Thursday, July 28, 2016

Paul Ryan, Please Take Note

Mr. Speaker,

Like George Will, I no longer recognize the Republican Party as my political home. Please do not take my departure personally; I have a great deal of respect for you, not only because you can comment on Aquinas commenting on the Sentences of Peter Lombard, but also for your calls for decency and bipartisanship, your willingness to admit you were wrong, and your words in defense of the poor.

The problems with both major party candidates are significant, as I am confident you understand. As a result, many people are planning to abstain from voting. I have been tempted to join them, but I fear abstention sends the wrong message. I do not want men and women running for office to conclude that fear-mongering and vitriol are the best tools for drumming up votes.

I plan to vote for Mike Maturen and Juan Muñoz on the American Solidarity Party ticket in November. I hope that, in some small measure, you and men and women like you will take note of my vote. When you run for president in 2020 - as I hope you will - I would like you to look back on 2016 and see in my vote a reminder that decency, compassion, and compromise have a constituency.

Mr. Speaker, America wants - and needs - you to be the kind of leader I believe you are, and not the kind of leader that this year's Republican nomination process has produced.

That's the message I would like my vote to send.

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