Why Clinton

One of the major questions of this election cycle is not of policy or substance, but rather “How did we end up here?”

A majority of people seem appalled at the choice of candidates, yet many of them will not participate in the political process besides fuming on Facebook.

Nine percent of the American population voted in the primaries, meaning nine percent of Americans decided on the choice of the major parties’ candidates. This meager minority means that we as the majority do not get to grumble and complain about the hand we were dealt when we did not even show up to the poker table.

So, like it or not, America – we are stuck with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump as the nominees for president.

I believe that Hillary Clinton is the only candidate with the temperament and experience to be President of the United States. Yes, I agree with most of the points that Hillary supports concerning policy, but sadly, real debate over policy has taken a backseat in this election. The fact is that Donald Trump doesn’t possess the demeanor, knowledge, capability or plain civility to be President of the United States.

Trump has suggested America leave NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, called Mexicans rapists, demeaned women on numerous occasions, questioned President Obama’s birthplace, advocated war crimes, applauded the use of torture and praised Vladimir Putin, Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong Un.

These horrific comments are made all the more worrisome when Trump then blatantly lies to the public about ever having said any of them. To be fair, lying is something both candidates have trouble with, yet Hillary, for all her faults, at least admits that using a private email server was wrong.

Another issue that moves me to Hillary’s side is that of policy. Clinton has a clear outline of the policies she wishes to enact, yet Trump’s only definitive stance is that of his tax plan. Trump has managed to flip-flop on most of the stances he has proposed, from his ban on Muslim immigrants to the deportation of the supposedly “rapist” Mexicans. Trump’s inability to defend or even stick with his policies shows how ineffective he will be to implement the slightest change.

Yes, there are third-party options, but neither of their candidates have proven themselves to be worthy of office, either, with Libertarian Gary Johnson failing to identify Aleppo, the largest city in Syria, and being unable to name a single foreign leader whom he admires. Jill Stein also seems inept when we look at her proposed plan to pay off student loans. She wants to enact a new law and pay for this debt by printing new money, but this would do tremendous damage to our economy.

Clinton does have faults, and she is the face of old, stagnant politics, but when it comes to running the most powerful nation in the world, I want someone with experience, a proven record of effective policies and the basic decency of a civilized person, not someone who can be launched into a Twitter tirade about the nonexistent sex tape of a pageant contestant.