Ewin James | 'Liar, Liar', starring Hillary Clinton

Maybe no election in our lifetime will have been as important as the one just two weeks away. What happens on November 8 will have weighty implications for America and the world.

Well before the beginning of the 21st century, America began drifting away from its moorings as a Christian, conservative, and capitalist nation. This drifting has accelerated under Barack Obama, who wants to change America. Now, America stands to drift even farther, in so doing weakening its powerful capitalism, its sovereignty by indiscriminate immigration, and its resolve to fight threats from terrorism.

The candidates for the presidency, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, differ ideologically about whether America is drifting, so whichever one is elected, we could either have America continue on its present course or try to turn around.

Hillary doesn't see America heading in the wrong direction, for she hasn't criticised Obama. She doesn't represent change.

But she has grave problems of policy and character. She has been a reckless public servant and a superlative liar. When she was secretary of state, with full knowledge of the rules of the State Department, she installed a private server in her home in New York, more than 200 miles from her office in Washington, DC, and sent emails of her job on it.

To hide what she did, she erased the emails - an obstruction of justice. When called to account, she lied repeatedly that she didn't know that what she had done was wrong and that she had turned over all the emails to the FBI.

She also lied that she used only one cell phone for protection - the FBI found that she had used 13 - and when she and her aides were subpoenaed, they destroyed the phones, some of them with a hammer. This wrongdoing might have compromised the security of the United and endangered people's lives.

Such a person is unfit for the highest office in the world. If her name wasn't Clinton, she would be in prison serving a long sentence.

Then there is the Benghazi affair. Despite being warned of the dangerous security conditions at the mission in Benghazi, Libya, up to a year before the infamous event, and a written request from the ambassador, Chris Stevens, Hillary ignored the request to provide adequate security.

The result: The mission was attacked in 2012 and Chris Stevens and three other staff members were murdered.

Rather than take responsibility, Hillary lied that her assistants failed to tell her of the security conditions at the mission and that she had received no requests for increased security. But the most egregious lie of all was her saying that the attack had been sparked by an anti-Muslim video posted on the Internet.

RECKLESS

With Hillary as president, we are sure to get four more years of what we have got for the last eight under Barack Obama: open borders and drugs and crime coming across them; a fivefold increase in Syrian refugees and among whom will certainly be terrorists from ISIS; and higher taxes.

Many Americans do not want this. That is why people are turning to Donald Trump.

But he is a deeply flawed man, who is reckless in his speech and actions, which is unbecoming of the president of the greatest country on Earth.

It is also coming to light that he has been a mighty womaniser, though not of the stripes of Hillary's husband, Bill, who was impeached because of perjury and obstruction of justice over an affaire with an intern in the White House.

Despite this, Bill Clinton is one of the most popular ex-presidents and is the elder statesman of the Democratic Party. So there may be hope for Donald Trump.

Donald trump is also unschooled in the details of policy and the issues that a president of the US will have to deal with daily. Understandably, many people are hesitant about him.

It is the system that he, along with many Americans, is convinced that is the problem. Will he be given the chance, though?

- Ewin James is a freelance journalist living in Longwood, Florida. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.