Known vs Unknown: A Voting Rationale

Someone opined that they hoped the 2016 GOP Presidential nominee would be elected.

I couldn’t disagree more.

Here’s why:
As we have suffered, never before has there been a more grotesque figure campaigning for the noble office of the President.

The candidate has never served in an office of Public Trust, nor ever served in any Elected Office. There is literally no shred of evidence of governing competency, much less experience, in any Public Office, and though our Constitution states that the minimum eligibility requirements for the office are to be “a citizen of the United States… the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States,” we have never elected an individual as President whom has never served in any capacity of Public Trust, nor Elected Office.

And so, in that regard, the candidate is a significantly Unknown Quantity. That can be, and often is, fraught with enormous peril.

We expect our City Council members to be familiar with the needs of the city, its people, and internal operations, and can, and to some extent do forgive those who upon entering that office have a small learning curve. But the Office of President of the United States is one with an enormous learning curve, and requires collaboration, mediation, wisdom, patience, tolerance, cooperation, and so much more. It requires being attuned to, and knowledgeable of laws, traditions, protocols, the inner machinations of agencies, and the ability to heed wise advice from those who lead them. And it is paramount to success to cooperate with Congress.

The GOP nominee has shown none of those character qualities, and has instead demonstrated bluster, bullying, obscenity, belligerence, belittling, obnoxiousness, and ignorance in abundance. Even the party faithful, experienced statesmen, publishers, and myriad others have turned their backs on him, and openly endorsed his opponent.

There could hardly be a greater visible outcry.

Granted, his opponent is flawed as much as he is, for we have seen abundant evidence of the same from both. However, as originally stated, she is a Known Quantity, whereas he is a Great Unknown Quantity. And for that reason, I would rather choose that which I know, than take a crap shoot and hope for the best.