One Year

"What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people."-Donald J. Trump, 1/20/2017

Despite the Democrats’ wishes to the contrary, Donald Trump has now been our President for one year.  He has indeed made great strides in returning the government of this country to its people, continually fighting desperate attempts by the Democrats and other deeply entrenched establishment types to retain control for themselves.

Here are just a few of the accomplishments of President Trump and his administration:  Jobs are up, unemployment is down, dramatically so for minorities; real weekly earnings are up; the economic growth rate is up; illegal border crossings are down; home prices and home ownership are up; corporate profits are up; manufacturing jobs are up; tax bill already showing benefits to individuals and corporations; carbon dioxide emissions are down; support for troops and veterans; foreign policy successes.

Sadly, we hear little about any of the positives of Trump’s presidency from the main stream media who, like the Democrats whose ideology it speaks, have such a hatred for Donald Trump that they are blinded to anything that does not support that hatred.

When I started writing this blog a year ago it was in large part in response to the vitriolic hatred being spewed against the new President.  Naively I thought that the Democrats and other Trump-haters would get over it in a few weeks.  I understood that they were shocked that someone so unlike them could be elected and that so many people held views contrary to their own.  They were hurt and angry, and I assumed it would take a little time, but that they would come to accept that everyone in the country was not like them and that while they did not particularly like Donald Trump or his policies that they would accept that he was indeed their President and would respect and support him as holder of that office, even if they did not particularly like the man himself.

But, how wrong I was; I assumed these were rational people, people who would get over it and accept their loss, people who respected the process and the office of the president, people who would work to further issues of their concern for the good of the country.  That has not happened; instead, their hatred simply grows.  It is not rational. The Democrats and other anti-Trumpers seem to be living in a world where, before Trump they were totally in charge and could do as they pleased, making decisions for the people as they wished rather than letting the people be in charge.  Now they are faced with someone who understands how our democracy works and who indeed believes that the country belongs to the people, not to an elite few.  This is a threat to them: the anti-Trump brigade wants to run not only their own lives, but those of everyone, and the loss of their power to do so seems to have, in their eyes, threatened their entire existence. Thus, they hate Trump on a very personal level.

Hating Trump seems to be the only issue left to the Democrats.  It begins with their hatred of the man.  He is not like them.  He understands those who are not like him.  He believes that America belongs to all the people and not just an elite few.  He is less concerned with his own power than he is with the power of the country and its people.   And, he is indeed making strides in making America great again.  This is disrupting the comfortable world of the Democrats and their power.

I have come to believe that the current Democrat power structure does not care a wit for this country or its people.  They care only about their own power and their ability to create a country and a world that they envision, regardless of whether that is what the people would choose.  I think they truly believe that anyone who is not in lock step with them is indeed a stupid deplorable.

The fact that the Democrats don’t care one bit for the people they pretend to support, or for the country itself, is evident from their latest game that resulted in shutting down the government.  This seems to turn on DACA and immigration.  Let’s go back a bit:  the legislature was well on its way to a bipartisan agreement on these issues.  But, if the issues are resolved, the Democrats lose that method of fomenting hate against Trump as well as that alleged compassion of their own used as a method to garner support and votes from minorities.  So, instead they return to their narrative of Trump being racist and use that not only as a method for killing the bipartisan solution to immigration, but to shutting down the government as well.  That does not serve the people of this country well.  It may however, give the Democrats talking points, for their shut down will hurt much of Trumps positive effects on the economy, it will hurt our troops and the progress made in foreign policy.  Talking points to garner support for their own power: that is what the Democrats care about, not the country or its people.

Not being a psychologist, I cannot understand how hatred can so overtake a person or a group of people that they would destroy their own country in order to sustain their hatred. I do believe, however, that if the Democrats do not find an issue other than “hate Trump” that they will eventually only succeed in destroying themselves.   If not so filled with and blinded by hatred perhaps these people could actually address and discuss varying views on actual issues. But, their hatred is being used only for their own power and purposes and eventually that can only lead to their demise. 

So, on this anniversary of President Trump’s inauguration I applaud the President for his many successes.  I am in awe of his ability to stand strong in the face of unending and vitriolic hatred.  I accept that he is not perfect, that he is not as refined or as eloquent as some might envision a leader to be, but I also see in him a man who holds the beliefs for our country that our founders envisioned and who is doing everything in his power to uphold and further that vision that is embodied in our Constitution and our history.  We live in a great country; it has lost some of its greatness during the past few years as the power of the people has been usurped by the power of a self-interested ruling class.  President Trump is working to reverse that and make America not only great again, but even greater than it has ever been.  Go Trump!

What if Nobody Came?

There is a letter in my local paper today that suggests “what if there were a White Supremacist rally and nobody came?”  That may sound silly or superficial, or even stupid on its surface, but beneath that surface is some wisdom, for within those naïve words lies a truth.

White Supremacists need non-Whites over which to claim their supremacy.  Similarly, Anti-Fascists need fascists to be against.  In both cases underlying the proclaimed ideology lies simply a thirst for power – on both sides.  Anyone who believes that their ideology should be imposed on all others is someone who needs, and hence seeks, the power to do so.

So, what if there was a march to proclaim hate and no one but the haters showed up?  They would have no one against whom to assert their power.  No one but themselves would hear their words.  They would have nothing to do but march home.  And, the anti-marchers?  Many are using their “noble” goal of silencing the hate to rile up their base to accord them more power to hate the haters or others.  They need the haters for without them the anti-haters too would simply have to march home.

I hate to break this to the Pollyannas of the world, but, as long as there is humanity there will always be some hate.  People will always be wary of those unlike themselves (there is plenty of anthropological studies that will establish this basic instinct which stems from earliest man and his efforts to protect himself).  While some will recognize and overcome that ancient instinct, in some cases that wariness will turn to fear and hate. 

Which haters are seen as “good” and which as “evil” can and often will change as the attitudes towards the underlying beliefs and values change.  Hence, silencing the “evil” today could result in silencing today’s “good” tomorrow.  And, here lies the beauty of America’s First Amendment. 

The First Amendment demands that we silence no one.  People are free to spew hateful words from all sides.  But, we also do not order anyone to listen to those words:  we have no state sponsored speeches that you must attend and applaud.  You can go quietly away, or you can listen and then counter with better, more sensible, more reasonable words.  What you cannot do is demand that the words you dislike be silenced or try to silence them with violence.

Demanding silence does not end hate.  Indeed, it may leave it to quietly fester and grow.  Demanding silence is just another form of hate: a hatred of ideas that are not your own.   And silencing disagreeable ideas reveals either a lack of understanding or a hatred of the First Amendment.

Giving attention to hate makes it stronger in the same way that one pays more attention to a 3-page story than to one sentence buried in one small paragraph. When we have 24-hour coverage telling us about the haters and how hateful they are, it only serves to broaden their own platform for their hate.  Violent clashes may be great video for the news, but it does nothing but feed the thirst for power on both sides. 

If the anti-marchers waited until the day after the march to present their opposition with more reasonable and persuasive words they would far better reveal to the public why their position is better than that which they protest.  And, that is indeed what the First Amendment envisions:  a market place of ideas where all are welcome to speak their views and where the people will listen and determine for themselves which speakers and which words make the most sense and which are the better views for our country.  And, some views will then simply die-out or at least become completely side-lined and ineffective due to lack of interest.

So, maybe the naïve statement “what if there was a hate rally and no one showed up?” is not so naïve after all.