State your case, place your vote

If you do not want a liberal SC, vote for Trump. If you do not want a liberal Govt, vote for either, it doesn't matter, neither individual by themselves, will make the government liberal (going on the real definition of liberal, not the liberalism that establishment Dems talk about)

When you talk about well-meaning people driving up the debt, it's reflective of the common perception that welfare programs are driving up debt and we simply don't have the money to sustain them. I disagree with that simply because we do have the money, we simply need to change our national priorities. Implementing social welfare programs goes hand in hand with decreasing spending on the military and raising taxes across the board, disproportionately on the top 1% and top 0.1%. In addition, any sort of social welfare program needs to be proven to get economic return in the long run, otherwise you're just giving money/resources away, just like the way you get returns on a business investment.

Both cuts in defense spending and increased taxes need to happen in order to justify welfare expenditures. Having welfare spending without either of those, makes it very difficult to justify the balance in the short run. Though the national debt is due to a multitude of reasons (iraq war, tax cuts, tax loopholes and more), it is a problem that we have a desire to increase state services, without the political power to impose cutbacks on defense spending or more taxes on the wealthy. This is why Hillary's proposals will be difficult to achieve without these complementary policies in place, it also limits what she can offer.

Either way, the debt is a problem. Many economic liberals believe that the best way to pay off debt is to increase economic growth. By increasing the volume of taxation, you produce the surplus necessary to pay off debt in the long run. Economic growth is increased by investing in the people (i.e. college, healthcare, education, infrastructure) and the money for these investments are paid by taxation, disproportionately on the wealthy. Now if you disagree with the notion that welfare expenditures help economic growth in the long run, you would believe this strategy to be preposterous. Though there is a lot of supporting evidence, it's up to you to ultimately decide.

On the conservative side, cutting expenditures to save more money and decrease the rate at which debt increases is more of a short run perspective. And often times, decreasing welfare expenditures is a nasty positive feed back loop (look at Greece as a n example). Either way, the fundamental problem is the debt itself, not whether it's increasing. Even if the budget was balanced we would still have to pay back the rest, and you're going to need economic growth if you don't want to raise taxes. The problem is, conservative policy of cutting taxes and decreasing regulation (trickle-down economics) is not effective. Look at the Kansas state legislature and what's happened to their budget during a period of Republican super majority rule. Also look at what happened to Louisiana during Bobby JIndal's term and his stubborn refusal to raise taxes. Their isn't a ton of evidence to show that trickle down works, even Reagan had to increase taxes in his second term because his initial tax breaks were causing budget shortfalls.

I've obviously written a lot of stuff above that you disagree with, but let me make case for Johnson, since you likely disregard Hillary (I don't like her much either, so I get where you're coming from) . His proposed reduction of involvement in international affairs is probably his best policy, since that would hopefully free up the cash needed to start chipping away at the debt. Trump's tax plan would likely create the kinds of budget shortfalls that would be insurmountable if trickle down economics doesn't work (i.e. if we don't grow at 5%, we're screwed) and so even if he reduces expenditures for some of the state services you may not like, any hope of paying the debt is lost, and it will probably get worse. Don't think Trump will pass the tax plan? If he wins and the Repubs retain the senate, they'll pass whatever, so you have to consider it. Johnson is far and away a better candidate, but he likely won't win, so maybe he's not an attractive option.

I don't agree with the current direction of the country, or with what Hillary's direction would be, but I also don't think gambling on the lives of millions of American just for the slim possibility of change is wise. Hope this post wasn't inflammatory, but I tired to be as straightforward as possible, thanks for getting to the bottom.