Who Do I Chose?

I consider the candidate's actions to be most important. After that I consider his moral and political philosophy, both extremely difficult to judge because they are ideas or thoughts. If she should tell you of the noble and virtuous ideas, you must consider the possibility that she is unwilling or unable to turn them into actions. Jimmy Carter is a case in point: moral and idealistic, but incapable of gaining enough support to do something.

There are different styles. I've found many conservatives are top-down moralists: they assume if they elect a moral person to an office that virtue and good policy will inevitably result. Liberals are bottom-up consensualists: they assume if the policies are good that those policies will cause leadership to follow. Both are flawed. Moral men can do bad things and well crafted policies can lead to unintended results.

Ultimately, that is why other ideas about the practice of politics need to be tried: democracy, responsibility, community based economics and politics, decentralization and justice. Neither of the leading parties speaks in any depth to these issues. When I hear someone who does, then I know that at least a beginning of serious thought is there and this may be a candidate worth supporting.