Presidential hopefuls like Ohio sports teams

By: Chris Zimmer – Columnist, Senior

I’ve always feel left out when it comes to American professional sports and the playoffs. My Cleveland Browns have only made it to the NFL playoffs once since rebooting the franchise in 1999. My home state hockey team, the Columbus Blue Jackets, have only made it to the playoffs once since their formation in 2000. While my Cincinnati Reds made it into the postseason in 2010, 2012 and 2013, they’ve been “no-names” since winning the World Series in 1990. I feel the same way about American politics and the presidential election.

I knew I wasn’t going to hop on the socialist bandwagon with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., or support the criminal, Hillary Clinton, when the campaigns launched last summer. I surveyed the Republican field and found one candidate whose ideology and political stances aligned with mine: Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. I saw him as the next president of the United States of America. I was in the dumps after my candidate dropped out of the “presidential playoffs” after the Iowa caucus, but I respect his choice to focus on his senatorial re-election and still be a voice of liberty and common sense on the hill.

Some people think the guy is a lunatic for his filibusters, and others think he became a politician to continue his father’s legacy; but I believe the ophthalmologist at his word: He wants our country to return our principles of liberty and limited government. Sounds like he’d hit home with a lot of Republicans, right? I guess not. He might not have the charisma of Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fl., be as entertaining as real estate mogul Donald Trump or have the loudness of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tx., but the man knows the Constitution better than any conservative in the race, and knows what domestic and foreign policy legislation must be passed for our country to succeed.

I think it will take more time for the American public to warm-up to his progressiveness. He wants to enact term limits on members of Congress, end the costly “war on drugs” and repeal the 70,000-page IRS tax code. He’s against the unconstitutional mass surveillance of NSA spying and he isn’t pushing the unconstitutional gun-control agenda, either. He’s for dissolving the Federal Reserve and returning our currency back to the gold standard. Most of all, he wants states and local communities to reclaim their power. If the Founding Fathers were alive today, I believe he would receive their endorsement. I think the biggest problem is that the American people aren’t ready for such a radical change in our government.

I’m truly at odds on who to support for president now that Sen. Paul has withdrawn.  Former Republican Gov. Gary Johnson is running as the Libertarian nominee for this election again. He matches up with Sen. Paul on most issues, but I doubt a third party can win the general electorate. While Sen. Cruz claims he’s the libertarian’s choice, there are too many things I don’t like about him. So who am I getting behind now? Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Yes, I might be biased since I grew up in the Buckeye State, but Gov. Kasich has helped lift Ohio out of the recession. Kasich has a plethora of experience: serving one term as state senator, nine terms as a member of the House of Representatives and two terms as Governor. He inherited a lot of economic problems of the recession and leadership of Gov. Ted Strickland; however, Kasich worked with our state’s legislature and business leaders to fix them. What other Republican can say they cut taxes, created private sector jobs and turned an $8 billion dollar deficit into a $2 billion surplus—and actually back it up?  I believe he could do the same for our country, too. I really hope my Ohio governor won’t disappoint me like my Ohio sports teams.