The “Election” is upon us. I will dedicate this piece to that consideration. And after a year (perhaps more like four years) of constant negativity; I pledge that this piece will emphasize positive reasons to vote for Donald Trump. Put on your independent britches, slip into your free thinker tee shirt, and then put on your ass-kickin’ boots. Now you are ready to decide how you want this nation to look come January of 2021.
Energy Policy. I don’t think there is one particular item any more critical and unreported as the ascendance of America’s energy industry and its impact on our country. Not only is it good news when we pull into the gas station and don’t have to take out an additional mortgage to pay the bill; but the energy industry has also hired a bunch of people all across the country and those are good paying jobs. That, my friends, is the best government program going; one that creates jobs and opportunities for everyone.
Another huge benefit from the rejuvenation of the oil industry is the independence it has given America in foreign relations and national security. Who among us can remember waiting in line to get gas at sky-high prices? Those were the days when the Middle Eastern nations had us in a bind and literally dictated through embargos what we paid for gas. They also used that leverage to compromise our strengths in foreign policy discussions. Nowadays, we are in the driver’s seat.
Not only do we produce sufficient energy for ourselves; but we are exporting energy and competing with the same countries that used to hold us hostage. This has translated in a very real sense to a much higher level of authority from which to conduct American foreign policy. It is always better to negotiate from a position of strength and that is where our energy independence has placed us. I’m for that. It would be a colossal mistake to return to the policies that once made us beggars for imported oil.
Media Bias. I don’t know about you, but I am sick and tired of being treated as a stupid person by the mainstream media. Their arrogant and superior attitudes that come across so clearly make me want to reach into the television and smack their pretentious faces. They manipulate the facts to suit their agendas; they withhold information to shape storylines; and they outright lie about current events. Their credibility is in the toilet and they have become shills and useful idiots for the liberal establishment and the Democratic Party.
Here are some of the greatest hits from our so-called Fourth Estate over the last four years:
I’m fed up with the journalistic media assuming that they are the only source of knowledge and wisdom available to me and what they consider to be my pathetic, irrelevant life. They are a bunch of egomaniacal and self-consumed narcissists and I would like nothing more than to watch their heads explode on election night. Good lord…let it be. I’m for that.
Coronavirus. How appropriate is it that this one simple word can describe this bizarre and eventful year of 2020? We grieve for those we have lost and for those that we will lose to this pandemic. But we must also refuse to surrender our lives to this evil and unsolvable scourge.
Let us for the moment simply assume that all of those in leadership positions have done the best they could to oppose and defeat this wave of despair that refuses to die. Let us give credit to officials who are not all-knowing and are prone to mistakes (just like you and me) for trying their dead level best to save as many lives as possible.
Let us also understand that we live everyday with the flu, with the common cold, and with the soul-killing demon that is cancer. We live with them and we cope. That is what we must learn to do with the coronavirus and that is what we will do…regardless of who wins this election. A vaccine will soon be available that will enable our world to return to some semblance of normal. It will be a new and different normal in many ways; but it will be a life that is not controlled and suffocated by some cryptic and god-awful virus. Let’s use common sense and do what we can to be safe; but let’s get out of our homes, back into restaurants, support all the small businesses that have been decimated by this epidemic, and get back to the business of living our lives. I’m for that. I am sick and tired of singing hymns and saying prayers through a paper mask.
Foreign Policy. How marvelous is it that within the last six months, we have witnessed THREE historic peace agreements in the Middle East that our so called “foreign policy experts” were describing as unachievable as recently as four years ago? Iran (and its role as the matriarch and haven for international terrorists) is being exposed as the pariah it is. How reaffirming is it to hear Arabic Middle Eastern nations beginning to normalize their relations with Israel and implementing the dismantlement of the bitter walls that have been built with hatred and for generations have separated these people?
I addressed the issue of America’s involvement in endless wars in a previous post: https://centerlineright.blogspot.com/2019/01/trump-takes-road-less-traveled.html . I welcome peace agreements that encourage people to lay down their weapons and begin to trade products. I encourage the beginnings of a regional appreciation for differences in religion. I embrace the reality of calling out renegade nations that shelter killers of children and innocents. Peace in the Middle East? I’m for that.
LGBT Rights. America is the land of liberty, freedom, and the right to personal choice. People have the privilege of living their lives as they choose…as long as they don’t infringe on the rights of others. Waving your personal beliefs in the faces of people who do not agree with you and then calling them bigots and racists for their different opinions is not what freedom and tolerance is about. We have gone around the bend on this whole issue and here is good example of it: https://www.cnsnews.com/blog/cnsnewscom-staff/biden-promises-biological-males-access-girls-sports-bathrooms-and-locker .
If men and women want to engage in unconventional lifestyles that make them happy, then that is their business; that is their right. I (or you) am not qualified to judge them on their morality. But do not ask me to endorse practices to which I am personally opposed; that is my right. Do not ask me to tolerate my granddaughter playing high school basketball against a 6’3” boy who weighs 240 pounds and identifies himself as a girl. Do not ask me to watch a 50-something year old man go into a public girl’s bathroom while my granddaughter is in there and I am waiting outside for her. Boys have a penis. Girls have a vagina. Biology dictates the sex of a person.
We might want to identify as Tom Brady or Jennifer Lawrence; but that does not make it so. I am for respecting the rights, within reason, of people to live the way they choose. But I also demand the liberty to live my life as I choose. I’m for that.
Law and Order. There was a time when I could not imagine a scenario where a government and a police department in America would simply abandon a multi-block section of a city to rioters and anarchy; but I have watched that very scene play out on the television over the last few months. We must return to a place where our police departments are respected and revered for the jobs they perform. And while we can reasonably expect them to police themselves and deal effectively with their few bad apples; we must pass new laws that give them the authority, funding, training, and resources necessary to protect the citizens of our great nation.
The time for rioters to run wild in our streets in pursuit of new sneakers for the presumed sake of social causes needs to come to an end. Law and order protects all people and is essential to the very existence of our country. If the rights of the few are ignored; then the rights of the many are meaningless. It is time for looters and rioters and people who wreak indiscriminate destruction upon our society to be held accountable for their actions.
Heather MacDonald writes about the issues our nation faces in law enforcement here: https://www.amren.com/news/2020/09/blue-truth-matters/. She is a strong, informed, and effective advocate for some sanity in the emotional discussions surrounding this subject. She is a voice of reason in an insane environment. She speaks truth to power. I’m for that.
Constitutional Respect. The Constitution of the United States is the blueprint, the genetic code, upon which our country was founded. It is an ingenious ideal that is not only brilliant in its construction, but demonstrates genius in recognizing its limitations by providing remedies for change. Read here about our bedrock instructions for running a government: https://www.aei.org/op-eds/what-is-our-constitution/ .
I support an Executive Branch of government that exhibits wisdom, leadership, vision, and empathy for its citizenry. I support a Legislative Branch that passes only the laws necessary for government to fulfill its unique role in a fair and equitable fashion. I support a Judicial Branch that serves in its capacity as an arbiter of the foundational validity of those laws. I support an allegiance to our Constitution by all three branches of our government. I’m for that.
Economy. The greatest social program ever conceived is one that can provide equal opportunity to all American citizens regardless of race, creed, or religion. Providing all men and women the opportunity to achieve their dreams through hard work and accountability is the principle upon which our nation was founded.
Before this pandemic, that goal was being realized by an economy that lifted all people who were willing to participate with it in good faith. Good jobs were plentiful. The real value of wages was actually rising for the first time in years. Inflation was a forgotten concept in the rear view mirror and loans of all types were within the reach of interested parties. Hard work, ethical behavior, and entrepreneurial risk were being rewarded with possibilities of higher salaries and potential profits. People of all colors and classes were realizing dreams that had been shuttered up for years, being covered with the dust of a stagnant national economy. Then came the virus.
If we are going to blame Trump for the economic statistics realized in the second quarter of fiscal year 2020 (when the pandemic hit); then we must give Trump credit for the historically-remarkable numbers achieved in the third quarter of fiscal year 2020: https://justthenews.com/nation/economy/new-q3-economic-numbers-expected-show-record-growth-best-ever-recovery-us-economists .
The policies that led to the economic growth in the first three years of the Trump Administration can also lead to that same level of prosperity as we exit from the cornonavirus episode. Why in the world would anyone want to return to the times not that long ago when our paychecks were losing ground to inflation, good paying jobs were hard to keep and even harder to find, small businesses were struggling to pay their expenses and keep their heads above water, and government checks looked far more attractive than paychecks? I want to get back to the economy that we had in the latter part of 2019. We did it once; we can do it again. I’m for that.
Donald Trump. He is an imperfect man who has achieved remarkable results; that is President Trump. He has broken the mold of what we expect a President to be. He has shocked us, angered us, frustrated us, disgusted us and…he has delivered all the things I have listed above. We have a binary choice in this Presidential Election. I choose not to rail against the opposition. I choose to promote the positive things I have seen from the Trump Administration over the last nearly four years. For me, the choice is simple. Vote to re-elect President Donald J. Trump. I’m for that!
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