Slade Gorton: Write-in Evan McMullin for president

The two major political parties have failed the American people this year. The Republicans have nominated Donald Trump, a morally reprehensible prowler who combines mountainous ignorance with an equal degree of arrogance that can actually endanger the survival of the Republic. The Democrats counter with Hillary Clinton, whose only and guiding philosophy is whatever will bring more money and power to the Clinton family, who will change her position on any issue to please the audience in front of her and will lie repeatedly in a vain attempt to hide her indifference to the security of our country.

Neither is remotely qualified to be president of the United States.

Fortunately there is a qualified alternative. Unfortunately, his name is not on the ballot here in Washington and must be written in. He is Evan McMullin, independent candidate for president

I am writing in the name Evan McMullin because I want to be proud of my choice on Election Day; and in a close election, voting for McMullin might possibly change everything. Why? Because he will put his country first.

Evan McMullin is a genuine conservative who believes that every American is created equal and has the same God-given rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. That means that in our country there is no place for racism, religious prejudice or the degrading treatment of women. Evan believes that no one is above the law, no matter what office they hold or how wealthy they are.

Of course, a commitment to liberty and equality isn’t just for conservatives. Centrists and progressives who care about these principles should also think very seriously about voting for Evan McMullin if they are determined to vote their conscience.

His election will also have profound consequences for our national security. We have failed to prevent terrorists from striking us here at home, in San Bernardino and in Orlando, in St. Cloud, Minnesota, and in New York City. China and Russia have stepped up their intimidation of their neighbors, while North Korea and Iran continue to launch missiles.

These are the consequences of failed leadership, a failure almost certain to continue under either a President Clinton or a President Trump.

So, it is no accident the candidate with the greatest understanding of the threats we face is also the only candidate who has served on the front lines in the war against terrorism. As an officer in the CIA, Evan volunteered five times for service in the Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa. He knows firsthand the brutality and inhumanity of war and he opposed the invasion of Iraq. Yet he also knows that there is no way to defeat the so-called Islamic State without the measured use of force, whether in the form of airstrikes or supporting local forces on the ground.

The groundswell of support for the McMullin campaign, particularly in states in which his name appears on the ballot, should not be surprising. In my long years of public service, I’ve seen that Americans want to vote for someone who puts his country first ahead of his own self-interest. We feel a knot in our stomach when we think about voting for candidates who clearly lack the personal integrity required of a true leader.

In a matter of weeks, Evan has surged to the head of the pack in Utah and is making real inroads in Idaho, Wyoming, and elsewhere. If he wins just a handful of states, depriving both major party candidates of a majority in the electoral college, that would send the election to the House of Representatives, where I believe that his potential to unify our country might well lead him to victory.

Evan McMullin also stands for the taxing, spending and regulatory reforms articulated by Speaker Paul Ryan, Cathy McMorris Rodgers and other responsible Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives and for sound Republican principles.

But the overwhelming majority of Washington Democrats who voted for Bernie Sanders last May, and who were cheated out of a fair shot at the nomination by a combination of unelected superdelegates and the unfair thumb on the scale by the national Democratic leadership, have just as much at stake as do Republicans. If Hillary Clinton is elected, she and her husband will own the Democratic Party for eight long years; if she loses, the party will belong to its reformers.

So for all voters here in Washington who are disgusted with the choice offered us by two failing political parties, the choice is simple. Ignore the top lines of the presidential ballot and at the bottom of the column write in the name Evan McMullin, fill in the oval and have pride in your country once again. In Idaho, voters are more fortunate as Evan McMullin’s name appears on the presidential ballot.

Slade Gorton was a U.S. senator representing Washington from 1981 to 1987 and from 1989 to 2001.

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