By James G. Smith
The Selma Times-Journal

In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate — look to his character.” —Noah Webster (1789)

Noah Webster surely could not have known the choices we have this year in selecting a new president. The divisions in our country run long, deep and wider than at any point I can recall during my lifetime. We need someone with character who will guide us through a recovery period of stability, job growth, innovation and fiscal responsibility on budget matters. The only way out of the crises we are headed for is by turning back to God, and through job growth and innovation. Every able bodied man and woman must have a job and contribute to the economy rather than take from it.

Where are the brilliant young lions of the Democratic and Republican parties? Are we to believe these two old and unpopular nominees are the best in the parties? Surely, there must be better to offer. We can ill afford to go through another four years of the status quo piling up mountains of debt and issuing job killing and morally corrupt policies. There must be change.

What should have been a walk in the park for the Republicans this year is turning into a virtual nightmare. The main stream media is relentlessly crucifying Donald Trump. Not to deny, they are not having to look very hard for material since he is his own worst enemy. He should be aware of their biases and save all the gaffes for the shower. Democrats, and especially Hillary, get a pass with the mainstream media because they are compassionate and caring (ahem), all the while laughing at their pawns.

Admittedly, the remarks Trump made responding to the tongue lashing Mr. Kzir Khan gave him at the DNC, would have been better not said. Captain Humayun Khan is an American hero on the level reserved only for those who have given their lives for our country. There are no ifs, ands, or buts to be discussed, period. The Khan family should be afforded all the respect and courtesy that all Gold Star families in our country are due and deserve. However, Mr. Khan, with all due respect, allowed himself to be placed in the political arena. It is quite obvious to me the Democrats used Mr. Khan to lambast Republican nominee Donald Trump for his position on a temporary ban on Muslim refugees entering the country.

In the rough and tumble game of politics, you expose yourself as fair game regardless to who you are when you jump in the cesspool of politics. Regrettably, Trump’s remarks were personal, but so were Mr. Khan’s.

“Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks-no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.” —James Madison (1788)