Guy Farmer: A non-endorsements column

Yes, I know political columnists are supposed to endorse candidates in election years, but I'm going to ignore that conventional wisdom today by endorsing only two candidates: Northern Nevada Congressman Mark Amodei, a Carson City Republican, and my good friend PK O'Neill to regain his old District 40 seat in the Nevada Assembly.

As I wrote last Saturday, "At this point I don't think I can vote for either one of the fatally flawed presidential candidates." I can't vote for 74-year-old President Trump, recently hospitalized with COVID-19 — which he tries to downplay — because he's a rude, crude bully who suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Everything is always about him, not about our great country simultaneously facing a deadly pandemic and resulting economic crisis.

I can't vote for his opponent either because soon-to-be 78-year-old former Vice President Joe Biden is a career politician who's been wallowing in the Washington swamp for nearly 50 years. And moreover, he's being dragged far to the left by "democratic socialists" like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), who think the federal government should tell us how to live our lives. No thanks!

Although the once-moderate Biden has assured us that he isn't a radical leftist, he signed-off on Sanders' socialist manifesto calling for "open borders," re-imagining the police (whatever that means) and much of a toxic Green New Deal that would outlaw fossil fuels and bankrupt the U.S. Treasury. Remember, Sanders and AOC aren't Democrats; they're socialists.

Biden's running mate, ultra-liberal California Sen. Kamala Harris, didn't help their cause in her debate against Vice President Mike Pence last Wednesday when she dodged questions about the Green New Deal and possible Supreme Court "packing" plans.

In the end I'll vote for the least worst presidential candidate, and feel bad about doing so. I'd like to be more positive, but I can't because 21st century American politics are so polarized that we're supposed to hate one other. I'll never succumb to the politics of hate. Amen.

State and Local Offices

My vote for Amodei is a no-brainer. He represents Northern Nevada well in the House of Representatives and possesses a rare quality among present-day politicians, a sense of humor. That's why he never takes himself too seriously. His opponent, liberal Democrat Patricia Ackerman, is a Nancy Pelosi clone. Nuff said.

I'm endorsing my good friend and Monday lunch buddy O'Neill, a civic-minded moderate Republican, for his old District 40 seat in the State Assembly because he's a conscientious, experienced legislator who will hit the ground running next year. As chairman of the Salvation Army Advisory Board, he does many good things in our community. His opponent, former Carson City Librarian Sena Loyd, is a very bright and personable young woman who did a fine job of turning around the formerly scandal-ridden library. She has a promising future in politics, but not this time around.

I know and like the two Carson City natives who are vying for the Ward 2 city supervisor seat, Stacie Wilke-McCulloch and Maurice White. If you lean to the left you'll vote for Wilke-McCulloch, but if you lean to the right you'll vote for "Mo" White. Take your pick.

And finally, I'll probably vote against ballot questions that propose amendments to the Nevada Constitution because amendments bypass the Legislature, which should act on those measures.

I'm going to fill out my mail-in ballot and deposit it down at the Courthouse and suggest you do the same if you're worried about mail-in voting, as I am. But above all, please vote.

Guy W. Farmer has been a Carson City voter since 1962.