I think Trump is viewed by both statist parties as the most dangerous man in the world because the oval office is littered with vice and corruption and he, owing no one will air it all out. Like a spiteful child, he will have a "look what I found" tidbit almost daily which collectively rewrite the history books. I believe this will be very destructive in the short run but be the beginning of a reversal of the downward slide that has been going on for over 100 years. I have no illusions that he has the philosophy and expertise to fix the problems but is well suited to crashing the façade exposing the rot and enabling successors in to put us back together. Maybe this is just a pipedream but as he has asked "what have we got to lose?"

Rich, I live in a gerrymandered district where my vote is irrelevant. I am with you. Alas, Ayn Rand or John Galt is not on the ballot. This is politics, not philosophy. Although I am pretty sure the result is predetermined and rigged, I am sure that Trump has done something very important. He has said, screw political correctness! He had struck back at the Establishment. All of this is important, because my hope is that more and more people will stand up and not be afraid to speak the truth. For a long time to speak the truth, by which I mean to represent reality, has been the surest way to be attacked and buried. We need objective reality to be spoken. That can only lead to good.

The big picture is to drain the swamp. Galt isn't running. It is easy, especially for us Objectivists, to over-intellectualize something and lose sight of larger issues. Unless you are trying to live the fantasy of stopping the motor of the world, Trump is the best option available.

It's not about who will do some good but who will do the least harm. Trump may be a boor and a oaf but HRC is a criminal and probably a traitor. Failure to vote is a vote for HRC. Is that what you really want?

I know this is a very difficult choice for many good people, who are trying to decide between the lesser of two very big evils. I respect you all.

As for me, I cast my early vote here in Florida for Libertarian Gary Johnson, with a clean conscience. I agree with him about 90% on policy issues. But most importantly, he doesn't represent the 2 forms of anti-freedom most Americans are choosing between: (1) government bureaucratic domination - Hillary, (2) populist authoritarianism - Lord & Master Trump.

As the country chooses one of the 2 anti-freedom toilets to flush the country down into next week, let me just say that I expect very dark times ahead. Good luck to us all...

I understand your reasons. I have to abstain from the Presidential Election.

It's often been said that when you can't find something to vote for, you can always find something to vote against. I see nothing in a Clinton Presidency but destructive, negative policies, a deadlock with at least a Republican House and possibly a narrow majority Democrat Senate, impeachment proceedings, continued FBI investigations, etc, etc. I think that's more than enough to vote against.

As Will Rogers said, people who occupy the middle of the road usually get run over. I ain't one of those.

Reluctantly, I'm with you Rich! I hope he gets in and proves me wrong about him.

At first, I was going to abstain from voting because I was no fan of either major party. I too, was caught up in the media spin. Between the liberal spin and the conservative spin thought that Hillary was evil and that the GOP could not come together to change a burnt out lightbulb. I was going to just sit it out so that I could say that no matter how screwed up the country got after the election, I could say that it wasn't because of me. After watching a copy of AS with my friend, we were discussing philosophy and bringing up quotes that we had been taught as a child. The two that we discussed the most were "Evil triumphs when good people do nothing", and "The tree of liberty was watered with the blood of patriots". We realized that the Founding Fathers risked EVERYTHING they had to bring this country (no matter how imperfect) together. I spent my time in the military defending everyone else's rights. There are young men and women today that are risking their lives each day to afford me that same freedom. At that point, I realized how selfish I was. Because I was trying to take the "high ground" by not voting, all I was going to do was squandering a hard, fought-for right. Instead, I've become the coward who just sits and complains about the way things are instead of doing something about it.

If you do your due diligence about researching the people running for office, then you should vote. Whether it's because you are for someone or against the other, it's still a civic duty to make your voice heard.

I will vote for Trump, but with crossed fingers. I think he can win. What I'm not sure about is if he will turn into a tyrant once in office. But Shrillary is guaranteed death to what remains of our Constitutional form of government. If he gets elected, we'll get an indication of what kind of Prez he will be depending on who he nominates for the Supreme Court.

I understand your reasoning, but I would like to suggest a modification to your allegory:

We are steaming ahead, both left and right engines going at 50%, towards the iceberg of collectivism/statism that I see as a floating glacier... Like the Wall in Game of Thrones. Hillary will turn up the right engine about 5% and the left about 20%. Trump will turn up the right about 15% and the left about 10%. Both get us to that disaster just as fast, its just a difference of which part of it we will hit.

We need someone to turn things back to individualism, not just to one or the other type of collectivism.

I agree 100%!

This video on youtube explains in detail.....why I voted for Donald J Trump. https://youtu.be/qndVrBcZHyo I have a few friends from Haiti that are like close family to me...so I know the story firsthand from them. It's disgusting what the Clintons have done to these people and their country.....and they would continue to do this if elected in.

I have to acknowledge the system we are stuck with. Through various manipulations by both sides, use of push button releases of bad info, it becomes a "what turd smells the least" campaign. Neither party has the credibility or courage of it's convictions, beyond gaining power to continue their own brand of looting. In this case, the biggest looter is obviously The Beast, who has helped her self and his self to every penny they can squeeze, sold everything that isn't nailed down, used every favor and blackmail, and even left a few bodies in their wake. Their total arrogant ignorance of any law, any rule, basic justice, while I am held subject to same, limits any vote to just the Anti Beast one. Stop the Beast and then hope Trey Gowdy is appointed AG.

If elected, Hillary will not finish her 4 years.
The Clinton crime family syndicate is about to be fully revealed and not even hardcore socialists will be able to stand against the revelations.

Exactly. Even if one doesnt "like" Trump, he can only help the country, and he isnt going to push the nuclear button out of anger.

On the other hand, Hillary will, through the same incompetence that brought us Benghazi and the Iran deal, back us into some corner like the syrian no fly zone ending up in a conflict with Russia.

Love Donald Trump! I can't wait until he gets in office and the business begins to bloom again in our area of rural Mississippi. 20 years ago we had plenty of jobs and choices. The millennials were too young then, to understand that now.

Voted Johnson/Weld. Still hoping Mr. Trump keeps it close to Sec Clinton and nobody gets to 270 in the EC so the new US House decides among the top three EC (or popular?) votes received.

Another thing I thought of today that does not seem to get much mention in the press. Could be the two major party candidates are the most likely to be impeached ever... I am sure many Rs in the House would vote to impeach Trump to get Pence as President and many Ds may join them unless they just want to go full politics. Senate with Ds and many Rs would vote to convict. Certainly the House Rs would vote to impeach Clinton... doubt they could get conviction in the Senate though unless it was really bad and Kaine seems beatable in primary in 2020.

In the absence of any clear invitation to any place of refuge, you have no choice.

I will write in myself. There is no reason to believe that Donald Trump will steer away from the iceberg and even if he did as the Titanic realized they were in immediate danger they were so close that turning of the wheel did not change the outcome or even reduce it. I still maintain that for probably more than 100 years the only difference between the two candidates is what lie they will tell to get elected. Once elected the results are the same no matter which one wins. If anything what might happen will be that fewer chains are added, if any are taken away it will be far less than those added. We are slaves of the state and not destined for any liberty or freedoms to be restored.

Here's why I am voting for Trump [video]...

ANTI-COUP AGAINST DEEP STATE & CLINTON ! ! !
https://youtu.be/ov5kvWSz5LM

I will be voting. If I had a strong reason to abstain, this time, what will be my reason, next time? How about the time after that? Several Democrats in the Wisconsin legislature abstained from voting on the "Right to Work" bill and it passed. Were these representatives of the people any better, simply because they didn't vote "No" and lose? I don't see it.

I exercise, three mornings a week. Whenever I make some excuse to miss one session, it's that much more difficult to avoid making the excuse to miss another. When I make difficult decisions for our household...I don't abstain and relegate the decision to my neighbor. I make the decision and live with the results...good or bad, knowing I did my best.

Ayn Rand wrote something like, in the choice between food and poison, the middle of the road is always death. I'm no philosopher, but to me, abstaining from an important decision is taking the middle of the road.