My opinion piece in today's Washington Times

Washington Times

Commentary 10/26/16

Ellen Sauerbrey

Why Donald Trump is still the safer choice

America is a two-party system and after party conventions select the nominees, we have two choices and only two choices. Both nominees have demonstrated serious character flaws. The current spotlight is on lewd, vulgar comments from Donald Trump that cannot be defended. Nevertheless, his words could never be used to justify a vote for Hillary Clinton and her leftist agenda.

America is a two-party system and after party conventions select the nominees, we have two choices and only two choices. Both nominees have demonstrated serious character flaws. The current spotlight is on lewd, vulgar comments from Donald Trump that cannot be defended. Nevertheless, his words could never be used to justify a vote for Hillary Clinton and her leftist agenda.

Those morally pure conservatives who believe they cannot in good conscience vote for Mr. Trump but don't like Mrs. Clinton need to define what outcome they are seeking by voting third party or not at all. With America at a true tipping point, the reality is that only Donald Trump can block the election of another far-left progressive ideologue.

Those morally pure conservatives who believe they cannot in good conscience vote for Mr. Trump but don't like Mrs. Clinton need to define what outcome they are seeking by voting third party or not at all. With America at a true tipping point, the reality is that only Donald Trump can block the election of another far-left progressive ideologue.

Hillary Clinton will trample on individual liberties and religious freedom. If she is elected, the America of our Founders is over and the U.S. Constitution is toast.

Hillary has demonstrated that she rejects the founding principles that made America the most respected, prosperous and free country in history. It was individual freedom and responsibility, Judeo-Christian morality, limitations on the power of government, and reserving most of that power to the states that made America exceptional. Mrs. Clinton's allies on the left have been systematically growing government power and undoing those founding principles.

Those who fear what a President Trump might do should consider what Hillary has promised she will do:

• She will appoint left-wing radical progressives to the federal courts and the Supreme Court. She has even said that her mentor, Barack Obama, would make a great Supreme Court justice.

As president, Mr. Trump can be expected to be challenged and restrained by Democrats as well as many Republicans in Congress.

• She opposes the individual right to keep and bear arms and promises to make this issue a Supreme Court litmus test to undermine the Second Amendment.

• She commits to flooding the nation with illegal immigrants and Middle Eastern refugees, and providing legal status and a fast track to citizenship, which will change our demographics, politics and culture permanently.

• She has committed to a huge increase in taxes on everyone who pays taxes, including a "middle class" tax increase, which will make America even less competitive.

• Her promises of massive new government programs will further skyrocket the national debt, bringing us closer to financial collapse.

• As Obamacare is failing, her solution is a public option, leading to fully socialized medicine; and she proposes further undermining the unsustainable program by covering illegal aliens.

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• As Obamacare is failing, her solution is a public option, leading to fully socialized medicine; and she proposes further undermining the unsustainable program by covering illegal aliens.

• She is a radical environmentalist who promises to kill the coal industry and drive up the cost of American energy, further harming the U.S. economy

• She will tread on the conscience of Americans who believe in the sanctity of life by forcing taxpayers to fund abortions.

Mrs. Clinton is the most corrupt elitist to ever seek the presidency. She has been allowed to undermine the rule of law with her massive destruction of government records, and grossly negligent handling of classified information. She has used her position as secretary of State to make millions, through her pay-for-play policies and shakedowns, one of which gave Russia control over about 20 percent of America's uranium supply.

Her foreign policy has been a disaster, ranging from promoting the transfer of vital technology to Russia, the transfer of heavy weaponry to the Islamic State, the chaos in the Middle East, the failure to respond to pleas for security from her own ambassador and subsequent abandonment of Americans who were slaughtered in Benghazi.

Her unabashed congenital lying, decades of constant scandal, shifting blame to others, rudeness and cursing her security detail, and throwing objects in the White House speak to a seriously flawed character and temperament.

Her unabashed congenital lying, decades of constant scandal, shifting blame to others, rudeness and cursing her security detail, and throwing objects in the White House speak to a seriously flawed character and temperament.

Donald Trump has taken positions that Republicans and conservatives traditionally stand for — low taxes, fewer regulations, secure borders, a strong military, strict conservative appointments to the Supreme Court, school choice and patient-centered health care. He has not compromised the national security and he is not under continuous investigation by the FBI. He has not obstructed justice, destroyed government property or savaged abused women.

As president, Mr. Trump can be expected to be challenged and restrained by Democrats as well as many Republicans in Congress. Compare that to the alternative. Not one Democrat has admitted, much less stood up to the Clinton corruption. Her agenda will be rubber-stamped by the far-left progressives that are the current Democratic Party. If Democrats take the Senate, there will be no stopping her. Her liberal court appointments will live on long after her, transforming America irreparably for generations. She will complete Mr. Obama's promise to fundamentally transform America into a socialist welfare state.

As president, Mr. Trump can be expected to be challenged and restrained by Democrats as well as many Republicans in Congress. Compare that to the alternative. Not one Democrat has admitted, much less stood up to the Clinton corruption. Her agenda will be rubber-stamped by the far-left progressives that are the current Democratic Party. If Democrats take the Senate, there will be no stopping her. Her liberal court appointments will live on long after her, transforming America irreparably for generations. She will complete Mr. Obama's promise to fundamentally transform America into a socialist welfare state.

The election of Hillary Clinton is a mortal threat to our future. It was Edmund Burke who said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Those who stay home or throw their vote away on a third party candidate are helping elect Hillary and aiding the demise of a great republic.

• Ellen Sauerbrey is a two-time Republican nominee for governor of Maryland, former Maryland House minority leader, and past national chairman of American Legislative Exchange Council.