Governor John Kasich (R-Ohio) and I have very different politics, but I have to say I'm glad he's standing up for the country this week and staying away from the RNC, I hope as a way of signaling to other Republicans that support for the Republican nominee is not automatic.

I have already confessed to having voted Republican in most Presidential elections as long as I've been able to vote. I voted for Reagan twice. Bush I, Dole, Bush II. But then, after seeing what the Republicans did in Iraq, I worked hard for Kerry in 2004, and after wrecking the economy, for Obama in 2008 and 2012. I am not a Democrat, but will not consider voting Republican again until the party starts behaving responsibly. 

And btw, people who blame HRC for the war in Iraq are wrong. Colin Powell, a man we trusted, went to the UN and told the world that Iraq was about to get nuclear weapons. They talked about mushroom clouds. What are you going to do when the President, Secretary of State, head of the CIA and National Security Advisor all say this is the beginning of WW III? Say no? I guess that's one possible answer. But most people, myself included, shrugged and said we don't have a choice but to believe them. That's what HRC and a lot of other Senators, did when asked to give the President authority to go to war.

They were lying. I don't get why people still trust Colin Powell. He personally cashed in his chips when he did that. He should apologize and then disappear from national politics. 

Anyway...

Trump is so far over the line that I think any Republican who stands by and does and says nothing must have a very bad spiritual disease. 

There's nothing wrong with Hillary Clinton. She's totally prepared to be president. She's a standard US politician, but quite a bit smarter and more curious that most. We will get a competent continuous government. Sure it'll have all the problems American governments have. Too closely tied to big companies. An impulse to use military might, projecting our power in a way I often don't approve of. Spying on us. I believe we need to change. But Trump isn't change, Trump is madness. Trump will destroy what's left. And no one who's sane will like what comes from that.

So while Kasich might be under some pressure to make an appearance at the RNC in his own state, I am glad that at least one Republican American is willing to stand for America first. That's what it really means. We're better than that. We really are. We must be.