Why I’m voting for Evan McMullin

I cannot vote for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton for president, because they embody a moral bankruptcy that has given us the present politics of anger and despair. I had thought I would vote for Clinton as the lesser of two evils. Given Clinton’s email and foundation scandals, I cannot vote for her either. I am supporting former CIA intelligence officer and senior Republican House staffer Evan McMullin.

McMullin is on the ballot in eleven states and is a write-in candidate in twenty-three. His theoretical possibility for emerging as president hinges both on his victory in Utah and neither Clinton nor Trump receiving 270 electoral votes. McMullin is competitive in Utah and may be a factor in Idaho. However, Clinton appears to have amassed an insurmountable lead in the contest for electoral votes.

{mosads}Nonetheless, I believe a vote for McMullin is not a wasted vote. It would constitute a protest against America’s current corrupt, bankrupt politics and a vote for more a positive, inclusive, and issue-oriented political discourse.  

Analyzing the current US presidential election is dismayingly reminiscent of assessing elections in Latin America, developing countries elsewhere, and dictatorships.

Clinton’s server and email scandals displayed her evident belief she is above the law and her willingness to jeopardize US intelligence, including assets, sources and methods.

Bill and Hillary Clinton’s $152 million in speaking fees and $2 billion in donations for the Clinton Foundation — including from Wall Street, foreign governments, leaders and corporations — arguably placed US domestic and foreign policy on the auction block.

McMullin states, “As a clandestine services officer in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia, I saw exactly the same kind of pay-for-play politics, the corrupt use of national offices for personal gain, and the complete lack of accountability.” I agree.

Donald Trump is a nightmare. Says McMullin, “Trump is a familiar character to me. Blustering, despotic, and fueling racial and ethnic tensions to thrill his followers and intimidate his opponents while empowering himself, Trump’s disdain for America’s character … plays out every day in his attacks.”

Trump, like President Obama and Clinton, has shown disdain for the US Constitution. Trump has threatened to order the US intelligence community and armed forces to carry out torture, beyond water boarding. He has been an apologist for Vladimir Putin, while belittling alliances that have preserved US and Western security since World War II. I cannot vote for Trump.

In contrast, McMullin pledges to respect the Constitution. He also pledges to place the nation’s welfare and vital security interests above party and ideology. McMullin believes the Republican Party and two-party system are broken.

He vows to scale back unnecessary regulation, revamp the tax code, lower taxes and place the US on the cutting edge of global research to make the US private sector more competitive. Jobs and economic growth, McMullin states, are the best solution for fighting large-scale poverty and rising income and wealth inequalities.

He lambastes Republicans for their lack of empathy for the working class, working poor, and minorities. He vows to implement judicial reform, bolster civil rights and revamp the Earned Income Tax Credit to place more money in lower-income Americans’ paychecks. McMullin also believes the $20 trillion national debt, nearly doubled under Obama, places the US on a path to fiscal crisis and jeopardizes not only defense- and non-defense discretionary programs, but also entitlement programs.

He concludes entitlement reform is key to controlling the national debt and deficits. He has laid out proposals for revamping Obamacare and saving other entitlement programs from insolvency. These reforms are not based on blind faith in limited government or laissez fare capitalism, but a commitment to protect those in the shadows of life.

McMullin pledges to embrace strong a US defense and foreign policy posture and to take the fight to ISIS, but he bases his proposals on a careful calculation of national security interests. This would entail leading from the front and not from behind, but would also be predicated on a more nuanced understanding of the limits of US military power and the use of soft power, alliances, and partnering as force multipliers.

And would not bolster the armed forces at the expense of increasing the national debt or beggaring vital domestic programs.

I know McMullin has no chance of winning. I vote for McMullin to protest the unacceptable choices before the voters. I vote for McMullin, because he represents the possibility for a return to the politics of hope and a constructive government fulfilling its intended Constitutional functions.  

Davis is a retired intelligence analyst, who worked with the Army Special Operations Command, Defense Intelligence Agency, and CIA.