I have lived in Palm Beach County Florida my whole life. I remember the 2000 Election very clearly. It was the first time I became interested in politics. In that election, roughly 600 votes in my county effectively made the difference in who would be President.  In 2012 I proudly voted for Mitt Romney, someone who I know would have made an excellent President. He is a man of true honor and character. He foresaw the looming conflict with Russia among other things. I would've proudly vote for Mitt Romney again had he run in 2016. I would've proudly voted for Jeb Bush, John Kasich, and Marco Rubio along with a few others. But they aren't on the ballot for President. Now we are left with two other choices.

I look at this election, and see the stress of people around our country. I do not believe that we are that shining city on a hill that is the envy of the world. We are becoming the ire of the world. Hillary will not fix this. Trump cannot fix this. We have in past elections had choices between mostly honorable, but imperfect people: Carter, Reagan, Mondale, Bush, Dukakis, Kerry, Obama, McCain, and Romney. Now we are faced with a choice between two dishonorable and imperfect people. However, there is a scale of relativity, and after much thought (and prayer) I believe that one is significantly worse than the other. Living in quite possibly the most important and valuable electoral county in the most pivotal state in the country, I have thought about this for the past several months realizing that my vote could be one of a few hundred that literally makes the difference between who leads our country. I had contemplated voting 3rd party as the Libertarian Party lines up with my views on economics and immigration, but living in Florida I just don't want to take that risk.

Hillary is a duplicitous and dishonest politician. She is not the "most qualified" candidate for President ever (George H.W. Bush and General Eisenhower were both more qualified). Her foundation represented a major conflict of interest, her reset with Russia was laughable, and her email server was so poorly handled that I strongly question her judgment. But these criticisms are not in a vacuum. They must be compared to the alternative. There have been so many things that Trump has said and done that disqualify him from being President that I cannot list them all. The one that cemented for me the fact that I could never vote for him was over a year ago when he said that John McCain isn't a hero because he was captured. "I like people who weren't captured", he said.  On Hillary's worst day, in her worst moment, she would never had said this.  Before you write this off as meaningless, think for a second how incredibly depraved a person must be to say something like that. John McCain was tortured for five years in a prison. He had every bone in his body broken in his body. He couldn't feed himself. He was given an opportunity to leave early, but refused to leave without his comrades. McCain to this day cannot raise his arms above his head, because of these injuries. Trump received five deferments from Vietnam and joked that avoiding STD's was his "personal Vietnam." Yet to Mr. Trump McCain and all POW's can be made fun of. To those who say "he's a businessman, he isn't a politician so he isn't smooth and polished" : Think for a second, would Carly Fiorina have said this? Would Warren Buffet have said this? Would Herman Cain have said this? Would Mark Cuban have said this? They are all non-politicians. Business people usually are some of the smoothest, most polished, and professional people you'll ever meet. Imagine if Hillary had said this about John McCain, how would you feel?

Most mainstream economists believe Trump's economic policies will lead to a crash in the stock market, a decline in the value of the dollar, and an increase in prices due to his "40% tariffs on China". Imagine if economists said this would be a consequence of electing Hillary Clinton, how would you feel?

His love of Russia is rather frightening. Russia is our greatest geopolitical threat, as correctly pointed out by Mitt Romney. Trump has routinely downplayed how evil, cunning, and malevolent Vladimir Putin is. Putin is about to conduct mass murder in Aleppo and has allowed Assad to commit genocide in Syria. He has illegally seized land in the Ukraine, which has killed thousands of people. He "cleansed" Sochi of gay people before the Olympics, encourages LGBT violence, and routinely kills journalists and political opponents. And that's just in the past 4 years. Trump has said "Putin is a strong leader", "Hillary is too hard on Putin", and "Putin is only killing terrorists in Syria". Russia is a threat that needs to be neutralized at every turn, not an ally that should be embraced and praised. Imagine for a second if the tables were turned and Hillary was praising Russia, calling for a better relationship with Russia, and Russia seemed to be influencing the election to help Hillary. We would be going insane that she was being so kind to Russia.

And finally comes his tax returns. This man brags about his wealth and what a brilliant businessman he is, yet for some strange reason he refuses to release his tax returns. I wonder why? Is it because he has substantial investments with Oligarchs in Putin's inner circle? Is it because these investments will become points of blackmail, since Trump's children will be running his company? Trump Jr. has said that Trump has substantial assets in Russia. Is it because Trump has used legally suspect methods to avoid paying income taxes? Is it because his tax returns will show that he's not making as much money has he claims and he's not as smart a businessman as he claims? Is it all of the above? Imagine for a second if Hillary did not release her tax returns: we would again be going insane saying "This is the typical Clinton playbook of lying and dishonesty".

This weekend Trump's own aides have taken away access to his Twitter account, because they fear he will tweet something stupid. Ask yourself this question: Is a person whose employees cannot trust him with his own Twitter Account, suitable to be trusted with the largest and most powerful military in the world? When he gets angry at China, his aides won't be able to take away his access to our nuclear weapons or our military. Imagine if Hillary's aides had to revoke her access to her Twitter account, because she lacked the self control to tweet appropriately? What would you think of her?

Here is a simple theoretical exercise: If Adolf Hitler ran for President of the US as Republican, using all of the same rhetoric he used in 1930s Germany, but with the added caveat that he would appoint conservative Supreme Court Justices, would that justify voting for Adolf Hitler? Trump is not Hitler, but my point is that the Supreme Court should not be a blank check allowing the nominee to say and do whatever they want. Such thinking justifies voting for literally anyone with an R next to their name, including someone like Hitler, so long as they promised to appoint a conservative Supreme Court. Though I care about the Supreme Court there must come a point where everything else taken in totality outweighs the value of a conservative Supreme Court. We have reached a tipping point where I believe that the very fabric of our nation is threatened. I have many Muslim and Hispanic friends for whom I fear a Trump Presidency would genuinely ruin their lives. The bridge is too far for me to cross to just vote 3rd party. Simply put, Abraham Lincoln would not vote for Trump. Dwight D. Eisenhower would not vote for Trump. Ronald Reagan would not vote for Trump. George H.W. Bush IS NOT voting for Trump. George W. Bush IS NOT voting for Trump. John McCain IS NOT voting for Trump. And Mitt Romney IS NOT voting for Trump.

I will be voting for Hillary Clinton, something 12 months ago I would have deemed unfathomable. My vote is not an endorsement that she will make a good President, but rather that she will be a better President than Mr. Trump. I just pray in 2020 we can have a choice that strives for the ideal that America is a shining city on a hill.  To Republicans, let's chalk this one up as a loss. We nominated a moronic idiot, with the self control of a nine year old, who brings out the worst of Republicans. In 2020 let's try and nominate an intelligent and thoughtful person who brings out the best of us. Our world faces so many daunting challenges. The world needs real American leadership to solve these many challenges. I do not want to explain to my future children and grandchildren what America was once like, what America was once able to do, and that I contributed to its demise. We are a beacon of hope for immigrants, refugees, and all those seeking to be free of yoke of oppression. Open Borders are the reason many of us are lucky enough to live here because our families have come from Italy, Poland, Ireland, England, Sweden, Cuba, China, and yes Mexico to name a few. We have defeated Communism and Fascism. America has been great. Voting for Mr. Trump will make it worse.

Four years of Hillary Clinton, followed by eight years of a positive and forward thinking conservative is better than 4 years of President Trump. Maybe we can never return to that which we once were, but we can certainly try.

(For those seeking further explanation, feel free to message me)