#and I don't know that it serves to pretend that the majority of voters in this situation cared what her platform was at all

[nebulaad]

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[sgreffenius]

I guess it's time to run again. I ran the first time a while back, but I can't remember which year. I know it had to be before 2016, because I would never want to run against Clinton, Biden, or Trump. Who knows, though, if James Comey had not schemed with Hillary and Christopher Steele to get the Donald elected, I might have been president. You can't tell about these things.

Now Never Trumpers say Anybody But Biden, and Let's Go Brandon means Make America Great Again. There's never been a better time to elect an independent candidate. Too many voters and politicos think of independents as spoilers, not because they actually are, but because that's how they get you to vote for one of their candidates. You could say that the winner of any election spoils every other candidate's chance to win, but no one knows the winner until after the election.

So I figure my chances are as good as anyone else's. I have ambition, money, name recognition, speaking skills, a desire to serve, a vision for my country, and other qualities our two presumptive candidates do not have.

Let's take two qualities that you do not often see anymore: honesty and integrity. Honesty means people trust you because you speak the truth. Integrity means people trust you because you value what is right, whether it advances your own interests or not. You cannot be a leader if people don't trust you.

How many people believe Donald Trump possesses these qualities? Case closed.

Now think back to the first important speech Joe Biden gave after the election in November 2020. It was not his inaugural address. It was the one he delivered about a week after the election, when returns from a few close states confirmed that he had won. You will remember his emphasis on the theme of unity, and the foundation of unity, communal trust. He promised he would lead the entire country to restore broken bonds of community in our nation. His main goal, he said, would be to rebuild our nation so we could work together again.

I remember thinking as I listened, "Well we'll see. I'll believe it when I see it." He can launch the future as he sees fit. Who am I to second-guess his intentions when he still has two months before he becomes the nation's leader?

How long did it take after Inauguration Day to discover that Uncle Joe was just another grifter in aviator sunglasses? He did not pretend to remember what he said in November, but set to work on a presidential agenda even more divisive than his predecessor's. Many said, "We have just elected Bernie Sanders," but at least Bernie would have told us the truth in November. Bernie's words after the election, and his actions the following spring, would not have exposed him as a fraud. Uncle Joe made a point of lying, and did not seem to care.

So that's why I want to run. The country needs a good leader. It also needs a candidate who can spoil both major parties in the same election. You could say Trump tried to do that in 2016, but he spoiled only one party, his own. Meanwhile, try as they might, Democrats' five-year effort to spoil their party failed, as Biden's victory attests. Yet most people do not trust the Democratic party, either. Thus our need for a leader who does not answer to either tribe.

I appreciate your support, and next year, your votes.