Our country needs a new direction if it is to remain "our" country. By "our" we don't mean white or black, or rich or poor, or Muslim or Methodist or even left or right.

It means the country our founders had the wisdom to create, the country for which many thousands of our military's men and women died to perpetuate - and the country that, not that long ago, led the world in freedom, commerce and international respect.

_____

Will Morris explains endorsement of Donald J. Trump for president

_____

That country is no longer "us." It is a country that increasingly views success and hard work with resentment. It is a country in which Democracy, once a beacon of equality and inclusion, is a gridlocked trough where the richest squeals get the slop rather than the largest need. It is a country that increasingly puts the welfare of an abstract world order ahead of needs and dreams of the people who own it. It is a country deaf to its own cries of decline.

And it is a country that Hillary Clinton will sustain.

Donald Trump is easy to dismiss - a cinch to dislike. He's coarse and pugnacious. He's self-absorbed and self-indulgent. But he's also clearly a man completely unconcerned with "fitting in" to the crippled calamity of governance. That, alone, recommends him for the job he's seeking.

Conventional wisdom says we should fear his handling of international relations. May we suggest that playing our role from a position of strength is far less dangerous than America's current role as the doormat upon which petty dictators wipe their boots. In the Class of 2016, we've become "the country most likely to capitulate." Our only real allies are on the payroll. Clinton's world without borders is Pollyanna, and the most dire threat our country faces. You cannot reason with unreasonable leaders. Here at home we're saddled with a health care system imploding upon itself, crushed under the weight of diminishing options and spiraling costs. Clinton is its apologist. P.J. O'Rourke noted, "If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free."

We've made immigration an international right rather than privilege it is, along with the very real obligations of citizenship attached. It is stacking the electoral deck for decades of votes, bought with the promise of life unencumbered by real endeavor. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. A Clinton presidency throws the doors wide open. If you believe that the Second Amendment is here to stay, think again. The recent Supreme Court affirmations of the right to bear arms were by 5-4 votes. The fifth majority vote was that of Justice Antonin Scalia, now gone. The next president will change the face of the high court for decades - one way or the other. To his credit, Trump has announced his short list of candidates to fill coming vacancies. Their selection, he insists, is based on "constitutional principles." Trump may be irascible, but his opponent is currently indictable. She deflects every one of her considerable missteps by shooting the messenger. Ask FBI head James Comey this week. The millions of dollars pumped into the Clinton Foundation have yet to be proven to be quid pro quo. But does it occur to anyone that the real platform for payback is the White House?

In the end, this endorsement is not so much for a candidate, but for the sea of "deplorables" who believe they've heard their own voices echo in a presidential contender. Donald Trump's real relevance lies only in the millions of Americans who agree with him. He's where he is - as the latest polls indicate - because roughly half of our country puts its trust in the maverick candidate as their best bet to stop what they see as the death spiral of the United States of America.

As deplorable as it may seem to the other half of our country, we think they're on to something - and recommend Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States. There's nothing permanent but change.