A few years ago, I read the story of a man who attended a parent meeting at his children’s high school. The meeting's purpose was to outline the school’s sex education program, and the father wanted to know what his children would be learning.
After sitting quietly for a few minutes as various birth control methods were discussed, the man raised his hand and quietly asked, “what about abstinence?” There was some scattered laughter and the instructor smiled smarmily as she informed the man that they were going to focus on more “realistic” methods.
After a few more minutes, the instructor indicated that there would be a short break for cookies and juice and encouraged the parents to introduce themselves and enjoy a snack.
Everyone stood up, except for the one father. It wasn’t that he felt full, or that he didn’t want to meet the other parents, he just had this overwhelming feeling that he should stay seated. The feeling perplexed him. He didn’t want to seem stand-offish and certainly didn’t want to offend. But there he sat, rooted to his seat, alone while everyone else ate and mingled.
After a few minutes, the instructor called the meeting together and once everyone was seated, she segued into a discussion about Sexually Transmitted Diseases. She made it clear that the mix and mingle session was timed and designed to demonstrate how STD’s can be spread among a population. She said, “I want you to imagine that STD’s are passed by a simple handshake, and that now each and every one of you now have an STD.”
The man stood up, and as humbly as he could muster, said, “we don’t all have an STD...one of us abstained.”
For some reason, that story provides the context for my support of Evan McMullin. I simply cannot hold my nose and vote for either Clinton or Trump.
I believe that Evan McMullin is the best option, and thanks to Utah, voting for McMullin may actually make it possible to avoid Clinton and Trump. Avoid Clinton and Trump? Yes, please.
People may feel that McMullin isn’t qualified, but I disagree. I don’t actually believe there are only a handful of people who could adequately serve as President. As an attorney I interact with a lot of people from a lot of different walks of life and I am frequently surprised by the depth of understanding, analysis, and common sense from what the political elites call the “masses” or the “sheeple.” That being said, McMullin has a lot more experience than most.
According to Nate Silver at five-thirty-eight, McMullin only has a chance to win Utah, but that may be enough. If McMullin wins Utah and neither Trump nor Clinton wins 270 electoral votes, those three candidates will be put before a House vote. But, who’s to say the House chooses McMullin over Trump?
That is where the rest of the nation comes in. Many House Republicans don’t like Trump, but they may be afraid of inflaming their electorates by voting for McMullin if it is put before the House. By voting for McMullin in states other than Utah, moral Republicans send a message that they won’t punish their House Republican Representatives for voting for McMullin if it goes to a House vote.
Some people say that a vote for McMullin is a vote against a conservative Supreme Court. I say that I refuse to throw away the moral high road in the name of the moral high road. There is no guarantee that Trump will appoint moral, conservative Justices, but there is a guarantee that by putting Trump into office, we lose the right to use private behavior to exclude from public office forever. Liberal Emperor Laurence Tribe, a Harvard Law Professor, has said that Americans rely too much on the personal lives of its politicians in deciding whom to vote for. I disagree. We have differentiated ourselves from most other foreign governments by historically refusing to consider adulterers etc.
We cannot allow that ship to sail.
Some might say that a vote for McMullin is a vote against women. I hear all the time the accusation that people aren’t voting for Hillary merely because she is a woman. I don’t doubt that there are some who feel this way, but I do not believe that most who oppose Hillary do so merely because she is a women.
Liberals tend to divide Republicans into two camps: dumb Republicans, and (in their minds) a much smaller group of confounded “thinking” Republicans. Even assuming this characterization to be true, the former group certainly didn’t hold Sarah Palin’s gender against her and the latter holds Margaret Thatcher up to legendary status. I am no fan of Palin, but I suspect that most liberals accusing so called “dumb” Republicans of being prejudiced against Hillary have conveniently ignored their prior smugness about these same “dumb” Republican’s adoration of Sarah Palin.
I personally would love for all the women in the world to know that a woman can be President of the greatest nation on earth. But not Hillary. There is a lot to dislike about Hillary, but at the end of the day the thing that I have the hardest time with, and this may sound odd, is Hillary’s treatment of staff and secret service agents. There is a lot of evidence that she treats the people who work for her, and who protect her, horribly.
I once worked at a large, International law firm where I saw many attorneys treat the staff like furniture. It broke my heart to walk by human beings who anticipated that I would ignore them. My life has been greatly blessed by incredible paralegals, secretaries and case managers over the years. They are my co-workers and my friends and I am still in touch with many of them. They are human beings who have been a great blessing to my practice, to my family, and to my life.
Hillary’s treatment of those she sees as beneath her may seem a small thing, especially in comparison to Trump’s many misdeeds, but for me it is why I accept as plausible most of the other bad things said about Hillary. Her treatment of those who help her hasn’t given me any reason to give her the benefit of the doubt. It may be a straw, but to me it shows the direction the wind blows. Again, I am not defending Trump in any way, but merely saying that Hillary, too, is unacceptable to me, independent of, and prior to this email fiasco.
Some say that this is all too far fetched and that a vote for McMullin is a vote for futility. To them I would cite the story of Helmuth Hubener...
Hubener was a German teenager who was born after his mother was raped by her boss. Hubener spent a lot of time living with his grandparents, and one evening after they had gone to bed, he holed up in an attic room of their home and listened to a forbidden BBC radio news show broadcasted in German. As he listened, Helmuth Hubener felt strongly that the BBC report was telling the truth about Hitler.
Unable to stay silent, Hubener began a clandestine resistance to Hitler with two other teenagers. He used a government typewriter and government stamped paper to denounce Hitler as a murderer and repeatedly posted the flyers all over his city in the dead of night.
Hubener and his two young associates were eventually caught and tried before Germany’s highest court, the infamous Blood Tribunal. The two other boys were sentenced to work camps, and Hubener was executed by guillotine on his mother’s birthday. And to what avail? What benefit did Hubener’s tiny, insignificant resistance serve? Quite a lot, actually.
When Germany started to put itself back together after the war, the guilt was tremendous. “How could we have done such horrible things? How can we ever hope to move forward?” Broken-hearted Germans clung to stories like Helmuth Hubener’s, “we weren’t all bad, we weren’t all blind, there was good among us, there is good among us, we can move forward, we can be better!”
Helmut Hubener was a Mormon, like Evan McMullin. McMullin’s candidacy may seem small or insignificant, but like he says, it’s never too late to do the right thing. I, unfortunately, don’t see a lot of good coming from a Clinton or Trump presidency; however, I am encouraged that there is still a lot of good in this country and remain hopeful that the best is yet to come. I, like many across America, will abstain from Clinton and Trump, and will continue to work to pick up the pieces of my party and put it back where it belongs.
You are, of course, free to vote for a man who has made a mockery of marriage and women, but do not be offended if many of us Republicans abstain. We will not allow this, the party of Lincoln, to be hijacked by the likes of Trump, Gingrich and Giuliani, who come to us like ravening wolves in sheep’s clothing. By their fruits we already know them. If they can’t keep their promises to their wives, how can we expect them to keep their promises to us? You might see them as men who have accomplished much, I only see them as men who picked the banner they thought would get them the furthest, for as long as it was convenient to them. Why is it that the term RINO is used most vehemently against those in our party whose policies seem less conservative and not against those whose morals are the most lacking?
I wish McMullin wasn’t the best option. I wish another candidate had won the Republican nomination. I wish Romney chose Rubio instead of Ryan, I wish Petraeus hadn’t pulled a Hamilton and had been available for Romney to choose instead of Rubio or Ryan. I wish McCain hadn’t have pulled a Hamilton years ago so he could have been selected instead of Quayle. Then the Clintons would never have existed beyond Arkansas….
But I can’t have what I wish for, all I can do is vote my conscience, even if it is on a wing and a prayer. I don’t know about you, but I have seen amazing things happen on a wing and a prayer. And so tomorrow I will be voting for Evan McMullin. I invite you to do so as well.
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