March 8, 2016

Dear Mr. Trump

You have unified a party as never before. Or perhaps I should say...two parties.

You are running as a Republican. But there are two groups of people which now make up that party. One group I would call "true conservatives." Oh, surely, there are subgroups. However, these are about the 60% of people who hope for limited government, who believe the United States has gone quite wrong at some point in the past, and who seek the freedom to raise families, to practice their religion, to run their businesses, and form communities. These voters have hope.

The other group (and these two are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but I think the division is fair) is comprised of people disgruntled with the political process, and looking to take it out on the system. These are people who do not usually track the depths of politics (who can blame them?), are not interested even in the finer points of Rubio or Cruz (whom they regard as part of the problem), and need a demagogue.

You, Mr. Trump, fit that bill.

As should be evident, you change position depending on how the question is asked and when. You make flimsy excuses ("I didn't hear the question") for bad positions, you state different things at different times, you hedge, you engage in glittering generalities, and you bluster about hand sizes and other nonsense.

This works for the 30% - 40% who support you.

But we will never vote for you. Never.

The other 60 - 70% of conservatives have suffered through the crap of the candidates these past years, and always swallowed our pride. We have pulled the lever for pseudo-conservatives, hucksters, evangelists, comedy routines, and big-hearted big government conservaliberals. But you, Mr. Trump...YOU have thrown the choice into stark...stark...relief.

We will never vote for you.

We have swallowed it long enough. It is no longer a question of taking a deep breath and opposing Obama or Hilary or whomever. You have become a force to be opposed. And we will do that by refusing to vote. We think you are a charlatan - a paper tiger - a sophist - a ridiculous TV clown who opens debate answers with penis jokes.

We are through with politics. We will not hold our nose. We will not look away. We will not vote. We will stay home, we will cook and drink wine and toast the end of the Republic. If you win the presidency, it is clearly a spot for sale even as the Roman Emperorship was sold. We cannot participate in this. So we will not.

Take heed Mr. Trump. Your political rise ends with your nomination. "Candidate" will be the last public slot you hold. You may think that we will vote for you because the other side is Hillary Clinton. You are mistaken. In the spot for the lesser of two evils, home and nonvoting is the only option.

Now, what will you do, Mr. Trump? Will you drop our and endorse Rubio or Cruz? Will you take the Republican party to a split in to Whigs and Progressives? Will you broker a convention? This is your last chance at greatness. In the general election, you will not win - what is your choice now?

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