Driven to Business with Eddie Mayfield

Donald Trump was not my first choice, and I didn’t vote for him in the Republican primary.  Nonetheless, he won my state of Georgia.

Like many others, when he first announced his candidacy, I thought it a joke.  In fact, I said to a number of people that he was just doing it for press attention, and would soon drop out.  Again, like many others, I was wrong.

After he got the nomination, I began to admire his frankness, and ability to inspire crowds.  I’ve long admired his business acumen. But, it seemed that every time I moved toward him, he would say something that pushed me back.   I’m talking about things like making fun of Carly Fiorina’s appearance, viciously attacking Ted Cruz’s wife, and  other examples.  These weren’t things a biased press said, they weren’t things he said decades ago,  these were things that I heard him say.

Perhaps the worst thing I ever heard him say was during a radio interview discussing his faith.  He was asked about repentance.  He said, in effect, that he couldn’t think of anything he’d done that required repentance.

As a Christian, I find that attitude almost unfathomable.  What kind of person thinks he never does wrong?

After he secured the nomination, I adopted an “I’ll hold my nose and vote” attitude.

I was actually surprised Hillary Clinton got the Democrat Party nomination.  I didn’t think Bernie Sanders would get it because socialism just will not stand up to scrutiny by anyone.  But, Clinton is such an obviously flawed standard bearer, that I thought the Democrats would run Joe Biden, Evan Bayh, or someone more palatable.

The Wikileaks emails have since shown that the fix was in for Clinton from the beginning, and that the primaries were really a coronation.

I’ve been convinced the Clintons were criminals for years.  The Whitewater deal, the White House Travel Office deal, Vince Foster, the Mark Rich pardon, and most recently the Clinton Foundation just to name a few.   But, even I was shocked at the depth of corruption revealed by Wikileaks regarding the Foundation.  This is banana republic stuff, and a less powerful person would be in prison for it.

On top of that, from what has been leaked from her staff, and security personnel, she’s disdaining and humiliating of underlings, untruthful, arrogant, and mean spirited. Trump,  often accused understandably of being arrogant, is however spoken highly of  by his underlings.

So again, here I am facing an election choice.  Some would say that the answer is to vote 3rd party, but the reality is, the choice is a binary one.   Either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton will be our next president.  A vote for a third party, if the pollsters are correct, is in effect a net vote for Hillary.  It’s the same for not voting at all.

So, here I was prepared to do a “nose hold” vote for Trump.  But, that’s changed.

I’m a small business owner, and while not especially active in politics, have given a fair amount of money to political candidates, Pacs, and causes.   I became so annoyed at Republicans, at all levels, that I stopped doing anything more than an occasional small donation.

It’s frustrating to help elect someone promising to “fix” this or that, and then to be told after they’re elected that “fix” is impossible.  Obamacare is an example.   We elected a Republican majority in both houses, only to watch them agree to  fund Obamacare long term.  The same with doing something about the open borders; Republicans talked a good game, but in the end, did nothing. Trump is often accused of somehow destroying the Republican party, but from my perspective, he is the result of established Republicans lying to their constituents.   It’s really no different for many democrats who have been told their party is for the “little guy” only to discover that their party leaders are in bed with big business.  Many of them voiced the same frustration, hence the rise of the outsider Bernie Sanders.

For that reason, I was not enthusiastic about nominating another establishment presidential nominee.  I supported Ben Carson for the nomination.  He was intelligent, moral, and an outsider.  My wife and I have been fans of Dr. Carson for years, long before he ever considered politics.

But, for a variety of reasons, Trump won the nomination.  Carson has enthusiastically endorsed and supported Trump, and will, I hope have a place in a Trump administration.

The late Phyllis Schlafly’s endorsement of Trump was one of the best I read.  She makes the case that the Washington elite cadre (of both parties)  has grown so powerful and corrupt, that only a talented and  fearless executive like Trump can overturn it.  She referred to them as the “kingmakers.”  There are few people I admired more than Ms. Schlafly.

“Trump is the only hope to defeat the Kingmakers,” Schlafly told Breitbart resolutely. “Because everybody else will fall in line. The Kingmakers have so much money behind them.”

I’ve come to agree.  Trump is an imperfect messenger,  in some ways, a horribly imperfect one.  But, he is the only person in political life at the moment who can, in fact,  change anything.

He’s not the first imperfect man of the hour.  Teddy Roosevelt comes to mind.  He was selected by the power brokers as Vice President, so that he wouldn’t run for NY governor.  They thought it a good place to park this popular man they considered crazy.  Of course, then Mckinley was assassinated, and Teddy became a great and beloved president.

In the Old Testament the prophet Samson was an arrogant  brawler and consorter with prostitutes, who nonetheless rose to greatness.

Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, Adams, and others of the founding fathers were very imperfect men that accomplished great and enduring things.  We idolize Lincoln today, but at the time, he was considered by many in the established political class as a joke.

I’ve come to believe that Donald Trump is the man of the hour.  His strengths, vision, and ability to lead are nowhere else to be found in the present political landscape.  This isn’t to discount his faults.  Trump claims to have renewed his faith in Jesus Christ.  That report is from James Dobson.  If that’s true, and I have no reason to doubt Dobson, then we still can’t expect perfection.  We can expect stumbles along the way.

I also think that we can see real progress in a federal government that has become an incestous cess pool of special interests and self preservation at the expense of  the citizenry.  He has also pledged to appoint conservatives to the courts, even  supplying a list of possible supreme court nominees.  That alone is reason enough to vote Trump.

And finally,

Democrat Evan Bayh said in an interview with the late Chuck Colson that none of us should expect politics to “save us.”  We will always be disappointed if we do.   He further said that politics in general is downstream of the culture.  Meaning that a corrupt culture will produce corrupt politics.   I think he’s correct.

Alexis de Tocqueville said many years ago that in a democracy, people get the government they deserve.  I think Bayh’s contention is really just a paraphrase of de Tocqueville.

If we as Americans elect the Clintons to high office, knowing for certain now given Wikileaks of their corruption, then we deserve to live in a corrupt nation.

Vote Trump, and do it enthusiastically.