How a candidate is perceived is more important than where they actually stand. If anything has been proven true this election cycle, it is that public perception trumps facts. This is the secret that Donald Trump and even Bernie Sanders have tapped into. It doesn’t matter how much reality clashes with their rhetoric, because their campaigns are about selling brands, not speaking truth.
But sometimes the media and voters craft their own idealistic perceptions. Thus is the case with Ohio Governor John Kasich, who has largely escaped needed scrutiny because he is by all accounts a nice guy. Kasich has been the voice of moderation during downright nasty debates and in contrast seems like a reasonable choice. But that’s because his policies aren’t being considered.
Libertarians began to warm up to Kasich for some reason, even though he has proposed dismantling the wall of separation between church and state and using federal tax dollars to promote Judeo-Christian propaganda around the world. Libertarians, who usually scream and run from anyone who even hints at their faith during political events and who generally don’t want the U.S. telling other nations and cultures what to do, ignore this because Kasich seems a friendly guy.
Kasich told NBC News:
As part of a broad national security plan to defeat ISIS, Republican Presidential candidate John Kasich proposed creating a new government agency to push Judeo-Christian values around the world.
The new agency, which he hasn’t yet named, would promote a Jewish- and Christian-based belief system to four regions of the world: China, Iran, Russia and the Middle East.
“We need to beam messages around the world” about the freedoms Americans enjoy, Kasich said in an interview with NBC News Tuesday. “It means freedom, it means opportunity, it means respect for women, it means freedom to gather, it means so many things.”
I personally have no issue with Judeo-Christian values or social conservatism, as long as those values are personal. Once people want to start making religion part of government institutions, I draw the line.
But it’s no more baffling to see libertarians flirting with Kasich as it is to see any conservatives supporting him, ever. His suggestions of creating new departments is at odds with his message of cutting government and he thinks government involvement in healthcare is necessary.
Cincinnati.com writes:
He wants to ensure insurance coverage for people who have pre-existing conditions. He likes insurance exchanges. And he thinks everyone should have health insurance – even young, healthy people who need an incentive to sign up.
Yet he says he’d push to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law and replace it with something else – something better, he says – if his presidential campaign were to prove successful.
Sounds like more big government solutions.
John Kasich may be a nice guy, but that doesn’t qualify him to be president.
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