Donald Trump isn’t the first business billionaire to run for president. For those of us old enough to remember, the last billionaire to run as president, helped secure Bill Clinton as the 42nd president of the United States of America. Ross gave a helluva run for the White House and Americans learned some serious lessons from the election in 1992.
I’ll never forget the night I saw the Perot infomercial for the first time. I was at my grandparents house in the middle of nowhere Texas. Back in those days, you didn’t have all the fancy cable stations that exist today. Most homes only had one TV at that time too. Watching television was a nightly family affair. The night Mr Perot came on TV was no exception.
I remember asking my grandfather why we where watching this funny guy on TV talking about America. My grandfather swore to me that he was going to be the 42nd President of the United States of America. As a kid, it was funny for me to watch this guy yelling, pointing to pie charts and my grandpa screaming about America “going to hell in a hand basket”
As I grew up, my family moved to Plano, Texas. Which at the time, was the home of EDS, the company Perot started and owned. The building EDS was in, which is now Hewlett Packard, is unbelievably large. It’s impossible to miss it from most parts of West Plano. Once I got more and more into learning about business, I started learning about Perot and how he built such an amazing empire and huge building.
Upon doing this research and learning, I was reminded of his solid run as a third party candidate in the 42nd Presidential election. Ross Perot did some pretty outside of the box stuff, when it came to his political marketing. Looking back, you can tell he was a businessman by the way he ran his campaign. I’d like to share some important lessons from H Ross Perot with you, that need to be considered when you vote this election cycle.
Third Party Candidates Don’t Stand A Chance – I’m not one to say you wasted a vote, but if you vote third party, you wasted a vote. Look, it sucks. I know. But let’s be real here. If Ross Perot and Ron Paul couldn’t get elected running as a third party, what in the world would give a guy like Gary Johnson a snowball’s chance in hell?
All doom and gloom aside, if you vote for a third party candidate in this race, you’re taking a very important vote away from Clinton or Trump. It looks like this election is going to come down to the wire, a third party vote is not going to get us nowhere. i hate to admit it too, but most of America is going to vote Red or Blue, you better pick a side and get on it.
Elections Are Won By Politicians Not Successful Businesspeople – When’s the last time America elected a businessperson as President? I think it was Truman, but I’m not even sure about him. In America we have a long history of voting for politicians, not people from the private sector. In my lifetime we’ve elected Regan an actor, Bush the head of the CIA, Clinton the Gov of Arkansas, Bush the son of Bush 1 and Obama the rookie Senator from Illinois. Far as I can tell, none of the Presidents listed had successful businesses outside of Government work.
This could go either way for Trump. Some say he’s successful while others say he’s failing at business and that’s why he’s running for President. Assuming Trump is super successful at business like he claims, if he were to get elected, he’d be our first Billionaire President. Meanwhile Clinton has a lifetime career in politics on her side.
Most Americans Vote With Emotions Not Education – When Ross Perot got blacked out by the media, he bought blocks of airtime to run infomercial type of advertisements with his plans to make America better. He used the time to deliver real time information with up to date charts and business plans. The problem is that most Americans don’t own a business and even less of them have ever written a business plan. These infomercials bored the majority of Americans and didn’t win many votes.
Americans instead voted for Clinton or Bush based on emotions. Neither of the candidates marketed based on intelligence and stats. Instead they ran their campaigns based on fear and emotion. Hence Bush’s famous line “Read my lips. No new taxes” Was known more widespread than Ross Perot’s famous “We’re not that dumb” line from his infomercial.
With the 2016 election in full swing with two of America’s most hated candidates as the front runners, it’s a good idea for you to make a decision on who you believe is the lesser of the two evils. As we’ve learned time and time again from people like Perot, Ron and Rand Paul, America doesn’t elect third parties. Until things drastically change, you’d better pick one side or the other. Especially this election cycle. Never before have the candidates been so unliked and completely opposite.
