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My response. 1) Let's start with health care. What about Obamacare makes healthcare affordable? Tell me what data you can come up with that shows people are paying less for health care. And what are the total actual numbers of people who didn’t have health insurance in 2008 vs. 2016? Sadly we have seen how an inexperienced, unqualified team of so-called experts with insufficient background in health care came up with a bureaucracy-based system that is collapsing under its own weight. The incoming administration has an opportunity to try to make healthcare affordable, while at the same time reestablishing freedoms within the system.

2) Russia. Where to start? I don’t know any conservative who seriously likes Russia. Hillary is the one who came up with the cute little ‘push the reset button’ soundbite regarding our relations with Russia, but her foreign policy expertise appeared to be just as superficial. Under the current administration we lost the Middle East, and let Russia end-run us in Syria. While we are getting the short end of the stick with China, from an economic perspective, Russia is forging diplomatic ties with them. People like Putin understand power and weakness. That's how they view the world. In that context, the last 8 years have played into Russian hands.

3) Our Allies. Who do you define as our allies? Israel is an ally, but under the outgoing administration we treated them poorly, and tried to influence their elections. We treated their leaders with disrespect, and we sided with their enemies - preferentially. We have probably helped pave the way for “wipe Israel off the map” Iran to get nuclear weapons to annihilate Israel. So, let me ask you about Crimea? We, as a nation, pledged our protection to the Ukraine, but other than some bold rhetoric condemning Russia's invasion of the Crimea, we didn't do much. How does this square with your comments about Russia, and about our allies? There are many more examples to go along with those.

4) Cutting taxes - and thus incentivizing people and corporations to invest and take risks is good. Having a strong military is a deterrent to war, and a very strong tool for effective and peaceful diplomacy. Speak softly and carrying a big stick is a good idea. I do think that Trump has been a big-mouth. I think a lot of it has been that he was so frustrated by how our leaders have kept selling America out. Well he does need some polishing and this campaign has shown him learn the ropes of being a newbie politician. Nevertheless, I think most Americans care more about what a President does than what he says.

5) The incoming administration has made it clear that they support Civil Rights, as does the vast majority of the American populace and conservatives. But alas we’ve heard all sorts of “fake news” in the media that Trump is an anti-Semite and that he surrounds himself with anti-Semites. And then we learn that most of his grandkids and his beloved daughter are Jews. He’s having her husband Jared be one of his top advisors too? I personally think that he might be secretly Jewish. In the meantime we see the Democrats considering to put a possibly strong supporter of the Nation of Islam in as their Chairman? I’m speechless as earlier this year I was appalled to hear some of them giving tirades of extreme racism in Harlem, New York City.

6) Reducing the population by 10%? Where did you get that one? You know that many conservative families have lots of kids. Well I do know that my Mormon parents claimed they used birth control a lot in their marriage. But they had me and 9 other children; and have 45 grandchildren now. And I know plenty of other conservative families that are having big families. So what is your point?

7) Regarding trade wars with countries that lend us money, and the issue of telling private companies how to run their businesses, there are many things to say. First, it doesn’t need to be “trade war” but trade fairness where we have very close to equal levels of trade with other countries and the world. Second, why does the US have to ‘borrow’ money? Why are we a debtor nation? Partially, because we have an unsustainably large government that irresponsibly put into place unsustainable social programs that actually hurt people in the long run, and put our nation’s children and future generations into debt. Third, why shouldn't we protect ourselves and the interests of our citizens when determining trade policy and trade agreements? We've been getting the short end of the stick, and anyone who claims to be a champion of American workers should be in favor of negotiating fair trade agreements. Why do our politicians push for us to allow corporations to have incentives to violate minimum wage laws & environment laws & then be allowed to import goods into the country without any tariffs? That’s what we allowed as we turned our well-paid manufacturers into welfare bums & as a result instead of milking these high incomes with taxes to pay governments’ bills we spend (and run up deficits) to help them eat while we’ve stripped the hopelessly unemployed of their dignity. With regards telling private companies what to do, it has been the Democrats who have pushed policies that tell private companies that they have to bake cakes for occasions that are inconsistent with their personal religious beliefs, and that want to force private Catholic hospitals to provide abortions, etc. Personally I think the federal government has no business controlling doctors’ work, family bedrooms, etc. as they need to stay focused on being able to be fiscally sound, perform their federalism role in the enumerated powers of Congress, and strengthen the union.

8) Some other thoughts. I saw Paul Ryan on Sixty Minutes tonight. I’m reminded that he is probably in a more powerful role than Trump now as it’s in the House where the bills to generate revenue must all originate. And due to the fact we have a National Debt & a debt ceiling that’s coming back March 15th its going to be imperative that things get in balance. The federal government will not be bringing in enough revenue the next 4 years to meet all the obligations that have already been spent previously so anything it seeks to spend on must be borrowed. Thus they must be very prudent and drain that swamp 