The Candidates Suck....VOTE WINE!

*Prepare for political rant from a mildly politically educated person who doesn't really mesh with one party but has historically voted Republican*

This political process is so disheartening. Context regarding comments is important. It makes a difference in determining what people might have meant when they made a certain comment. The way both candidates are using sound bytes to inaccurately portray the other one is so wrong. And it's so sad that this is considered fair game in our political process and is, without question, perpetuated by the media. And I'm amazed at how many people feel so passionately towards either candidate but can't even articulate the top 3 things that set them apart from their opponent.  

I have really tried to get behind Hillary but she feels so dishonest to me. I can't wrap my head around the email scandal. I keep likening it to insider trading in my public accounting days. That might not have sent me to jail, but I most likely would have lost my job. I certainly would NOT have been promoted to head of the firm. I know there are reports that say she didn't do anything wrong, but there are just as many of them saying she did. And this isn't an isolated issue of dishonesty (and no, I'm NOT getting all of my data from FOX news). And that's also part of the issue, even those voters who try to be educated are often reading garbage sound bytes from so-called news/political sites/publications. The average America voter believes 90% of what they read, without any regard for the credibility of the source. Maybe we should focus more on the 1st amendment this election and a little less on the 2nd one. And the fact that Hillary admitted that she prepared for THREE DAYS for a debate against DONALD TRUMP is embarrassing! Anyone who can list three countries in the Middle East would win a debate against him. Her laughing was likely meant to "connect" with voters, however, as an undecided voter it came across as condescending and showed me that she doesn't considerable Trump to be a legitimate opponent, despite multiple polls that indicate the opposite.

And Trump doesn't seem to have any interest in convincing the voters that he's not racist and that's a deal breaker for me. I know the whole "woman" thing is annoying to some, but, I sort of tend to agree that women are, generally speaking, super annoying. I view him as a successful business man and I think arguments trying to disclaim that are pretty weak (he clearly offers a lot of other material in terms of why he would suck as president so if you're using the "bad business man" card, you're sort of grasping at straws). When you really think about what he's done...turning a million dollar (or even multi million dollar loan per some reports) into a multi billion dollar enterprise is impressive. If you gave most people in this world $1 million, they would turn it into something LESS than $1 million (case in point: the documentary called 'Lottery Winners: Where are they now?'). Starting with something instead of nothing is easier, but it certainly doesn't make success a slam dunk.  And, I'm sure he's treated employees and partners and contractors poorly in some cases. Maybe a lot of cases. But I don't think that's any different than some political indiscretions from other candidates.

I agree that if you continue to increase taxes on corporations, they will continue to shift jobs overseas and this will perpetuate the wealth gap in this country. Sure, I think CEO comp, in some cases, is probably obnoxious, but it's based on supply and demand, like everything else in this economy (except common sense). If everyone could be CEO of a Fortune 20 company, they wouldn't need to pay someone a billion dollars to do it. But the reality is, there aren't many people who can do it successfully and if they return investments to shareholders, they get rewarded. They don't get handed out $1 billion in cash for showing up every day. They get equity/stock comp and that value is dictated by the success of the company, which, in theory, is directly impacted by their performance. I feel like Trump "gets that" more than Hillary. We all benefit from successful companies and we need to cultivate that success for ALL sizes of business.

And maybe we can teach our kids how to excel at something. We can teach them that if you really want to be successful in life, you have to work harder and be smarter than everyone else instead of teaching them that everything should be equal and fair. And when are we going to stop telling every person that they should go to college? Not everyone is meant to have a college education and the trades are VITAL to our economy. One of the few things we can't offshore are the trade skills. I really don't want to have to wait for a plumber to show up from China when my sink is broken.

I'm sure lots of people will have a heyday with my post and point out all the reasons that they're right and I'm wrong. They will talk about how the news sites they read are more credible than the ones I'm reading (ps- ANYONE can post on Wikipedia, just so you know). Instead of reading articles I've shared that support my views, they'll site articles that support their points without any acknowledgement of the validity of mine. The sad thing about this political process is that each and every one of us is perpetuating it. Social media gives us this armchair power to criticize and judge and disagree without ever worrying about being respectful and kind. And, quite frankly, without having to actually back any of it up with facts.

I know really smart and kind people who are voting for Trump. And I know really smart and kind people who are voting for Hillary. And, while I can't support either of them, I will respect the freedom and choice of others to do so. And as someone who has always been so passionate about politics, I am honestly sad today. Sounds like a glass of wine is in order!  

@tipsymommy for POTUS!!!