Requiem for a Heavyweight

Requiem for a Heavyweight

Al Ritter 

I sit here a mere twelve hours after Senator Ted Cruz bowed out of the 2016 Presidential race, in total numbness. We started with 20 candidates all vying to be the President of the United States. Now we end the primary season with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as the final two. 

There are a lot of firsts as this race ends. For the first time we have two of the most despised contestants in the history of our country squaring off for the final prize. We have two CONFIRMED liars in the last contest. We will have a woman for the first time as a candidate in the general election. Finally we have two Democrats for the first time in American History running for President. 

I have a lot of respect for Ted Cruz, he has been a principled candidate who always spoke the truth regardless of whether it was what you wanted to hear or not. He had specific plans for every segment of our domestic and foreign policy. He stayed true to Texas voters and has done what he was hired to do. Sadly he didn’t fight back against the lies and smears by his fellow candidates in the Republican Party. 

Presidential campaigns used to step on uncertain ground in the past about being honest for fear of liable law suits, but in 2014 the SCOTUS ruled in a unanimous decision, Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus that lying in political campaigns is legal based in the First Amendment and freedom of speech. So this has been the first time that lying has been declared legal in a Presidential Election. 

Unfortunately or not depending on your view, Senator Cruz still believes in the truth and nothing but the truth, but Trump and Clinton, I am certain were VERY aware of the new SCOTUS ruling. This is where morals come into play, Cruz played by rules of God, while Clinton and Trump play by whatever rules it takes to win, honestly or not. 

I’m done with politics for the next 4 years, because this next Presidency regardless of who wins will cause such degradation in America that even the uneducated voter that caused this problem will have had enough! Be forewarned though, I WILL remember the Trump voters that caused this problem and have ruined the next 4 years for my grandchildren, we aren’t buddies, we aren’t pals, we aren’t even friends anymore……enjoy your first female president!