With our First in The Nation Primary a few months away, inundated as we are with campaign events for, and emails from, various candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, this writer, initially a Ramaswamy supporter, thought it might be useful to examine some of the statements and positions taken by one of the so-called “leading” candidates, Vivek Ramaswamy.
Unfortunately, the result has been a laundry list of reasons NOT to vote for him, as follows:
It seems that he lacks any meaningful understanding of the Mideast- equating Israel with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman & Indonesia. He says that he wants to cut previously promised aid to Israel and make sure that the surrounding Arab countries (and Indonesia) are given the same level of US foreign aid. But he fails to recognize that Israel was promised the level of US aid it receives to induce it to give up to Egypt the Sinai Peninsula and its revenue-producing oil wells. And make no mistake, the Islamic and highly anti-Semitic regimes of Saudi Arabia (the country of origin of most of the 9-11 terrorists), Qatar, Oman, and Indonesia are not real friends of the US and should not be “equated” in any way with the only US true friend in the Mideast, the State of Israel.
Ramaswamy’s insipid attempt to walk back his policy statement on Israel’s aid in an interview was so weak as to be pitiful.
It is a mystery why he would, in essence, provide Communist China (our greatest adversary in the world today) with a timetable under which it could try to take over Taiwan without US interference. Some might call this an unforced error on his part. It is completely unnecessary and actually quite dangerous.
Why would a serious candidate, the youngest in the current field, turn his back on young voters aged 18 to 24 by proposing to raise the voting age to 25? There is no realistic chance that the voting age will be increased to 25. Again, a completely unforced error indicative of a lack of thought.
In the same vein, why would a serious candidate propose requiring the passage of a citizenship exam for younger voters in order to qualify to vote? While it might be a good idea for anyone to have to pass such an exam in order to be eligible to vote, it is not going to happen, whether for young people or anyone else. Another unforced error. And such an exam requirement might actually be unconstitutional, sort of like a poll tax.
