I think it’s worth remembering something Ronald Reagan said at the last debate against the incumbent Jimmy Carter a week before the 1980 election.

Here’s what then candidate Reagan said:

Next Tuesday is Election Day. Next Tuesday all of you will go to the polls, will stand there in the polling place and make a decision. I think when you make that decision, it might be well if you would ask yourself, are you better off than you were four years ago? Is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago? Is there more or less unemployment in the country than there was four years ago? Is America as respected throughout the world as it was? Do you feel that our security is as safe, that we’re as strong as we were four years ago? And if you answer all of those questions yes, why then, I think your choice is very obvious as to whom you will vote for. If you don’t agree, if you don’t think that this course that we’ve been on for the last four years is what you would like to see us follow for the next four, then I could suggest another choice that you have.

We’ve lived under 8 years of Obama and are considering his acolyte to add at least 4 more.

Are you better off than you were 8 years ago?

Inflation is tamed but the result of that has been consecutive bubbles in the stock market that benefit the rich at the expense of the middle class or those living on a fixed income.

The unemployment statistics have been rigged. If we captured unemployment statistics using the same methodology in place in 1980 the unemployment rate would be double the current rate of 4.9%, with over a third of the country outside of the labor force.

Medical costs continue to soar, as does the cost of insurance. While Obamacare promised to boost access, it hasn’t delivered with an increasing number of insurers leaving the exchange market, leaving consumers with often no insurance choice at all.

Is America respected throughout the world as it was?

Ask the Chinese who are busy turning the western Pacific into their swimming pool.

Or the Russians who shot down an airliner full of civilians, annexed a chunk of a neighbor, and support a regime that made a joke of Obama’s red lines.

Or ISIS who formed in the power vacuum left in Iraq after Obama refused to negotiate a status of forces agreement with the Iraqi government.

Or the Taliban who is gradually reestablishing the safe haven that it once had that provided the launching pad for the greatest mass murder in American history.

Or North Korea which continues to refine its nuclear and missile capabilities without censure.

Or the Jihadis who have struck dozens of times in Europe, killing hundreds all over the continent and making Americans who travel there think twice, the way we once did when we traveled to the Middle East in the 1970s.

Do you feel that our security is as safe, that we’re as strong as we were eight years ago?

The Boston Marathon bombing.

The Pulse Nightclub attack in Orlando.

The San Bernardino massacre.

The Fort Hood shooting.

The Recruiting Center shooting in Chattanooga.

The 2016 Attack on the Dallas Police.

And how about the relations between the races after 8 years of America’s first black president?

The 2009 BART riots after the police shooting of Oscar Grant.

The 2010 BART Verdict riots. Another one occurred weeks later.

The 2010 Westlake district riots after police gun down a Guatemalan immigrant.

The 2012 Anaheim riots after multiple police shootings in which Manuel Diaz was killed.

The 2013 Flatbush riots after NYPD shoot and kill Kimani Gray.

The 2014 Ferguson riots after Michael Brown was shot and killed by Fergusson police.

The 2014 riots in NYC, Berkeley, and other cities after a grand jury refuses to indict Eric Garner.

The 2015 Baltimore riots after the death of Freddy Gray.

The 2016 riots in New York, Baton Rouge, St. Paul, Chicago and other cities after the police shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.

The 2016 riots in Milwaukee.

The 2016 riots in Charlotte after the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott by police.

And the year isn’t over.



As Reagan said, “And if you answer all of those questions yes, why then, I think your choice is very obvious as to whom you will vote for.” That choice today would be Hillary Clinton. And if you don’t, then your choice is clear. Donald Trump may not be Ronald Reagan, but having lived through the nightmare of the 1970s not once but TWICE thanks to Hillary and Obama, he is the only sensible choice.