Upsetting the Apple Cart - The #NEVERTRUMP Platform

As we approach yet another presidential election, the apple cart of normalcy has been upset. The campaign of Donald J. Trump eschews convention and forges ahead in a manner that is anathema to the establishment of Washington D.C. Mr. Trump is in the unique position of contesting not just the challengers from three different parties, but the challenge from the intellectual elitists in academia and political office. The similarities to the Jackson and Adams contests in 1824 and 1828 have been drawn by others and are not wholly inaccurate.

In 1824 Jackson won the popular and electoral votes but failed to secure the majority of the Electoral College. Thrown to the House by the twelfth amendment, the establishment instituted their desires over that of the people and put Adams into office. This splintered the Democratic - Republican Party and the Democrat party emerged on the Jacksonian side in the election of 1828. This Democrat Party bears little positional semblance to the party of today. Indeed, the establishment that supported Adams was lamented in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Gov. William Giles of Virginia. “take together the decisions of the federal court, the doctrines of the President [John Q. Adams], and the misconstructions of the constitutional compact acted on by the legislature of the federal bench, and it is but too evident, that the three ruling branches of that department are in combination to strip their colleagues, the State authorities, of the powers reserved by them, and to exercise themselves all functions foreign and domestic."

The platform of today’s Democrat Party seems to have been described verbatim in Jefferson’s letter. You would think that the Republicans are on the other end of the beam in opposition. Yes, for the last 24 years, the conservative elitists have proposed positions, ideas, and policy that courts the rational thought of the electorate but has little chance of implementation. In fact, the Republicans have been little more that the Washington Generals to the Democrat’s Globetrotters (I borrow this perfect metaphor from a fantastic article, The Flight 93 Election, at The Claremont Institute here) since 1992. When the Republicans won elections in 2000 and 2004, very little of the stated positions, ideas, and policy of the elitist intelligentsia was put into effect. One must go back to the presidency of Ronald Reagan in the 1980’s to see conservative principles put into action in any meaningful manner. And they succeeded famously. One can only assume that there is no desire today to actually implement the posits of conservative ideology but only to continue to feast at the teats of the cash cow of a conservative electorate desperate for change but unable to achieve it.

So how is a conservative electorate to effect meaningful change in the political process? In our country, that is through elections. For the last 188 years, the candidates for the major parties were determined by party manipulators who would throw their financial support behind the candidate of their choice in the primaries, crushing any sincere opposition. The electorate would be forced to vote for the lessor of two evils and inevitably the conservatives lost. Ronald Reagan was just about the lone exception. There was a challenge in 1992 by businessman Ross Perot but he was thwarted by the establishment big money machine. He then ran an independent campaign out of spite that subverted any hope for the reelection of George H.W. Bush as the Republican establishment candidate, giving us the Clinton’s dystopian nightmare we now find foisted upon us.

Today, another businessman has come forth with an insurgent campaign. A rebellious climate led to his victory in the primaries to the dismay of party manipulators. Those manipulators in the establishment of the party have now thrown a political hissy fit, swearing to never vote for Donald J. Trump. They make wild assertions attempting to bring him down in the hopes of their own selfish survival. They have started a movement self-labelled #NEVERTRUMP. Ignoring the consequences of the election of Hillary Clinton, who is the only other viable candidate, they only think of themselves retaining or returning to power. I have always developed my views based on my own inherent ideology, then found candidates that most clearly mirrored those views. My views in this election most closely mirror Donald Trump, as one of only two electable candidates remaining in the race. If that’s the case, the #NEVERTRUMP crowd must oppose everything that he stands for to so vehemently oppose his candidacy. So I listed my views on key issues that agree with Mr. Trump. Below them I list the converse position that the #NEVERTRUMPers must take in order to maintain their opposition.

Government: The quality of life for American citizens is at its highest when personal liberty is at its zenith. The role of government should be to protect that liberty and remove itself from the daily interventions with its citizens.

#NEVERTRUMP: The role of government is to restrict the liberty of its citizens and daily intervene in the lives of its citizens

Economy:    The economy works best in an environment that makes it easier to hire, invest, grow, and produce in America. That can be achieved through regulatory policy and tax reform.

#NEVERTRUMP: The economy works best for politicians in an environment that makes it more difficult to hire, invest, grow, and produce in America. That can be achieved through overbearing regulatory policy and confiscatory tax policy status quo.

Tax Reform: Americans are more capable of determining their own investments, charities, and social interaction than the government is at making that decision for them. Politicians inherently strive for self-preservation through reelection, therefore will always make decisions on what is best for their own interests and not their constituents. A tax code that is simple, enforceable, and that only appropriates that which is necessary to fulfill constitutionally defined obligations is necessary to the sustainability of the republic.

#NEVERTRUMP: The U.S. government is more capable of determining the investments, charities, and social interaction of its citizens than they themselves. A tax code that is complex, arbitrary, and confiscatory is necessary to the sustainability of the political class.

Constitution: The constitution is a clearly articulated set of finite definitions of the rights of our government, roles of our government, and rights of our citizens. All articles and amendments are applicable, direct, and must be defended by the citizens until changed by the defined process.

#NEVERTRUMP: The constitution is broadly defined set of ideals that are open to vague interpretation to implement liberal ideology. The articles and amendments are only applicable when politically expeditious.

Judiciary: The constitution is a clearly articulated set of finite definitions of the rights of our government, roles of our government, and rights of our citizens. The process for changing the U.S. Constitution is clearly defined in the document and has been employed since its adoption. The judiciary serves to enforce the constitution, not rewrite it in the manner of ideological views. The president should only appoint judges that view this process as sacrosanct and not view the judiciary as a second legislative branch.