Talkin' Politics: My answer to 'Does Donald Trump represent your values and beliefs as an American citizen and why?'

Q: Does Donald Trump represent your values and beliefs as an American citizen and why?

A: No. Not one bit.

As I often remark when I reply to Trump-related questions, I have never been a partisan kind of guy. Sure, since 1992 I’ve voted mostly for Democratic candidates, but I always take the time to look at what the Republican Party has to offer when it comes to state and national level legislators and chief executives.

Look. When I registered to vote back in 1984 I chose to not join any of the established political parties. I sacrificed my right to vote in Florida’s closed party primaries because I felt then (as I do now) that neither the GOP or the Democratic Party fully represented my values or my beliefs.

Back then, I still tended to think in Cold War era terms. The Republicans under Ronald Reagan and G.H.W. Bush tended to support a strong military…not one that sought to start a war with the Soviet Union, but rather strong enough to deter one. And 33 years after casting my first vote, I still feel that way.

I didn’t buy “Reaganomics” or the “trickle-down” theory that Republicans have been pushing since the 1980 election - namely, that lowering taxes on the wealthy results in more spending by said wealthy and thus more jobs (and possibly more wealth) “trickles down” to the middle and working poor classes.

That never happens. What does happen is that rich entrepreneurs move their businesses overseas or simply close down factories because Japan, China, Taiwan, and South Korea make cheaper consumer goods and decent cars.

And the money they save from tax cuts? It goes into trust funds, overseas accounts, or under a mattress somewhere. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class gets squashed.

So when I voted for Reagan and Bush, I did so because I detested Communism (still do) and didn’t quite trust the Democrats on national defense issues. I thought (perhaps wrongly) that most Democrats were anti-military at the time as a result of the Vietnam War.

In short, I voted for The Gipper and “Read My Lips, No New Taxes” because I was afraid that World War III was going to break out in my lifetime unless the U.S. had a strong military.

Eventually, I drifted toward the Democratic side of the aisle when Bill Clinton ran for President in ‘92. Not because I thought Bill or Hillary were perfect human beings; clearly they are not. Bill has always been a great politician and left the economy in good shape when he left office on Jan. 20, 2001, but he is also a guy with a lot of human flaws. And Hillary is intelligent, caring, and a dedicated public servant…but she also has a tendency to rub some people the wrong way.

Still, I voted for Clinton in 1992 and 1996 because Democratic Presidents seem to have a knack for leaving the economy in better shape than it was when they were inaugurated, especially after a Republican Administration. The only issues I had with the Clinton Presidency were related - again - to military and foreign policy, especially in Somalia after the Black Hawk Down incident in 1993.

My values have always been centered around three basic tenets:

1. A sound national defense policy
2. A sound fiscal policy that doesn’t favor the wealthy excessively and provides a safety net for the poor, the elderly, and the disabled
3. A government that operates with a clear and distinct separation of church and state

The Republican Party currently tends to support the first of the three tenets of my belief system, but not the other two. Ever since the GOP allied itself with the Evangelical Christian movement (thanks, Jerry Falwell..NOT), the conservatives have become more and more fundamentalist. And if there is anything that history teaches us about fundamentalist movements (like that in Iran, for instance) is that underneath the cover of religious piety, their ultimate goal is to achieve political power.

Trump, by running as a Republican (a move he made out of convenience rather than of conviction) does not reflect my beliefs or my values.

He caters to xenophobes; I am not a xenophobe.

He caters to white supremacists; I am not a white supremacist

He stirs up Islamophobes by not criticizing hate speech against Muslims; I don’t like Islamophobes.