CRITERIA ...... NO APOLOGIES, PERIOD

Over Six Decades of My Observations resulted in these CRITERIA 

American Heritage Dictionary: cri-te-ri-a (plural of criterion, Greek origin) Standards, rules, or tests on which  judgments or decisions can be based.

By application of the following criteria, I can quickly eliminate a person from consideration for public office, and often from me even attempting to engage them in a serious conversation.  At this stage of my life, my "they-are-not-worth-my-time-Radar" is pretty damn sensitive and accurate.  If a person is speaking or acting with their true voice, it often takes only a matter of seconds for some of these criteria to be applied.

Some are fairly obvious

RACISM ...  The vile racist is quickly detected by most of us.  But I also have a big problem with those who profess to personally not be racist, but also talk about racism being a thing of the past, that racism no longer requires any consideration in public policy.  If these people had to spend one week as a black person in America, they would rapidly be disabused of their ignorance.  Since there is virtually no real voter fraud, people voting as someone they are not, Voter suppression by ID statutes is essentially racist, a blatant attempt to hold down the African-American vote because it usually goes over 90% Democratic.

SEXISM ... The spate of sexist laws enacted by several state legislatures proves sexism is alive and well, infused with great political energy as the War on Women.  The Hobby Lobby SCOTUS decision is literally a supreme example.  Anyone who has political or religious beliefs which allow them to think women do not have the right of complete control over their own bodies and deserve equal pay is definitely too ignorant or mean-spirited to be in public office.

HOMOPHOBIA ...  In today's political climate, the most virulent, hateful public rhetoric is put forward on this issue, usually buttressed by a fundamentalist religious viewpoint.  These haters need to get over it.   Somewhere between 5-10% of all human beings have always been gay or bisexual. Gay people are buried in our veterans cemetery at Normandy, in every national cemetery, have been some of our greatest artists, scientists, philosophers, politicians ... EVERYTHING !!!
To deny gays any rights whatsoever which heterosexuals enjoy is the real abomination.

BIGOTRY ...  based on national origin, ethnicity, language, religious preference, etc.
The small-mindedness of these types of bigots is something which should only be a memory of our distant past, as should the three criteria above.  Religious bigotry is the persecution of those who profess a different belief system, often employing the apparatus of the state by law or use of arms, the latter responsible for millions of deaths throughout history down to the current day. ... essentially a brand of "racism" where religious beliefs are substituted for skin color.  I would point out that challenging a person's religious belief system on its philosophical, rational, or scientific merits is not bigotry any more than challenging their political beliefs.

HOSTILITY to REAL SCIENCE ...  A rejection of the conclusions of the overwhelming number of scientists about the true nature of the physical universe, and an appalling ignorance of the self-correcting methodology of genuine scientific disciplines.  The notions of literal Genesis style Creation or so-called Intelligent Design do NOT qualify as a valid descriptions of the physical universe, they are not science and are a disservice to the moral teachings of the scriptures cited.   They are purely religious viewpoints which I will defend the right of persons to hold as a matter of religious freedom, but they are not science upon which any public policy should be based, from which textbooks should be used to funding for scientific research.  The denial of human consumption of fossil fuels being a contributor to the Fact of climate change is an incredibly dangerous current hostility to real science.
       I find any person is too ignorant for public office who does not know that our Earth is not flat, the Earth is not the center of the universe, that our Earth is a 4 billion year old planet, a fragile blue marble in a cosmically sweet spot orbit around the Sun, which itself is a minor Star among at least 100 Billion other stars in the Galaxy we call the Milky Way, which  is only one of over 100 Billion other galaxies in the observable Universe detected by the technology currently available, that all these Galaxies are moving away from one another at tremendous speeds because all of this originated from a incredibly dense singularity which underwent a sudden, violent expansion, a Big Bang some 13.8 Billion years ago, and that life on our Earth arrived at its present state through the process of Evolution by natural selection over immense periods of time.  What existed before the Big Bang, science in its current state makes no assertions.

SUPPLY-SIDE ECONOMICS ... anyone who adheres to this "trickle-down" theory of economics is living in a fantasy and not the real world of experience and observation since there is no evidence of it ever working.  The reality is it concentrates  more wealth in the hands of the top 5% ... and it does not trickle down which is a main reason for the increasing income inequality in our country.

GUN WORSHIP ... includes the ludicrous and erroneous notion that love of firearms is an expression of genuine patriotism and the implication that anyone who does not also worship at the altar of gun ownership is less patriotic (btw, I own guns).  Anyone who believes that our personal freedoms now, or throughout our history, have been achieved or preserved through personal decisions about the use of firearms is, in the most literal sense of the word, Ignorant.   Apparently, they do not, or refuse to understand basic English grammar and the meaning of conditional clauses.  The  2nd Amendment: 

Article [II]

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

"the right of the people to keep and bear arms" is NOT an absolute stand alone statement or completely independent clause.  It is CONDITIONED grammatically by our very literate Founders' intent through the  clauses "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State..."  What part of "well regulated Militia" do they not understand?  An accurate alternative phrasing of this language could be ..."BECAUSE a well regulated Militia is necessary to the security of a free State .." etc.  It does NOT say, nor did the founders intend it to mean "any bozo has an absolute right to have all the automatic, semi-automatic, mega-magazine capacity, rocket launchers, etc, that he can afford and to parade around with them in public as if today's society has devolved into the old Wild West."   The right of the people to keep and bear arms was for the purpose of citizens of being called up into a well regulated Militia to DEFEND the free State, not to take up arms AGAINST the state.  Today, this function for the states is by and large performed by the various state National Guard units, and our National Security against foreign enemies is guaranteed by the Federal Government's armed forces which are the best in the history of the world.   But at the time of the ratification of our Constitution, the Federal Government did not have the wherewithal to equip a large enough army and navy to defend the frontiers against foreign enemies, much less stock large arsenals in frontier regions which could be seized by an invading force.  Therefore, the well regulated Militia for the protection of a free state would be armed by the privately held weapons of the citizens.  The purpose of protecting the right of the people to keep and bear arms is clearly for the people to be able to serve in the well regulated Militia and NOT for some idiot to defy the legitimately constituted authority of our state and Federal Governments .... and to say otherwise is wrong, if not outright stupid.   And you do not want to live in a country where average citizens can defy the legitimate government, and if you do, move to  the regions of Africa or other Third World places where there really is no local civil order maintained by the government.

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