
In the last couple of days, Kasich has stated that he can not yet endorse Trump and that he will not serve as Trump's running mate and Vice-President. If he sticks to those guns, he will prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that he is just another unscrupulous Repulsican, rather than a principled Republican. As one of five people on the reported short list of possible Veeps, Governor Kasich needs to immediately get on board with the Trump nomination, for a variety of reasons. Most obviously, and for strictly political purposes, Kasich is the current and favorably popular governor of a state which history shows must be won by any Republican/Repulsican Presidential candidate to win the general election. Beyond that, Kasich has eighteen years of Congressional experience. Though it was some time back, DC being what DC is, many of the Representatives and Senators who were there then are still there now. Kasich could be a good, if not great liaison between the Executive and the Legislative branches, as he performs his primary Constitutional duty of presiding over the Senate. As Chairman of the House Budget Committee the last time we had a balanced budget and one of the two lead sponsors of The Penny-Kasich Plan, Rep. Kasich showed himself to be a reasonably responsible conservative on fiscal matters. Serving on The Armed Services Committee for his entire Congressional tenure, he was strongly and smartly supportive of our military. This would be invaluable experience for a Vice-President, who will be a de facto member of the so-called Economic and Security Cabinets.
As for the other four people on that short list, Trump should also go ahead and name them as members of his Cabinet, or for other important appointments, and they should accept. There are positions in which they could well apply their experience and expertise. Fellow 2016 Presidential candidates on that list should be named as follows:
As Texas Solicitor General, Cruz amassed much experience in Supreme Court proceedings. If, by some oddity, Cruz were to decline such an offer, as it would pretty much preclude him from seeking the Presidency at a later date, he could be named as U.S. Solicitor General, often referred to as 'the tenth Justice", or encouraged to keep his seat in the Senate, and helped, however possible by the Trump White House to overturn the Repulsican leadership there, transforming it from its present state of being "the most exclusive club in the world" to be the conservative, deliberative body that it is intended to be.

As for the other governors who sought the Presidency this year, George Pataki is just another easily recognizable, overly ambitious New York professional politicians and Jeb Bush is perhaps the penultimate, epitome of political party putz. Both should be allowed to be swept away into history's dustbin. Rick Perry should return to Texas, where the current governor can appoint him to fully activate and command the Texas Navy, to patrol the length of The Rio Grande, helping to curb the illegal immigration there. As an Air Force captain, he has the background for such a posting. What I hold against Rick Perry is not forgetting the third department that he said he'd eliminate as President, during the 2012 debates, but that one of the two he did remember should not be eliminated, as it has actual Constitutional authorization.

The other governors who ran for President, Scott Walker, Bobby Jindal, Jim Gilmore and Mike Huckabee should definitely be important members of the Trump administration. For his good work and popular support in Wisconsin in his opposition to public sector unions, Gov. Walker would make an excellent Secretary of Labor, with the main mandate of reorganizing that department into a sub-Cabinet level part of the Commerce Department, which is that aforementioned department which Perry says should be eliminated, despite Article I, Section 8, Subsection 3. Labor was represented in the Cabinet as part of the Department of Commerce and Labor, established in 1903. Ten years later, the early twentieth century Progressives capitulated to union bosses and created a whole new bureaucracy just for them. As an outspoken proponent of governmental fiscal responsibility, he would be a great member of The Economic Cabinet.
As the elected leader of one of America's most demographically diverse states, Gov. Jindal would make an excellent Ambassador to the U.N. Though not technically a Cabinet position, it does have Cabinet level status. As the U.N is largely comprised of brown faced America haters, Jindal's would be a good face to represent us there, especially when he announces early on to them that the U.S. is no longer going to serve as geographical host or inordinately usurped financier of the organization.
Past governor Gilmore is a well educated and experienced man in several areas. He's a graduate of one of the finest state universities in the nation (UVA), as well as its law school, regarded as one of the finest on the planet. As an Army counter-intelligence agent, with foreign language expertise, he could well serve as Director of CIA, FBI, NSA or Secretary of Homeland Security. But because of his outstanding accomplishments in the field of education, while governor of Virginia, he might be the best possible pick to be the last Secretary of Education. That is one of those federal departments which does need to be eliminated, returning that responsibility to state and local jurisdictions and the private sector. As governor, he won election largely on a pledge to hire 4,000 public school teachers. During his administration, new Standards of Learning were introduced, resulting in higher test scores and a narrowing of the 'achievement gap' between Caucasoid and minority students. Gov. Gilmore was responsible for reducing tuition at state colleges and universities and the commissioning of a Blue Ribbon Commission on Higher Education, studying accountability and governance of those campuses, and authoring the first blueprint for decentralized regulatory and administrative authority to some universities in exchange for their agreement to meet specified performance standards. This was all accomplished during a time of tax cuts and expenditure reduction in all state agencies, except Education. Per Virginia's term limits law, Gilmore left office after one term as a well regarded and respected figure and could be instrumental in swinging Virginia, especially northern Virginia, from Blue to Red in this election.
Past Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is the only candidate among the seventeen with common sense and chutzpah enough to still advocate passage of The Fair Tax Act, which would include elimination of the IRS. That's reason enough, in my book, to appoint him as IRS Commissioner.
Then there's the yet unmentioned Senators who sought the party's Presidential nomination.
The Trump administration should do any and every thing it can to help Rand Paul push forward his libertarian conservatism/conservative libertarianism in the Senate to push aside the current rascalian RINO leadership of Mitch McConnell, et al.
And like the aforementioned governors, past Senator Rick Santorum needs to be allowed to be forgotten and forsaken. He's a proven political opportunist and loser and would likely have no value in the campaign to win his home state of Pennsylvania.
As for the two remaining candidates, who like Trump, are not of the established political class or establishment, there are two very important posts for them.
World renowned neurosurgeon Ben Carson should be appointed to be the last Secretary of Health and Human Services and the first Cabinet level Surgeon General. His main mandate would be to dismantle Obamacare, as soon as Congress and President Trump repeal the Unaffordable Care Act. His secondary, and as important task would be to reorganize the department into something like The Department of Science and Medicine, thus eliminating the federal government's unconstitutional foray into human services, which used to be and would be better handled by and through the individual, friends, family and neighbors, the church and other charitable organizations, and private sector philanthropy.
Other perhaps lesser, but still important cabinet appointments to be made could be Lt. Col, Allen West, as Secretary of Veterans' Affairs; Steve Troxler, as Secretary of Agriculture Mike Williams, as Secretary of Energy, Tom Del Beccaro, as Secretary of HUD, and Rudy Giuliani as Secretary of Homeland Security.
Another Cabinet posting that is no longer part of the Cabinet, and in theory not part of the federal government is the Post Office, now referred to as The Postal Service. With constitutional mandate to establish and maintain post roads, which, of course, in contemporary times, include all transportation venues, The Post Office was integral in advancing aviation in the early twentieth century. If properly managed, The Post Office is perhaps the only government agency capable of producing a steady stream of revenue, outside of taxation for the federal government. It should therefore, be re-instituted into the presidential cabinet, with its departmental seniority at fifth, as it dates back to the John Adams administration.
And perhaps the two most important Cabinet officers are the two most senior: State and Treasury. These men will be the President's primary advisers on world events and economic matters and policies and are both very well versed in their respective fields of disciplines, as they both have earned appropriate doctoral degrees and have spent their lifetimes doing great work in those disciplines of endeavor.. .
History scholar and professor, former Speaker of the House and contemporary current events commentator, Newt Gingrich is perhaps the best possible choice to be Secretary of State. It will be good to have a real American representing us on the world stage, rather than a froo froo Frenchman.
Professor of Economics at George Mason University since 1980, Chair of the department for six years, the school's John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics, author of innumerable books, articles and commentaries, written from a viewpoint espousing free market policies over socialistic ones, and proposes that laissez-faire capitalism is the most moral and productive system humans have yet devised, Dr, Walter E. Williams may be the smartest man alive in matters monetary and events economic and should be our Secretary of the Treasury.
As for the few other Cabinet and Cabinet level posts not yet named, they are to all be eliminated or downgraded to sub-cabinet status, and therefore have little or no relevance here. HUD and DHS? Parts in the departments of Commerce and Defense, don't you think? EPA director? He or she will work for Dr. Carson and shall be someone who isn't hellbent on destroying the fossil fuel industry and will not be a proponent of man caused climate change. Directors of OMB and SBA and Chairman of the CEA? Divisions within Treasury and Commerce. U.S. Trade Representative with the title of Ambassador? Isn't that supposed to be a job for the Secretaries of State and Commerce?
And President Trump, I beg you and beseech you to save the American taxpayers millions of dollars straight away by serving as your own Chief of Staff, as Jack Kennedy was the last President to do so, and to forbid any of your appointees to hire such bureaucratic wastes of funds, so that we may have accountable officers, rather than scapegoatable underlings.