HART: Conspicuously absent from presidential race is not race, but issues

Thankfully, football begins soon. Some don’t like filthy locker-room language, cheating, pay-for-play cash changing hands, weekly human violence, physical injuries and money wasted on education, so we turn off the nightly election news and watch college football instead.

Absent from this presidential race has been one thing we might regret: discussion of the issues. ObamaCare has been a disaster, with health care exchanges closing, insurance companies pulling out, and our premiums “soaring 18 percent to 23 percent across the country” (per the Wall Street Journal). Hillary is running on this issue while Trump spends his time insulting a mother and war heroes.

Then there’s the debt. Obama came to office with $10 trillion in national debt. He will double it, adding more than all previous 43 presidents combined. No one talks about this. Our nation was founded on “Give me liberty, or give me death.” Now the mantra seems to be, “Give me free stuff or you’re a racist.”

Hillary says she want to “invest” more in infrastructure to create jobs. Wasn’t that Obama’s “Stimulus Bill?” Most called it the “Porkulus Bill” because little was spent on infrastructure for purportedly “shovel ready jobs.” In swing state Wisconsin, 80 percent was given to public sector unions. You know, the ones in the T-shirts standing behind Obama at his midday rallies — during the work week.

Obama was “shoveling” something, but it wasn’t infrastructure jobs. And now Hillary is campaigning on the same con. They use the word “invest,” which means “We tax you and we spend with our crony friends.” Wordsmithing like this was first used by President Lyndon Johnson when he said he was going to “invest” in eliminating the 25 million Americans in poverty. Since his “War on Poverty” started, we have spent more than $22 trillion on anti-poverty programs. Now only 46.7 million Americans, about double from 1964, live in poverty — a success by D.C. standards.

At some point we have to realize the only enduring anti-poverty program is a job. And if Democrats keep taxing and regulating good companies out of America, there will be fewer of them. Government cannot hire and pay by shaking down for money everyone whom they want to; it’s not the Clinton Crime Family Foundation.

Wars on poverty, drugs, Vietnam, Iraq, obesity, etc. never work. There is no “war on” black youth by cops, no “war on” Christmas. For you kids out there, save yourself some trouble in the future. When someone tells you he is going to have a “war on” something, he is lying — and it will cost you a lot.

If Trump could fight his inclination to get into a Twitter fight with Meat Loaf and instead focus on the issues in this election, he’d win. His instincts are Republican and Libertarian (except on trade), and he’s on the correct side of issues. Mike Pence is spending all his time getting Trump’s childish foot out of his mouth. Pence must feel like a fireman living with a pyromaniac.

This presidential race is going down the home stretch. The horses are Foot in Mouth trailing Should’a Been Indicted by 10 lengths. Trump raised $80 million in small donations in July, almost matching the Clinton cash machine. I would not be surprised if Trump spends that money on attack ads against John McCain and Mitt Romney.

Clinton is so universally disliked, Tucker Carlson said, “that even Bill Clinton doesn’t want to have to vote for her.” Yet she is now winning, even in states where you can still buy a Confederate flag shot glass in a convenience store. That’s not good. A CBS poll has her up by 10 points, and a CNN newsroom poll has her already in her first 100 days as president.

The leading candidate is an accomplished liar. She even agreed with Obama that the $400 million in cash Obama clandestinely sent on an unmarked U.S. jet and gave to Iran the minute before our four hostages were released was not “ransom.” One would think two Ivy League, self-professed “smartest president” and “most qualified person ever to run for president” would understand what the word “ransom” means.

Simple questions aren’t asked during this campaign, like how Hillary, a woman “who’s only a public servant, dedicating her life to helping children” made $28 million in 2014 and is worth over $245 million. I think voters know what “ransom” means.

A libertarian op-ed humorist and award-winning author, Ron’s a frequent guest on CNN. He can be contacted at Ron@RonaldHart.com or @RonaldHart on Twitter.