Unprincipled Clan(s)
Around the beginning of April, a friend of mine shared something that would later trigger an epiphany in me. He said: “Greg, my wife and I are Christians and neither one of us vote because we see no distinction between Democrats and Republicans.”
Political ads then began to inundate our television sets and radios before the Indiana primary. Millions of dollars were spent by the Cruz campaign and Conservative Super PACs to highlight Donald Trump’s true nature that he was a Liberal posing as a Conservative – the proof was astounding. Ad after ad showed Donald Trump professing his allegiance to Liberalism, but in the end all that was ignored. Trump won every delegate up for grabs in Indiana and Ted Cruz dropped out of the race.
I came to the conclusion that Americans are so angry at Establishment Politicians they can’t reason or see straight. That would explain the rise of perceived outsiders like Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.
I, too, became convinced there’s little distinction between either political party these days.
America is on the verge of imploding and our leaders are too intoxicated with self-indulgence to see, or care, what’s occurring – their clan is unprincipled.
A journalist, who knows Trump, was given permission to spend a couple days with the candidate on the campaign trail. He claimed he spent two days with Mr. Trump. He said most of the time was on Trump’s private aircraft.
The journalist said: “Donald was constantly watching TV on the airplane. Every time something negative was said about him he would yell and scream at the screen.” The journalist claimed Trump’s extremely thin-skinned. He’s unpredictable; you don’t know what he’s going to do. He’s vulgar and certainly no Conservative.
Well then … Donald Trump is everything you might have imagined.
I’m hearing reports from all over the country that Conservatives are leaving the Republican Party. In a recent interview, Donald Trump said: ”This is called the Republican Party. It’s not called the Conservative party.”
An Indiana delegate, from Evansville, recently said he’s refusing to go to the Republican Convention because “Donald Trump doesn’t have the maturity to be the President of the United States.”
I’ve been a lifelong registered Republican and I see no difference, as many have so astutely claimed, between either political party in America. With that said, I officially renounce my ties to the Republican Party to become an Independent. If I vote at all in the fall election, it will be to cast a write-in ballot for someone who shares my principles.
As Billy Preston so eloquently put it: “Nothin’ from Nothin’ leaves Nothin.’ You gotta have somethin’ if you wanna be with me.
President Obama was asked the other day what his greatest accomplishment was while in office. His reply was that America hasn’t plunged into another Great Depression on his watch.
When Donald Trump was recently asked about the frightening level of national debt he jokingly claimed: “We can print more money.”
Back in the spring, I got a letter from my congressman. It was in regard to the bill in Congress called HR 2802, the First Amendment Defense Act.
Someone brought it to my attention that over 200 Congressmen had signed on to this bill, but mine hadn’t. His letter was in response to my contacting him. He said the bill was introduced June 17, 2015. He said it aimed to prohibit any federal agency from denying a tax exemption, grant, contract, license, or certification to an individual, association, or business based on their belief that marriage is a union between a man and a woman.
He claims to be a practicing Catholic, a strong proponent of traditional marriage, and that no one should be punished or discriminated against for their religious beliefs, but almost a year later he’s not reached a decision on that bill.
It reiterated my belief that Washington is unprincipled.
I’m glad my Congressman is a man of faith, but here’s a suggested confession for those politicians who haven’t sold their soul, yet.
“Father, forgive me, for I have sinned.
I’ve been arrogant and boastful, lost my way.
I’ve been complacent and self-centered, derelict in the duties of which I’ve been entrusted.
I’ve stood by and allowed the Constitution to be dismantled piece by piece.
The founding fathers were right, a Creator enables freedom not some dictatorial government.
Give me the will to stand in defiance of immorality.
Give me the courage to stand for principle for I will be judged someday, by you God.”
Greg Allen’s column, Thinkin’ Out Loud, has been published bi-monthly since 2009. He’s an author, nationally syndicated columnist and the founder of Builder of the Spirit in Jamestown, Indiana, a non-profit organization aiding the poor. He can be reached at www.builderofthespirit.org or follow him on Twitter @GregAllencolumn.