Mapping the Election

This is one that is a Oct 11 forecast. It shows the balance of electoral votes. ("There’s More Than One Way to Map an Election", Greg Miller, 11 Oct 2016

This one shows who won the actual geographic counties. It is accurate and it can be misleading since there is generally a lower population density in the red counties.

Mormons and the US Presidential Election 2016

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If you’re familiar with recent Mormon political leanings, you may be wondering what could possibly be unusual about Mormons voting for Trump. Here is Mormon voting data based on recent history compared to 2016 Pew analysis of exit polls:

2004	GW Bush: 80%	J. Kerry: 19%
2008	No data	No data
2012	M. Romney: 78%	B. Obama: 21%
2016	D. Trump: 61%	H. Clinton: 25%

So Trump won the Mormon vote . . . but in a lukewarm fashion. His victory was not the strong four-out-of-ratio we saw with Bush and Romney; Mormon GOP voting was down to three in five. That’s a majority, certainly, but not an overwhelming one. ("Most Mormons planned NOT to vote for Trump. What the heck happened?", Jana Riess, 15 Nov 2016)

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temple recommend holders were three times as likely to back fellow Saint Evan McMullin as non-recommend holders, by 18% to 6%. Apparently some of Mormonism’s most conservative and religious members were actively seeking an alternative to Trump.
("Most Mormons planned NOT to vote for Trump. What the heck happened?", Jana Riess, 15 Nov 2016)

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While many rightly struggled with the decision of whom to vote for, in Hillary Clinton many Utah women saw a flawed and unimpressive candidate whose policies would ultimately disadvantage and decrease genuine opportunities for themselves, their daughters and granddaughters.
("My View: What Mother Jones doesn't get about Mormon women", Sarah Matheson, 11 Nov 2016)

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The Least Worst System Available to Us

I was asked in a FB group which book that had significant impact on my world view and political opinions. Following is what I wrote. 

I chose the Book of Mormon. She mentioned that she was surprised that people posted religious books since many have not read them in their entirety and many who read them come away with completely different viewpoints politically.  

I agree that Mormons have a great variety of political viewpoints. I put down the Book of Mormon anyway because of how much it has influenced my world view outside of politics.  

There are several parts of the Book of Mormon that have influenced me politically. King Benjamin asked "ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish....For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have"? (Mosiah 4:16-19)

The Book of Mormon peoples experienced many natural disasters after the death of Jesus Christ. The more wicked part of the people died. Jesus visited them personally resurrected from the grave. After his visits the people created a different kind of socio-economic system.
"they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift." (4 Nephi 1:3)

Joseph Smith is the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormons). He translated the Book of Mormon. I like the way Joseph Smith implemented capitalism with a social compact.  

'Joseph accepted the economy of private property and individual enterprise. Even under the consecration of properties, individual stewards operated independently in a market economy, though they were obligated to return their "surplus" to the bishop
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But capitalism never ruled Nauvoo as it did Chicago, a city that in 1844 was the same size as Nauvoo. The original name of the Nauvoo site, Commerce, was dropped after the Saints arrived. Rather than promising entrepreneurs great wealth, Joseph asked that "money be brought here to pay the poor for manufacturing." Profits were secondary to creating jobs.'
(Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, Richard Lyman Bushman, 2005, pages 502 and 503) 

A friend of mine said "capitalism is the least worst system available to us — until Zion can be achieved". Zion is a state of mind where we are of one heart and one mind. That we have in our mind and heart an eye single to the glory of God and for the welfare of our neighbors along with ourselves.  

Here is more on my views of the ideal economic system and how capitalism is the least worst system available to us until we as a people are willing to live the best one. 

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The Election Questions I have Battled With

There are a few conservative leaders that I have high respect for. Larry Arnn is one of them. He is the President of Hillsdale College. He has lead the effort to provide a free Constitutional education to anyone willing to put in the time and effort.

Larry was on with Hugh Hewitt this morning and said the following

Trump is not a learned man about the history of America. He is not eloquent, if eloquent means speaking in the way that Abraham Lincoln spoke. But I’ll add the caveat who is. But he has got a kind of rugged, direct and also fearless way of addressing us as a people. And I think all that’s refreshing.

And I noticed, you know, back in the time when we were in Switzerland, over the course of that time, I began to take Trump seriously. I didn’t vote for him in the primary. I voted for somebody else. But after the primary, I was able to endorse him, and have maintained that endorsement through the tapes and all the troubles partly because of this point that I’m stating right now.

I just like it that he, like in his campaign, one of the things I learned early on was his campaign is not driven by big data, that is to say this enormous effort to divide us, you know, into our groups and find out everything about us and talk to us singly and in our groups according to what we want to hear. And one of the reasons he’s been resilient in this campaign is that stuff tends to disappear as the campaign goes on and people get interested in its intents. And people start thinking.  

There’s polling data going back many decades now that show this. People start thinking about their country more toward the end and less about themselves. And so he was ready for that, right? And I like that. And then you know, if you look at his plans, there are some of them I don’t like, but there’s none of them that I think are crippling or fatal. So I support him. 

("Dr. Larry Arnn On The Vote On 10/8", Hugh Hewitt and Larry Arnn, The Hugh Hewitt Show, 4 Nov 2016)

Dennis Prager and Eric Metaxas both support Trump. I have followed them for years.

The questions I have battled with are: Which of the two two leading candidates will result in less damage in the next four years, possibly eight? Which of the two might do some good? What message am I sending about my preference about who is President?

Hillary Negatives

(1) The Clinton Foundation investigation is far more expansive than anybody has reported so far and has been going on for more than a year. 

(2) The laptops of Clinton aides Cherryl Mills and Heather Samuelson have not been destroyed, and agents are currently combing through them. The investigation has interviewed several people twice, and plans to interview some for a third time.  

(3) Agents have found emails believed to have originated on Hillary Clinton's secret server on Anthony Weiner's laptop. They say the emails are not duplicates and could potentially be classified in nature.  

(4) Sources within the FBI have told him that an indictment is "likely" in the case of pay-for-play at the Clinton Foundation, "barring some obstruction in some way" from the Justice Department. 

(5) FBI sources say with 99% accuracy that Hillary Clinton's server has been hacked by at least five foreign intelligence agencies, and that information had been taken from it. 

("Bret Baier: FBI Sources Believe Clinton Foundation Case Moving Towards "Likely an Indictment"", RealClearPolitics, 2 Nov 2016)

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Wikileaks

Project Veritas.

The FBI’s latest announcement about the emails on Weiner’s computer.

"Donna Brazile, while a CNN commentator, shared CNN debate questions in advance to Hillary Clinton's campaign"
http://www.npr.org/2016/11/02/500407470/donna-braziles-resignation-illustrates-cable-tvs-pundit-problem

The Clinton Foundation, selling influence to foreign countries and companies that are more interested in war than peace

Obamacare Collapse

Greater chance of more war.

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Trump Negatives

Following is my answer to "where Trump is corrupt?"

I see Trump corrupting the free market message of the Republican party with one of trade barriers in the form of tariffs and threatening our could be allies and economic partners.   

I see Trump further corrupting the Republican party's message of fiscal responsibility. The debt is not likely to slow down with him as President. Printing more money is not a sustainable strategy.  

I do not see Trump defending the Constitution except when forced to do so by others within and outside the party.  

I see Trump adding to a culture of bullying and intimidation. He will unnecessarily antagonize our could be foreign and domestic allies.    

I see him helping us jump off the cliff of being able to believe what people say. We always have to watch what politicians say and promise. Trump is ten times worse.\ 

I see Trump as a narcissist, egotistical, authoritarian sex offender. 

(My FB Comment, 4 Nov 2016)

Hillary Positives

- a clear rejection of the character of Trump. I do not want the Republican name saddled with what I see as a likely cultural legacy he will create.

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Trump Positives

- Standing up to our allies such that they will begin to pay for their part of NATO

- That we may be in less wars. He will defend the USA, but I do not see him extending our troops to even more places than they are now.

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Nepotism, Pay-for-play, and Cronyism

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Hillary Clinton is not only completely corrupt and even more dishonest than the average politician, she represents an elitist class of insiders who run everything through nepotism, pay-for-play access to government, and cronyism. (Jonathan Max Wilson, FB Post 1 Nov 2016, Referring to "Forget the FBI cache; the Podesta emails show how America is run",31 Oct 2016, Thomas Frank)

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