction.  Prognosis: the chills.
6.  Health care despair. Economists are predicting large increases in ObamaCare premiums and deductibles for 2016 and 2017. In a normal insurance market, premiums and deductibles move in opposite directions. That’s no longer the case under the ironically named, and still unpopular, Affordable Care Act. Meanwhile, enrollment in Obamacare seems to have leveled off and the exchanges show signs of having entered a death spiral. Twelve of 23 non-profit co-ops in the exchanges have gone belly up. This month UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest insurer, announced it has lost so much money on Obamacare, it will pull out of the program altogether unless it receives a multi-billion-dollar bailout. And then there’s the Cadillac Tax, a grand time bomb ticking away in the background and scheduled to go off in 2018. If not repealed or softened, its aftershocks will almost certainly level the employer-based system, from which half of the U.S. population currently gets its health insurance. Prognosis: a big Democratic push for single payer.
7.  A “food stamp” nation.  Over the past decade, the food stamps program has nearly doubled in size from 26 million to 46 million recipients (one in seven Americans) and more than doubled in cost from $29 billion to $64 billion a year. When the next recession hits, these figures will swell to historic highs. Democrats oppose common-sense reforms.  Prognosis: more dependency.
8.  Insolvent entitlements. Entitlement reform has gone nowhere under Mr. Obama, despite the fact that Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare are among the fastest-growing sources of outlays. The various Social Security trust funds are all insolvent. The disability insurance trust fund is slated to go bankrupt by 2020; the hospital insurance fund, by 2030; and the big retirement fund, by 2034. Reforms are imperative. For example, SSDI enrollment has exploded over the past twenty years from 2.8 percent of the working-age population to 5.1 percent; lax rules have morphed the program into a form of unemployment insurance. For Democrats, the only entitlement “reforms” they’ll discuss are proposals to make the programs bigger and more redistributive. Prognosis: higher taxes.
9. A needless crime wave.  The murder rate is going up again in a number of American cities, in the wake of the riots in Ferguson and Baltimore — racially charged tragedies that Mr. Obama has tried to exploit for partisan gain. Thousands of criminals are poised to hit the streets again, thanks to his end-of-term efforts to reduce the national prison population. Criminal aliens continue to enter the country under his porous-borders policies.  Prognosis: mayhem.
10. Conscience wars.  The Left is following the inescapable logic of its fundamental rejection of human nature and common sense.  With Mr. Obama’s active support, our elites are now determined to make us all cooperate in same-sex “marriage,” to accept a radical redefinition of gender, and to pay for other people’s contraceptives and elective abortions. Freedom of speech, religious liberty, the rights of conscience, and even intelligible grammar and clear thought, must all be sacrificed to the gods of sexual liberation.  Prognosis: sustained unpleasantness, with a chance of civil unrest.

And what is our economic legacy?  An article by National Review titled Obama’s Pretty Words Cannot Beautify His Ugly Economy sums it up very well. On Obama’s watch, we’ve seen:

• The number of Americans below poverty line go up 3.5 percent.
• Real median household income  go down 2.3 percent.
• Americans on Food Stamps increase from 33 million in 2008 to, 46 million now: up 39.5 percent.
• Americans who own homes go down 5.6 percent.
• National debt go up $10.63 trillion then vs. $19.19 trillion and rising now: up 80.5 percent.

Amazingly it’s this failed legacy Hillary is proud of, is running on, and wants to continue as President.  But when we add to it her own contribution to Obama’s failed legacy–her disastrous foreign policy record as Secretary of State ( see Hillary Clinton’s Foreign Policy Legacy: A More Unstable, Less Free World), the legacy becomes worse:

• Since 2009, terrorism-related deaths have more than tripled; battle deaths from conflict have more than tripled; and refugees and internally displaced persons almost doubled to 60 million people.”  

• Global freedom declined for the 10th consecutive year and that press freedom at its lowest point in 12 years. Of the world’s 7.3 billion people, only 40 percent live in freedom and only 13 percent enjoy a free press.”

• Secretary Clinton stored more than 30,000 official government emails without permission, including some containing the nation’s most secretive information, in private unsecured servers at unsecured locations outside of U.S. government control during and after her time in office. Her action, among other things, possibly exposed U.S. state secrets and other sensitive information to skilled Chinese, Russian, Iranian, and North Korean espionage cyber-thieves that could be used to embarrass and/or blackmail U.S. government officials. It spurred FBI and State Department Inspector General investigations and congressional hearings which proved many of her statements about it wrong and caused the FBI Director to claim that Secretary Clinton and her colleagues “…were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information…”

• This investigation is now re-opened with the discovery of another 650,000 emails on an unsecured device connected with Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin, Hillary’s friend and close personal assistant.  It is reported that Hillary may soon be indicted. Can we afford to elect a president likely to be indicted and who may be under impeachment proceedings?  Do we really want President Kaine?

Clearly the legacy of the Obama and Hillary Administration is not a strong one to run on. Still, the nation remains polarized about the best way forward.  One side apparently believes we’ve indeed been on the right track and that Obama was a wonderful President. They think his handling of the economy brought America out of a recession he inherited; that the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), legalization of same-sex marriage, the Iran Deal, the  Dreamer Act, restoration of diplomatic ties with Cuba, Paris climate change accord, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are all worthy, legacy-defining accomplishments.  Others look at these same things not as positive milestones, but as indications of bad ideology run amok. They see a lawless President who instead of working with Congress to pass laws  illegally worked around them,  using his “phone and pen” to issue policies often in opposition to the will of the majority of the American people.  They see the results of his policies as disastrous, both now and into the foreseeable future.  I fall into this latter camp.

And we are now faced with two incredibly unpopular candidates with historically astronomical unfavorable statistics.  Hillary is widely regarded as untrustworthy, out-of-touch with ordinary Americans, and an elitist; she doesn’t have her husband Bill’s charm or political skills.  On the other hand Donald is considered racist and misogynistic, a con- artist businessman only in this to promote his brand.  I believe much of the characterization of Donald Trump is blatantly false and manufactured by a biased media.  I recommend reading this article: Debunking The Most Common Lies And False Charges Against Trump.

Why “Never Trump”, No Vote and 3rd Party Arguments are Flawed

Some have argued that Donald J. Trump is such a terribly flawed nominee that even running against the failed record of Obama/Hillary, he is set to lose.  It should have been a slam dunk for Republicans, they say, but by selecting Trump as their nominee the GOP made a big tactical mistake.  They almost gleefully predict Trump will go down in flames taking with him not only conservatism, but also GOP majorities in the Senate and House.

Friends, something is wrong with this picture.  Why are so many Republicans, conservatives and Christian voters seemingly willing to just let Hillary take the White House?  So they can say they were right about Donald Trump?  Why did Republicans who made a public  pledge to support whomever the people chose as their nominee not keep their word and support Trump?

OK, I get that Trump can be crass and coarse, that he has been petty and even vindictive on the campaign trail, that he sometimes seems thin-skinned and egotistical.  Yes, I get all that.  But Mr. Trump is a flawed human being, just like President Obama, Hillary Clinton and all other politicians.

The refusal of many Republicans to get behind Trump, including several who even publicly pledged to do so, is a true slap in the face to millions of Americans who chose Trump as their nominee & representative. 

And the reason they did so, Mr. or Ms. Never Trump, was to send a message to establishment Republicans that refuse to heed or do the will of the people. You’re confirming them as right, because you’re not heeding their will again. You should not only be backing Trump, but should be out there helping him win the fight to prevent the most unethical, corrupt candidate we’ve ever had from winning.

Trump has conservative policies and has generated immense momentum and enthusiasm, getting millions of votes. He can win this thing, and usher in a new season of common sense policies that will reverse the mess of the last 8 years.  Yet folks would rather see Hillary win?  She’ll win indeed if enough folks stay home, write-in a candidate, or support a long shot alternative rather than support Trump.  

Think carefully– if Hillary wins, we may never get another chance to nominate a conservative leaning candidate who can actually win. The Obama transformation of society and the court will be too far gone, once corrupt Hillary grabs the reins.

Is taking a chance on a Hillary win and the ensuing damage less troubling to conscience than voting for someone who is pro-life and pro-religious liberty ? In my mind there is no equivalency. Trump stands accused of many things, mostly false. Hillary is guilty of many things, when the evidence is considered.

Therefore I hope eyes will be opened to recognize that a flawed Trump is infinitely superior to the evils of Hillary.

To read my argument against not voting at all, I direct you to my previous blog post, The 2016 Election- Voting is a Great Privilege that Should Not be Neglected

The Purpose of Government and a Brief Defense of Free-Market Principles

For me then, the decision about the next President comes back to this– what is the purpose of government anyway?  What is its chief function? From a Christian perspective, government’s function is to protect people by upholding laws that guard our rights that ultimately come from God and being made in His image.  Government then is to act on behalf of the good of all the people. But government is not the solution for every ill in society.  That is socialism.  Socialism gives government power to fix every problem– but the power invariably becomes concentrated in the hands of too few, and those with the power become corrupted by it, if they were not already corrupt to begin with.  Because that is human nature— one can talk about equality all day long, but human nature given unchecked power gravitates towards exploitation and greed.  The genius of the American system was to create three branches of government as a check to the corruption that comes through unlimited power.  

Now to an extent the American system has already become socialized– we are not totally free to choose to spend our money however we like because taxes demand that we fund certain initiatives we may or may not be in agreement with, including many entitlement programs.  Yet America has managed to hold onto free market principles which applied to societal ills can be very effective.  It may seem counterintuitive to apply capitalist solutions to societal problems, but the free market, which operates on the basis of innovation and making a better product than one’s competition to make a profit, actually fosters better and more creative solutions.  The challenge of beating the competition stirs creative innovations that benefit society, produce jobs and solve problems.

So this is a root principle for me– which of the candidates who is viable (meaning can actually win) promotes an approach to government in line with preserving individual liberty and marketplace innovation?  I see Donald Trump’s cutting of taxes and regulations as far superior to Hillary on that front.  Her approach unfairly castigates the rich and successful as guilty of not “paying their fair share”.  Yet in fact the wealthy usually are the ones benefiting others though entrepreneurial and job-creating efforts. Government doesn’t make jobs, the market does.

In any case why should those who do not work, create jobs or pay taxes be entitled to the fruit of the labor of those who are working hard for what they make? The socialistic mindset makes the rich and successful into the bad guys of society– they are not.  Greed is an equal opportunity sin– it is not the rich alone who obsess about material things.  So I find this a fundamental flaw in the Obama/Hillary approach to the economy and government– this idea that making a lot of money through business is somehow tainted. Is it not jealousy that is often driving this kind of envy of the rich?  So this haranguing of the rich is hypocritical as well.  

Protecting and Defending Religious Liberty/Abortion

It’s true that only Jesus Christ can bring forth the spiritual awakening we desperately need as a country. However we are under a human government not a heavenly kingdom at this time. Fortunately, we still have opportunity to influence the election.

We should therefore pray for and vote for those who at the very least will preserve freedom for believers to continue to live in accordance with faith & conscience. I believe a vote for Trump will help preserve that, but a vote for Hillary (or allowing her to win by not giving full support to the only candidate who can defeat her) is absolutely suicidal for believers and invites persecution. We should be under no illusion that electing Trump “saves” spiritually or even politically– but he simply is much better– in terms of policies– for the country.

Paul said, “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:1-5)”

If we can no longer share the gospel or live it openly, we are hindered from our mission as believers. So we must pray to elect the right leaders– leaders who will at minimum preserve freedom for us to openly live out our faith and preach the gospel. Such a climate of freedom– which we have been blessed to enjoy in America for so long but is rapidly eroding– is beneficial not just to believers, but for all.

I was a supporter of both Cruz and Rubio before I eventually came to support Donald Trump. But Donald Trump got more votes than either of them by far, and handily won the primaries with historic numbers to become the GOP nominee. It is but speculation to assert that Cruz or Rubio would have beat Hillary. Neither got the numbers to even beat Trump, never mind Hillary. In any case, it’s a moot point. Donald Trump IS the nominee, and he is up against the most unethical, deceitful, criminal person to ever run for President. Due to corruption at the highest levels, the effective deceit of a biased media, and millions turning a blind eye to her evil deeds, Hillary is somehow still in the running.

The very least one can and ought to do, if one recognizes how evil and destructive she and her agenda will be, is to cast an effective vote to prevent her from winning. This means, in my view, voting for Trump. He may not stop the holocaust of abortion. He may even be pandering. But I find him more believable than Hillary, and think he’s sincere on issues like abortion and religious liberty.

Trump showed wisdom and judgment in selecting Pence, and the choice of Pence I think indicates his commitment to working on a conservative agenda, including protecting religious liberty, appointing conservative & constitutional-protecting Supreme Court justices, and advocating for pro-life and traditional family values.  Again I understand Trump is an imperfect candidate.  I don’t condone many things he’s said or done, but the media characterization of him as racist, misogynistic and a user in this only for himself doesn’t jive with his actual record. I think he moved from being a somewhat liberal Democrat in the past to being pro-life and more conservative. He’ll probably govern as a moderate. His positions on most issues are certainly better and more conservative than Hillary’s, that’s for sure. And I think it is absolutely imperative that Hillary not win so that we can change the terrible course we’ve been on these last eight years. I really do not think she is ethically fit to run and she disqualified herself by her reckless and illegal handling of classified information, among other things.

But I  think she is to be believed when she says she’ll fight for Planned Parenthood and for the so-called right to choose abortion, as her record fully backs that up. I cannot in good conscience cast a vote that would allow this evil woman to win. I respect that others may not reach the same conclusion, but I do plead with my readers to join me in stopping her. With Trump we have someone on the correct side of most issues; with Hillary there is a godless agenda that perpetuates the current downward trajectory, and it will be very difficult to recover if we get bad Supreme Court justices and laws.

I’d rather gamble on Trump not totally fulfilling his conservative promises than Hillary fulfilling her progressive promises.

CLINTON ON ABORTION

Hillary Clinton on Abortion: “The Unborn Person Doesn’t Have Constitutional Rights”

10 Times Hillary Clinton Revealed How Extreme She is on Abortion

Pro-Abortion Hillary Clinton: I Want to “Go Further” Left Than Obama

Hillary Clinton Is a Dangerous Choice for Voters Against Abortion

Christian Discrimination & the So-Called Christian “Majority”

Christian businesses are being forced by law to provide services for a gay wedding ceremony, against its will. In the past, Christians were granted exemptions according to conscience. Now, the state tells you that your Christian conscience, by definition, is discriminatory, because it does not agree with the official opinion on gay marriage.This has happened in case after case. A Christian florist grandmother, for example, beloved by her customers, including many repeat homosexual clients, was sued when she declined a request to perform services for a wedding. She declined with no animus but solely because of her Christian belief that marriage is divinely designed to be between a man and a woman. She had no bad feeling towards gays and was not discriminating against them in her business, having had this gay customer as a happy and satisfied client for years. However, he and his partner would not respect her belief or her decision, but rather joined the state in suing her. They sought not only that she be forced in the future to go against her conscience in this matter, but also that she be “re-educated” to understand that her conscience could not possibly be right, that she was acting like a bigot. As in all these cases, there were personal threats issued against her and her business; she was fined, dragged into court, lost the case and eventually forced out of business. Christian majority or no, Christian businesses are being coerced to violate their conscience and biblical principles because the state has determined that their principles are no longer valid. This is tyrannical and wrong. It is also rampant.

Hillary Clinton’s ideology totally approves of the state’s actions. She is on record stating that where Christian conviction clashes with the so-called right to choose abortion (there is no such “right”by the way– it is self-evident that the baby growing in the womb is a separate life and person with its own rights), that the Christian must abandon his or her belief, and simply bow to the states will. Again, statistically many call themselves Christian and they may even be the majority but this doesn’t matter to Hillary. In Hillary’s book, your Christian conviction must “change” to adapt to the new state-issued morality. So there are inevitable applications flowing from her ideology. Abortion is euphemistically celebrated as a woman’s reproductive health choice, it is supposed to be a marvelous and noble thing that one makes the “difficult” decision to abort. Well does the one being aborted have any say in the matter? Who gave us the right to decide that some lives are inconvenient and we may terminate them at will? If Christians are indeed the majority it seems to have little influence in this matter, for the holocaust of unborn children is carrying on with no end in sight. Hillary’s dedication to abortion is fanatical, as shown by her championing of even barbaric partial birth abortion under the pretense that it’s saving mother’s life/health. Abortion is primarily performed for convenience — there is very rarely a threat to the life of the mother involved. In any case, the point is that Hillary and others who agree with her impose their beliefs on Christians in these matters, and will tolerate no dissent. Christian convictions on these matters, which were indeed once the majority, are now seen as outmoded and immoral, therefore outlawed. The criminalization of religiously based beliefs will certainly continue if Hillary Clinton becomes President. May God mercifully not allow it.

The Corruption of Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton recently said at her rally, “I am sick and tired of the negative, dark, divisive, dangerous vision and behavior of people who support Donald Trump.” But Hillary, who not long ago called Trump’s followers “deplorable” and “irredeemable”– had  Democratic operatives secretly inciting violence at Trump rallies; regularly promotes poisonous narratives that stoke racial, gender, and class tensions– tensions her party then exploits for votes.  It is pure hypocrisy for such a person to lecture others about their “negative, dark, divisive and dangerous vision and behavior”.

The “Wikileaks” emails simply confirm what most already have known or suspected: that Hillary Clinton and her cronies are corrupt  to the core.  “The questionable relationship between the Clinton Foundation and its donors, Clinton’s ease with powerful interests on Wall Street, her ties to wealthy campaign contributors”, her mishandling of classified emails and the internal cover ups are all being exposed for the world to see.  

Hillary’s pattern of corruption is nothing new.  It is decades in the making, and has been documented in countless articles, news reports, exposes, books and even documentaries. Here is a brief and partial list of Hillary’s corruptions and failures:

• Flunked the D.C. Bar Exam.
•  Was removed from her House Judiciary Committee staffer job because of incompetence and lying.
• The Whitewater scandal.
• Married a serial liar and cheater, who occasionally had sexual encounters with nonconsenting partners.
• Lied about “sniper fire” in an attempt to simulate exposure to danger in a war zone.
  
• The subject of a “vast right-wing conspiracy” that led to the impeachment and disbarment of her husband
  
• Took crockery, furniture, artwork and other items from the White House — had to return and/or pay for them.
  
• Said “what difference, at this point, does it make” about four brave people killed in Libya as a direct result of her failure to protect them on the anniversary of 9/11.
  
• Totally ignored the structure and rules for the handling of sensitive national security information.
  
• Amassed a personal fortune with “speaking fees” and payments from private sector political donors and foreign governments into transparent “foundations” in obvious exchange for future political favor.

The most recent scandals concerning the Clinton Foundation and “Email-gate” have been extremely damaging to Clinton’s run for the Presidency.  In response to them she has employed the strategy the Clintons have perfected– deflect, make excuses, lie, discredit the attackers– but people have wised up.  Even a long-time supporters like Doug Schoen has withdrawn support of Clinton due to the corruption.  Hundreds of thousands of Americans are in agreement with is assessment.  So it is that Americans Have a Chance to Dethrone the House of Clinton, and we must.  

A woman with Hillary’s consistent pattern of dishonesty, and her pathological lying, cannot be trusted, and ought not to be rewarded for her lies and cover-ups with being the Presidency of the greatest country in the world, the United States of America.

More resources on reasons to vote against Hillary, and her corruption

The lie that is Hillary

44 Reasons to NOT Elect Hillary Clinton

200 Reasons Why Hillary Clinton Should Not Be President

The Clinton Foundation Reeks of Crooks, Thieves, and Hoods  

30 Reasons Not to Vote for Hillary

Grifters-in-Chief  The Clintons don’t draw lines between their ‘charity’ and personal enrichment.

Rigging the Election – Video I: Clinton Campaign and DNC Incite Violence at Trump Rallies

America’s Abandonment of Traditional Values Has Hurt the Black Community

FBI Re-Opens Investigation Into Hillary Clinton’s Emails

If The Media Investigated Hillary Like They Did Watergate, We Wouldn’t Need WikiLeaks

Navy Seal Confronts Hillary Clinton – ‘You Are An Ignorant Liar’

Prof. John Banzhaf: Yes, the Election Can Be Rigged

The Positive Case for Donald Trump

I want to close out this article by making a brief positive case for Trump.  My argument up to this point can be summarized as follows:

1. Obama & Hillary left behind a terrible legacy on the economy and on foreign policy
2. Their progressive socialistic ideology is harmful and does not produce freedom or good solutions to the problems America faces.
3. Trump’s policies promote liberty & free market principles which generate jobs and innovative, effective solutions to problems
4. Trump is a decent man and not at all the evil caricature he’s been unfairly and falsely portrayed as in the media. His choice of running mate evangelical and conservative Mike Pence is evidence of his conservative commitments.
5. Hillary’s corruption is longstanding and well-documented, and reveals her unfitness for the office of the Presidency.  

Donald Trump is a hard-working businessman who took over an already successful real estate business from his father and built it into a great multi-billion dollar international company.  Along the way Mr. Trump has created thousands of jobs, creating new opportunities for many; he’s employed people of many races and nationalities, and has enjoyed positive relationships with people of color and with women.  He is known as a man of quiet charity and compassion who has given money privately over the years to help various people in need.  Yes, he does have a reputation as a playboy and ladies’ man, and has been guilty of crude language.  This behavior is not to be excused, but he has apologized for it.  I also don’t think that it disqualifies him from being a good President.  If he was seeking to be pastor of a church such things would give pause, but he is not.  While I do think character is important, and Trump does display flaws, I also think he has surrounded himself with good people, folks who would help him keep some of his less desirable tendencies in check.

Donald Trump may not have the long track record of conservative credentials many were desiring in a GOP candidate, but the contract he has presented to Americans and pledged to fulfill is one that is both very conservative and ambitious.  He is the only candidate regularly addressing conservative issues like religious liberty, abortion and appointing conservative justices to the Supreme Court.  As Newt Gingrich writes,

Trump’s Contract with the Voter is a list of specific commitments for what he will do if elected. It tells the American people exactly what they’ll be getting, and it invites us to hold him accountable.

The Trump Contract is the boldest reform agenda, and in some ways the most conservative agenda, I can remember from a nominee for president. It includes a Constitutional amendment to put term limits on members of Congress, a hiring freeze on non-essential federal employees, and a host of new ethics rules to stop senior officials from profiting off their positions.

It includes a very pro-growth economic agenda, with historic tax cuts, reduction of regulation and government reform. The Contract would renegotiate trade deals where partners are breaking the rules or where the deals were poorly negotiated. It would secure the border, start enforcing our immigration laws, end the defense sequester and reinvest in the military, and guarantee school choice as a right for every child in America.

That would be a historic list of achievements equal to any Republican president in my lifetime. It is hard to believe any Republican or conservative would consider supporting Hillary Clinton over a candidate who has committed to such an agenda. If they do, it is hard not to wonder if the reasons are personal rather than political.

Trump vs. Clinton-Presidential Ambitions Contrasted

Mr. Trump seems to me to have a very different reason for pursuing the Presidency than Hillary Clinton.  Hillary Clinton comes across as someone of such unbridled ambition that she will say anything to get elected, including spouting deceitful attacks against her opponents. She seems to view the Presidency as a prize she somehow deserves at the end of a career in public service.  But I believe Mr. Trump when he says he was already successful and did not need to run for President, and that he is running to help the country he loves, which he sees going in a very wrong direction.  

Mr. Trump’s  plain speech, lack of political correctness and tell-it-like it-is manner are refreshing in a climate where politicians seem to always hedge words and never say what they really mean.  Donald Trump must be doing something right to have so many in Washington deeply troubled and threatened by him.  As he says, he is coming to Washington to “drain the swamp”– to fight against the cronyism and corruption that has taken over government and made it ineffective and corrupt.  He stands in stark contrast to Hillary Clinton, the consummate rehearsed, insider politician who is as status quo as they come, being funded by powerful special interests.  Trump, though wealthy, really does some like an everyman who ordinary Americans can relate to, both in his manner of speech and in the issues that drive him.  Americans are fed up with Washington elites that talk down to them, don’t represent them, and give them lip service in exchange for votes but then defy their will and do as they please.  Donald Trump seems to be listening to the people and asking for, not demanding, their votes.  He works hard for every vote, doing 2 or 3 rallies per day. For example, he simply and directly appealed to African-Americans for their support, and many have now turned to him.  Whereas Hillary seemingly has taken the African-American voters for granted.  She expected perhaps, a coronation from America, but could barely beat Bernie Sanders (and apparently much backroom wheeling and dealing accomplished that victory). 

Trump is just a man– he won’t heal our spiritual disease (for which the only remedy is a relationship with Christ) but his election will help change the political and governmental direction of this country for the better.

 Donald Trump seems to be the man for the hour– an outsider who will bring change, “drain the swamp” and hopefully, “make America great again.”

Friends, this long article could have (probably should have) been divided up into a bunch of shorter articles.  But I hope that you may find all the resources collected here helpful as it gathers a lot of different arguments for Trump and against Hillary in one convenient place.  Please circulate this article as a resource to send your loved ones, friends and foes, that they may do their own research and make a wise and good choice in November 8th.

PRO-TRUMP ARTICLES

Closing Argument: Vote Trump (Newt Gingrich)

Why Donald Trump is still the safer choice Hillary Clinton will finish transforming America into a socialist welfare state  

Why I’m (still) betting big on Donald Trump to win  

Why I Now Feel Compelled To Vote For Trump

The Conservative Case for Trump

This Election Isn’t about Trump

20 Reasons Why It Should Be Donald Trump in 2016

Why I support Trump — and resent the elites trying to destroy him

Peter Thiel: What Trump Represents Isn’t Crazy And It’s Not Going Away

Ann Coulter: My Final Argument for Trump: Humiliate the Media!

Debunking The Most Common Lies And False Charges Against Trump

PRO-TRUMP/CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE

If You Don’t Like Either Candidate, Then Vote for Trump’s Policies

Conservative Christians, Be Assured That President Hillary Clinton Will Declare War On You

To Those Christians (and Others) Who Can’t Vote for Trump or Clinton

Trento: Three Reasons Why Christians Must Vote

Eric Metaxas: Why Christians Should Vote for Donald Trump

Trump or Hillary? How Can a Christian Vote? Remembering Where We Live (Fred G. Zaspel)

Should Christians Vote for Trump? Eric Metaxas in WSJ

If You’re On the Fence About Your Vote, This Pastor Clarifies How the Very Future of America Is At Stake

After much prayer and soul-searching, I have reluctantly decided to vote for the Trump-Pence ticket. 

John MacArthur video: On voting for Trump