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Thursday, December 8, 2016

2016 Election: Levels of American Voters

By my way of thinking, there are five levels in categorizing Voters in the 2016 election.
There are:
1)people who voted against Trump 
2)people who voted for Clinton 
3)people who did not vote (or voted third party)
4)people who voted against Clinton 
5)people who voted for Trump.

The people who voted for Trump (because they especially liked him) are in a special category all unto themselves. To the degree that their liking of Trump was sincere and "not" based on hate, then I accept their view.

The people who voted for Trump because of anger, I can recognize their choice "to the degree" that they were sure of their facts (not conspiracy theories, fake news or irrational 'post truths'). 

For the people who didn't vote, I can hear the voice of my father echoing with "why vote for the bastards- you only encourage them". To the degree that you're if this ilk, then I respect your choice to not vote.

For those who especially liked Clinton, though I sympathize with your loss, she was not a very nice person, either. But, she was the safest choice and very highly qualified. Teapot dictators around the world are breathing a sigh of relief about now.

For people like me who voted against Trump by voting for Clinton, amongst other reasons, we realize that having one party in control of all three of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches is not a good idea. I shouldn't have to explain that. It was taught in high school civics classes as "voting split tickets" to balance power.

Note: If I had believed that Trump would balance our federal budget, I'd have voted for him. But, when he said he would lower the corporate tax rate to 15%, I knew he was still a corporate fat cat at heart. The highest they pay is about 30-35% before tax breaks, subsidies, etcetera leaving them in reality at an average of 15%. Whereas, I am on teacher retirement and social security, and I pay 25%, even after paying GPO/WEP penalty. [I would like to see America return to the graduated tax bracket system like we had in 1986 (adjusted for inflation)]

Federal Individual Income Tax Rates History:
http://taxfoundation.org/sites/default/files/docs/fed_individual_rate_history_nominal.pdf