A super spicy election. Why I am voting for Trump, rejecting Ohio Issue 1.

Originally published in the Columbus Dispatch, this is a slightly expanded version that goes into more detail. I truly appreciate the Dispatch for their willingness to include contrarian voices and headlines that help to sell newspapers.

October is my favorite month in Ohio. The sights and smells of fall, cool nights and warm days, Buckeye football, my wife’s birthday, and the last harvests from my garden all combine for a wonderful few weeks before the gray days of winter. It was our last garden harvest that inspired this final column before the November election.

I grow some of the worlds hottest chili peppers. They’re so hot I need to wear PPE when prepping them and won’t eat them fresh. But after a few hours in my smoker, I can use them to make a very tasty hot sauce. Sorry, it’s for friends and family only — I don’t carry product liability insurance!

Our choices on Election Day are like those peppers, painful at first but with some hard work, the right ingredients, and time to cool the burn, the result will be worth it.

I’ve covered the issues I think are most important for Ohioans and our nation since I started writing this column earlier this year. Just as there’s no perfect pepper, no candidate embodies all of our values or preferences, though some are certainly better than others depending on the outcome you want.

In elections, whether or not we like our choices is ultimately irrelevant to the reality that as engaged citizens we are obliged to make them.

I’m not a single-issue voter but if I had to pick just one, it would be defense of the First Amendment. As I wrote in my last column, it “secures the fundamental rights that are the core of our unique experiment in self-government.” I also wrote an earlier column that detailed more of the Biden-Harris Covid era First Amendment abuses.

The Biden-Harris administration has consistently demonstrated its antipathy toward this foundational right and the Harris-Walz ticket has done the same. This alone disqualifies them for me.  

A recent investigative report shows just how committed to censorship Harris is as well as the extensive network of domestic and international figures helping to create a global censorship regime.

Prepping my peppers reminded me that the heat of unfettered argument and debate ultimately cools the burn of populist passions that give rise to civil unrest. Our government’s only constitutionally legitimate role is to constrain speech that involves direct threats or incites “imminent lawless action”. It’s not to censor mis- or disinformation — inherently subjective terms — despite the desire of Harris-Walz to do so. 

I certainly wish Mr. Trump would be more civil in his rhetoric. I think it’s harmful — even hateful at times. But it’s not a hard choice for me between a candidate who sometimes says hateful things and one who wants to use the power of government to silence opposing views or those they conveniently deem hateful.

Fully consistent with the silencing of views is Ohio Issue 1. In my September 3 column, I characterized it as “profoundly anti-democratic and elitist,” because it is.

If it passes, voters will have no say in the selection of the 15 redistricting commission members that Issue 1 creates, no power to remove members, no power over its budget, and will be severely limited in their ability to talk with those public officials about their work. The drafters of Issue 1 must have all missed the part of the First Amendment that explicitly protects citizens’ right to “petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Gerrymandering is a problem. Issue 1 makes it worse. Ohio’s constitution already has provisions recently enacted by voters to make it better. Those provisions need time to take hold. Impatience is the enemy of self government.

Vote NO on Issue 1.

I’ve also written about the war in the Middle East and the security of our nation’s borders. Both issues pose real threats to the United States and on both of them, the pattern — and the choice — is unambiguous.

In the Middle East, I described Hamas as the “personification of evil,” that “the world faces a time when the courage that comes from moral clarity is required… and that time is now.” While Mr. Trump’s moral clarity is certainly questionable in some cases, on this matter it is crystal clear. Evil cannot be negotiated with; it must be destroyed.

Kamala Harris, whether with President Biden or now with Tim Walz, consistently finds excuses to undermine Israel — our only ally in the Middle East. She claimed to have “studied the maps” of Rafah, a city in Gaza, and warned Israel not to conduct military operations there. After Israel found a massive tunnel network to Egypt and subsequently killed the leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, there, she then feigned support. Her repeated demands for ceasefires that only serve to benefit the forces of evil are further evidence of her lack of moral clarity.

With regard to immigration and the security of our nation’s borders, Harris utterly failed as VP in her role, which the media described as the “border tzar”. Illegal immigration soared and hundreds of thousands of those with criminal records roam freely amongst U.S. citizens. Mr. Trump’s immigration record is far superior to that of Ms. Harris.

On a purely local level, I’m voting for New Albany schools bond Issue 40 because the school board and district administration have demonstrated both its need and their fiscal responsibility. Your experience in other districts may be different, with your vote awarded accordingly.

Up and down the ballot when I vote this year, these issues and perspectives guide my choices. I’m sure many readers will have other issues important to them. I’m confident in the security of Ohio’s elections and I’ll respect the outcome when it’s announced.

 I like my peppers and my politics a little on the spicy side. Both can bite but following a few key principles, proper preparation, and allowing time to mellow makes a much better outcome.