It’s time somebody laid this out.  I’m tired of being told to vote on principle, to vote my conscience as if a vote for Trump couldn’t possibly fit that mold, as if wasting my precious, bought-with-blood vote on a person I’ve never even heard of, like James G. Birney (Liberty Party), would somehow put the universe back into its normal spin.  What’s more, these NeverTrumps are fanatically furious about it, as if Trump didn’t win the primary properly.

I’ll vote for Trump standing on these principles:

Freedom.  God created mankind with free will, and he flourishes best when his volition has the most leeway.  Hillary Clinton will destroy, via the bench, any shred of freedom we have left.  A refusal to vote for Trump gives her and her evil a leg up.  I refuse to provide that for her.

Absolute Truth and Objective Reality.  Reality #1: A conservative candidate must actually win a term in the White House in order for it to matter at all.  We need conservative policies, not just principles.

Reality #2: In order to do that, the electorate, which is smart but busy, must know who the candidate is.  They won’t vote for Tom Hoefling or Darrell Castle, who may be fabulous, but they’ve never heard of them.

Reality #3: The American psyche is a brash, energetic, no-nonsense, just get-er-done mentality.  As is Trump.  We are an adaptable, idiosyncratic, fiercely independent people.  As is Trump.  The media and academia have become elitist, but the average American is a street-smart, savvy, inventive guy, and when Americans look at Trump, they see themselves.  They’ll vote for themselves.

Nationalism.  God intended for people to live in countries, to develop a love for their countries, a protectiveness for their homes.  I do not buy the elitist multiculturalism tripe, as if all cultures are as valid and virtuous as every other.  They aren’t.

God’s Wisdom.  He uses surprising people.  Look at the women in the line of Christ: Tamar, who seduced her father-in-law; Rahab, the prostitute who helped Joshua take Jericho; Ruth, a Moabite; Bathsheba, David’s married concubine; Mary, who was unmarried, 14 years old, and pregnant.  Not your average prissy church ladies, and yet they are named in scripture, their stories told, their place in the lineage of Our Lord clearly proclaimed.  Look at David, Israel’s greatest king, and yet he not only seduced Bathsheba, but had her husband murdered.  If God chooses to use Donald Trump, then who am I to say no?

Logic. If I stick my stubborn, snobby nose in the air and proclaim that Trump is inadequately unsullied to deserve my pristine, picky vote and I either stay home or write in some unknown, make-believe name, then I’ve succeeded in assisting the election of a woman whose behavior is clearly criminal.  That does not serve logic.

Yesterday, a woman I was discussing this with said, regarding another person in the discussion, “You should respect his vote.  It’s his, and he can do what he wants with it.”  Yes.  Of course, but a vote isn’t like picking out a paint color.  You can paint your living room snot green or bubblegum pink; it’s your living room, and I don’t have to look at it.  But your vote affects me and mine.  If you help Hillary into the White House, America is over.  And I can’t respect a vote that is thrown away; if it’s of so little value to the NeverTrump, why should I see it as holy?

Remember the passage in Matthew (7:6) when Christ warns, “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”  He was speaking of the gospel, but the message can be applied here.  My vote is a precious pearl, and I’m not throwing it to the dogs, not even if they’re very nice dogs.  I’m voting my conscience.

 Deana Chadwell is an adjunct professor and department head at Pacific Bible College https://pacificbible.edu in southern Oregon. She teaches writing, logic, and literature. She can be contacted at dchad_02@charter.net.