As both candidates for president face off one final time before the Nov. 8 election, can we expect any civil discourse or discussion of policy? Or just more gutter accusations that will keep fact-checkers busy? Will there be any real value to voters? Our MBU Timeline bloggers write about these “Faulty Arguments” that are too often being sold — or attempted to be sold — as truth to an electorate that needs to be informed like never before.
Why Do We Buy Into the Blatant Misrepresentations of our Candidates?
By KAYLA GLYSHAW
I could not count how many times Trump and Clinton have made illegitimate and non-factual comments and statements on my fingers. Our public is so quick to believe anything they hear or read because they can be too trusting of the media. If you’re like me — someone who bases opinions about candidates on what people say rather than doing educated research — you need to be aware of what is true. In order to fix this, we must dig deeper into the reality of things to seek the truth. Some statements are clearly not factual and most people could see the truth within the statement that was clearly not thought out. Trump said, “Our African-American communities are absolutely in the worst shape they’ve ever been in before. Ever. Ever. Ever.” If you’ve ever taken an American history class it is quite obvious this is not the worst shape they have ever been in.
Some statements are not easily detectable if one does not follow up the statement with research. “We don’t know anything about Hillary in terms of religion,” Trump said. “Now, she’s been in the public eye for years and years, and yet there’s no — there’s nothing out there.” On the other hand, at a 2007 presidential forum Clinton said, “I was raised to pray, as a little girl, you know, saying my prayers at night, saying grace at meals, praying in, you know, church.” Someone like me who honestly knows nothing about politics and tends to be gullible would not see the lack of truth in this statement. The reality is that it is slightly depressing that there are a plethora of false statements made by our presidential candidates who will be representing our country. Whether they are obviously false facts or masked by a confident voice we need to be aware to take what we hear with a grain of salt before we jump to conclusions about a candidate.
Are Candidates Making it Difficult for Christians to Vote for Either of Them?
By JOSH EATON
The Democratic candidate has made her views on the Christian faith crystal clear. “Deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed,” said Hillary Clinton. One side of the coin is already unwilling to represent and support a specific group of American people, rather she’d have us change our Biblical beliefs to support the America she wishes to mold with her bare hands. Granted, Clinton made this comment in the context of abortion, not our faith as a whole, but to say that we have to change our religious beliefs to support her take on a specific topic is outlandish. On the other side, we have Donald Trump, an inconsiderate, money hungry womanizer who acts one way and says one thing on stage while claiming he supports others in countless bios on the web. With this year’s election weighing so heavily on the United States as a whole, it’d make sense to vote for your specific party, securing more Supreme Court chairs that share like-minded views with yourself.
As a Christian, I wish more than anything for our country to be rooted in religious freedom and integrity, a country that makes decisions based on Biblical principles and ethical values, one aimed at helping the less fortunate and achieving prosperity by working together, rather than tearing each other apart to get ahead like we’ve so often seen in this year’s political race. Trump may fall in line more so with the views and beliefs I hold dear, but in no way does he adequately represent a man of God. An essential building block in the Christian walk is our faith, or ability to trust God when we don’t have everything put together. America, we definitely don’t have everything put together. At the end of the day, my life is not my own, it is Christ’s, just as this country is. Whether Clinton or Trump is seated in the White House, Christ still sits on the throne, and as believers, we can find rest and peace of mind in him, rather than the individual who governs this nation.
Childish Character Attacks Replace Valuable Dialogue in this Ugly Campaign
By EMILY MORTON
Democratic and Republican candidates alike have fallen into the tempting trap of name calling, digging up past mistakes and comments, and bringing up issues that have little to do with how a nominee will run a country. From focusing on a coughing fit to a potential First Lady’s stolen speech, many Americans have grown tired of the charade and are ready to hear about real issues. One of these rabbit trail issues that Hillary Clinton has chosen to target in her campaign is Donald Trump’s comments toward women. While I do not agree or condone these comments made by Trump in the slightest, I also do not believe these are the issues that need to be most talked about. Clinton currently has a campaign ad out that shows girls looking in the mirror. While looking in the mirror there are clips and sound bites of comments Trump has made regarding women. To conclude the commercial the question is asked: Is this the man you want leading your daughters? While again I do not condone the comments made I also do not agree with the campaign ad. As a woman I have never felt my opinion of myself being shaped by a presidential candidate.
I have, however, worried about our country’s security. I have wished that policies on abortion and immigration would be changed. I have worried about our nation’s current racial divide. These are the issues and policies that ads need to be centered around. But, time is being wasted on both sides with character attacks. For Trump, these character attacks come in the form of his past disrespect for women. Women and men alike are up in arms about the decade-old comments, which is valid. However, the Clinton family’s struggle with the same topics are being ignored. Ideally, there would not be a president who makes these comments and shows a pattern of disrespect. Ideally, our candidates would be squeaky clean, but this is far from the case in either party and we must accept this and turn to the important issues of our country’s security and our own individual rights. So, going into tonight’s debate, we can only hope that both candidates will choose to lay aside more trivial issues that have defined this campaign and, instead, focus on issues that will launch our country into a better future.
Triston Buckley 
Emily Retzer