I first voted in a national election for president in 1964 when I proudly pulled the lever (as did most everyone else) for LBJ when he ran against Goldwater. I didn’t vote for him because he was a Democrat from Texas or any other particular reason that I can remember. I do remember thinking that Goldwater wasn’t a very nice guy, but no specifics other than the fact the he was a strong advocate of using Agent Orange to defoliate the jungle, kill the Viet Cong and our troops as well. Since that time I’ve voted in 15 additional presidential election, not to mention numerous other elections of all sorts. Given my time in life, more likely than not, this was my last. I voted for the Republican ticket four times, and each time they won. I voted for the Dems eleven times and I could hardly not vote for my boss, Ross Perot in 1992. Of these eleven, I picked a winner only four times. So you can see if the pollsters had ever called me, they would have gotten some mis-direction.

In the face of the most recent outcome, which I consider to be nothing short of an unmitigated disaster, I’ve tried to reconstruct why I voted for who I voted for. One fact that jumps out as I look back at my voting record over the years is that I have not voted for the Republican nominee since 1988. Let’s see. In 1988 I had just turned 45, had a wife, a good job, a nice home, three kids doing well, paid all of my bills on time and was climbing “young ambition’s ladder” at a fairly rapid rate. In the seven prior elections (1964-1988) I voted Republican ticket five times, breaking ranks only for LBJ in ’68 and Carter in ’72.

Let me say a word or two about my political history. In 1960 I was the Youth Chairman for the Ed Mezvinsky (later a Congressman and felon who went to prison for financial fraud of some sort) campaign for the Iowa legislature. He was a Democrat in a strongly Republican district, but I worked for his father at Ames Fruit and Grocery, and I liked him personally. I was also selected as youth delegate to the Iowa State Republican convention. Go figure. Later in college, I was president of the Young Republican Club and was a strong advocate for a merciless meritocracy based on pure reason and functionality a la Ayn Rand’s Howard Roark in Fountainhead. By the time I was 44, all of that Republican/individual/conservatism had more or less evaporated. Yes, as a creature of the corporate world, I still thought the government should be more careful with our money, but in most other ways I had become a more or less a flaming progressive. I guess it would be easy to conclude that I had become more liberal the longer I lived, and I would say that this is at least partly true. But It wasn’t just me that changed. The world around us, including our political establishments were changing as well.

If I look back over the 16 presidential elections in which I voted and look for the defining characteristic that drove my choices, I would say that personal character directed my vote more than any other factor. Yet, I made some huge whiffs using that standard. Nixon couldn’t handle the heat and perfected lying, cheating and stealing from the Oval Office. And then there was Billy from Arkansas who couldn’t control his willy. Yes, I voted for both of them. Egads. I would like some do overs. LBJ is on a bit of shaky ground character wise just on the basis of picking his dog up by the ears and having skull sessions while sitting on the crapper. Reagan had a big personality when we needed someone larger than life, but then again he campaigned against Medicare before he was for it. I don’t know how to characterize Uncle Joe. Surely he did not know when it was time to quit, but he was, for the most part, a likable fellow. That may be the problem. He wanted people to like him more than he wanted to do what needed doing.

If I were forced to rank order presidential aspirants only on the basis of personal character I could only offer broad groupings. At the top would certainly be our recently departed and now dearly beloved Jimmy Carter, but I would also add Obama, McCain, Romney and George H.W. Bush running strong seconds. In the middling group I would put George W., Biden, John Kerry, and Al Gore of internet fame.

The bottom feeders of the character counts list would have to include Tricky Dick, George Wallace (of course), and even Clinton who couldn’t control his zipper. But our soon to be new and repeat president, DJT heads the list by a long way. I’m not going to recount all the reasons why this is so because you certainly already know. It’s been documented ad nauseam over the years. Hell, his fatally flawed character was on display for all to see long before he even decided to run for president. Many say there are other reasons, other than character, to vote for DJT, but I can’t see a way to get there….although many did. I’m afraid we all will rue the day.

We can suffer bad policy because bad policies can be changed. We can tolerate a spate of bad management, because we generally have supporting casts to fill in the gaps and guard rails to protect us when they don’t. What may do us irretrievable harm, however, is leadership with low/no character. Bad character doesn’t go away. Character doesn’t change and affects everything that is done or not done. Character always counts, and the character of our leaders and of ourselves will ultimately determine our fate.

Character always counts. Character is destiny.

Did I miss some? Certainly.