Mississippi had its Republican and Democratic primaries Tuesday. Donald Trump won the majority of Republican delegates and Hillary Clinton won the vast majority of Democratic delegates.
I walked around campus trying to determine whom I would vote for as a moderate Republican. I will go ahead and admit that I did not vote in the primary, for more complicated reasons than just I did not want to vote or because I did not feel it would be worth it.
I would like to take those reading this through my thought process of deciding whom to vote for. This will also bleed into my thought process for the presidential election.
My biggest issue with choosing whom to vote for in the Republican primary is merely a game of numbers. Currently, Trump is perceived by many to be the Republican nominee for president.
Trump is leading in delegates followed by Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and, finally, John Kasich. If I voted today, I would have voted for John Kasich, but in the game of numbers Kasich at this point has the least chance of winning.
Some say that a vote for him is wasted, and in some way it is, but it is an attempt to take away any vote from Trump or Cruz. I refuse to let my party fall into the hands of fanatics.
The Republican Party has been taken into the hands of two unproven individuals.
Ted Cruz has not even been in Congress for a full three years and for some reason, he has managed to dodge the criticism that has been lumped on Marco Rubio, who has been in Congress for almost two years longer.
Ted Cruz is a methodical, uncompromising individual who is not what this country needs as a leader.
He has a set group of ideas and morals — although they may be good for himself and other evangelical Christians, they are not good for this country.
As Christ says in Mark 12:16, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Maybe Cruz should understand the difference between the roles of government and faith.
Trump, who I believe is not as terrible as Ted Cruz, has almost no set ideas or policies, which means he can change things as he sees fit.
This can be good or bad if he actually wins the Republican nomination.
What this implies is that Trump could very possibly release a series of actual policies and plans that are completely rational.
Bear in mind the possibility of this happening is rather low. Trump has done one thing though, and that is bringing people who typically do not vote to the Republican Party. As much as I advocate for people to vote, how does more people voting for Trump actually benefit this country?
This is an interesting question to ask yourself: does bringing in more voters help this country if the majority votes for Donald Trump?
Dalton Capps is a senior history major from Coldwater.
This is part two of a series on voting in Mississippi. The other parts of this series include columns on Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, and Marco Rubio.
