I read an article in the New York Times recently that gave me pause. It was by Yamiche Alcindor and was entitled ‘Die-Hard Bernie Sanders Backers See F.B.I. as Answer to Their Prayers.’  Some of those voters who back Senator Sanders actually said that if he is not the Democratic nominee then they will vote for Donald Trump.  According to the article, one person was quoted as saying that she hoped that Hillary Clinton would be criminally indicted for how she handled her emails while she was Secretary of State.  In her mind this would open the door for Senator Sanders to claim the nomination which, rightfully, should be his anyway.

This should cause great concern for anyone, especially a Democrat, who wants to see a Democrat elected to be president in 2016. But from my perspective this concern goes far beyond the rationale that these Sanders supporters are espousing.  To me, the fact that anyone would choose Donald Trump over Secretary Clinton is mindboggling.  After witnessing how Mr. Trump has conducted himself ever since he announced that he would run for president I find it absolutely amazing that anyone, especially seasoned politicians, would elect to place such a grave responsibility as President of the United States of America in his hands.

Mr. Trump has already done unthinkable damage to this country since he declared his candidacy for president and there is still what seems like an eternity before the election in November for him to do even greater damage. I honestly cannot believe that this is really happening!  Before witnessing it, I would have bet my last dollar that something like this could never happen; let alone with the blessings of party politicians whether they were Democrats or Republicans.  I thought that neither party would ever stand for it because, although under normal circumstances politicians will be politicians, these are not normal circumstances.  And I thought that each party was filled with statesmen who have too much self-dignity and love of country to allow anything like this to happen.  Obviously most pundits felt the same way.  We were wrong.

If Republican politicians – now including Senator Marco Rubio who said that he would never help to place this country into the hands of a con man – can now line up in support of Mr. Trump and say that they would rather see the country in his hands than those of Secretary Clinton, about the only words that I can come up with are, it’s amazing! There is no reasonable rationale that I can fathom to justify their support of him.  I challenge any voter, whether they are Democrat, Republican or Independent to consider how Mr. Trump has conducted himself since he announced that he would run for president to seriously contemplate whether they want someone who has conducted themselves like he has to be in control of the nuclear codes and strongly influence whether America will go to war or remain at peace, and then present and reasonably defend their answer of ‘yes I would.’

All politicians have the tendency to obfuscate, stretch the truth or even at times lie in order to say what they know that their constituents want to hear. Everyone, although they might not like it, seem to accept this as just something that politicians do.  That notwithstanding, there was a time, though that is obviously not the case nowadays, when even politicians would draw a line in the sand when it came to love of country and doing what was in its best interest.  And because of their great love of country, even partisan politics could not prevent them from doing what was, in their best judgment, their sworn duty.

I am also amazed that even with society’s perception of politicians and our tacit willingness to accept their flaws that we hold female politicians to a higher standard than we do male politicians. I am especially amazed at how willing females are to accept and apply these unspoken rules.  You might ask where did I come up with these supposedly unspoken rules and why do I say that females are held to a higher standard as it relates to them?  Well, I came up with them by observing over many years how society talks and jokes about politicians and we all wink at their flaws; and as regards these current presidential candidates, how anyone could possibly say that America would be better off with Donald Trump as its leader than it would be with Hillary Clinton because of how dishonest that Secretary Clinton is.

Because of what I previously mentioned about all politicians having the tendency to obfuscate, stretch the truth or even at times lie in order to say what they know that their constituents want to hear, I say that females are held to a higher standard for, at least, this one reason.   I would wager that any politician, if they were put through the amount of scrutiny that Secretary Clinton has been put through, would come up wanting in the honesty department.  Although society already realizes that this is the case – again, we wink at this situation with men and yet want to crucify Secretary Clinton for it.  Why is that?  You decide.

As for me, I do not accept that Secretary Clinton’s so called dishonesty is enough to discount all that she has done in service to America and use that as an excuse to place the country in the hands of someone who is a narcissist – and in the words of many congressional Republicans – a con man who is unfit and unqualified to hold the most powerful office in the world. As voters, we have an obligation to get informed and seriously consider the message that Secretary Clinton is delivering to America and the one that Donald Trump is delivering.

We must determine which of those messages is meaningful, doable, will pull us together and make America stronger. We must decide who we are as Americans versus who we want to be as Americans and then decide which of these two candidates can best help us to make that transition and vote accordingly.  And whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, always remember, your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it!

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line