Who did you vote for?

During a drive to SeaTac airport Sunday night, my friends and I listened to the presidential debate over the radio as I prepared myself to travel to Indonesia for the first time. The whole nation tuned into the most anticipated presidential debate in modem times, but it was more than just one nation.

I stepped onto my international flight to see newspapers open in every row, written in multiple languages, with Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton’s pictures magnified on the front pages.

The whole world wanted to know how Mr. Trump would respond to questions regarding his lewd and offensive rhetoric toward women, disclosed from an 11-year-old video released to ruin his candidacy.

My hosts in Indonesia warned me to be prepared to answer the No. 1 question locals in Jakarta want to ask Americans: “Who are you going to vote for?”

If you have ever “pledged allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,” you probably are like me and have no idea how to effectively answer that question. This election makes every American uncomfortable because it forces voters to respond in favor of a candidate who does not accurately represent themselves. Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton are the most unpopular candidates in modern history put forth in the eyes of their own parties.

How can I help people in Jakarta understand this election when we as Americans fully don’t understand ourselves? What will I tell my kids someday when they ask me, “Dad, who did you vote for in the 2016 election?”

Last spring, I decided to do something unorthodox for myself, to get more involved in the process. So I participated in the Republican Caucus at Forks Baptist Church. Anyone could participate but the numbers were slim. That meant that I quickly became “delegate No. 301,” representing Republicans in my neighborhood. That process then took me to the Clallam County Convention in Port Angeles.

I went with every intention to help send delegates from our county to the State Republican Convention in support of Mr. Cruz. We all saw, how for the first time in a long time, the primary came down to the decisions of delegates in Cleveland, the truest grass roots process conceived at the county level.

What was spectacular about the Clallam County Convention was that we spent most of the day developing what’s called a “platform,” a set of beliefs that best represents the core values of Republicans from our county. The whole day we debated sensitive issues.

We stood in favor of, spoke out against and collaborated the best consensus in the room. This was a great testament of what I think the founders meant by “We The People.”

For example, I stood to vote that the platform include a conservative pro-life stance. We debated for some time on whether that stance should include the exception of rape, incest and life of the mother. I felt my wife and I couldn’t support those exceptions because we believe in giving life the benefit of the doubt.

To my surprise, I was standing with the majority of delegates who agreed. Another example was religious freedom. Though the First Amendment was reinforced in the platform, for many delegates it wasn’t strong enough. The whole room debated whether the platform should include a statement in support of Judeo-Christian values.

I attempted to address the room on this issue as a religious leader, to suggest that the Constitution could defend itself on religious freedom without adding another statement.

Unfortunately, the clock ran out before I could speak with so many voicing their opinions. That’s how much our delegates cared about religious freedom, a winning scenario for me no matter what we decided. The delegates voted to adopt the proposal and it was established in the platform. These are just two examples of many issues that made for a very strong conservative platform to send on to the state convention.

The platform is the best chance of ensuring the type of Supreme Court Justices a Republican president will choose, to uphold the Constitution. The next president could nominate as many as four justices if elected for two terms. There is so much at stake.

On the debate Sunday when asked what was important virtues of a Supreme Court justice, Mrs. Clinton listed a varied list of progressive qualities, including someone who will promise to uphold Roe Vs. Wade. She never even included the word “Constitution” in her answer. For Democrat delegates who designed their own platform, Mrs. Clinton represents their purest intent.

For Republican delegates, our platform upholds and supports the Constitution of the United States. I know this because I was there!

In May all 39 Washington counties sent their platforms to the Republican Convention in Pasco to form one Washington State Republican platform. Even the most liberal counties along the I-5 Corridor couldn’t make the platform less conservative.

That convention also sent 40 of 41 Washington delegates to the national convention in Cleveland in support of Mr. Cruz, something I was very proud of. The New York Times on July 18 reported that the platform accepted at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland was the most conservative platform Republicans have ever adopted.

Some even believe that Mr. Trump’s choice for his running mate was influenced by the highly conservative platform, representing the collective values of millions of Republicans across the country.

Whether that is true or not, I felt like I had a say in the process. Delegate No. 301, representing neighborhoods up and down Calawah Way, influenced the election of 2016.

So how will I vote then? I’m telling people who ask that I’m voting for my platform. The platform represents me, not the candidate who is bound by it. Mrs. Clinton will not support my platform and neither will Mr. Johnson. I have been too invested in this process to give up on it now because the nominee has embarrassed himself and his party in front of the entire world. That doesn’t disqualify my platform in the least because it is even bigger than Mr. Trump.

The only thing that inspires me about the Republican nominee is the fact that he has invested his own personal finances into his campaign that travels around the country promoting my platform. Not many candidates can say the same thing.

That’s what I’ll tell my kids anyways.

As I finish writing, I’m sitting on a train reflecting on my visit today to a kindergarten school in a slum next to a river in Jakarta. The government there is employing workers to extract thousands of pounds of garbage from the water, just so the river could begin to flow again out to the ocean. It’s really a sad sight. As I gave high fives and took pictures with 30 precious little cherubs, I found myself reflecting on my own two kindergartners waiting patiently for me at home. Emsley and Piper can grow up enjoying three beautiful rivers that flow clean and free of garbage any day of the week. America has its issues, but it’s still the greatest country in the world no matter who is elected president.

And, voting for my platform will ensure that “We The People” will Make America Great Again.

Andy Pursley