The Silence is Deafening

 Actually, the silence has been deafening for the last 4 years, and perhaps the 8 before that.  So to what silence am I referring?  The silence of truth and the failure to acknowledge hypocrisy.  And the silence of those who have been intimidated and are afraid to speak. 

Let’s start with today and work backwards.  Actually, let’s start with Biden’s call for Unity.

When Biden called for Unity, nearly every MSM publication had an identical headline:  Time to Heal.  (That the headlines were so identical suggests that the press is not as independent as it may claim). 

Just days after that headline, a large group of Trump supporters marched peacefully in DC for honest and fair elections. 

There is no question that the march was peaceful.  But, as the march ended and evening descended, Leftist groups including Antifa and BLM (both supporters of Biden and Democrats) began violent attacks on those peaceful supporters, including elderly, families, and children.  Their stated purpose was to silence and cancel those holding views that are pro-Trump, pro-honest elections, pro-fact.

Did the MSM report this?  No.  Or when they did it was just something like: “Left and Right engaged in some conflict” or simply “The march was marred by conflict.”  Certainly no coordinated headlines as in Biden’s call for unity (or perhaps the coordination was simply not to report).  There was silence.

Did Biden condemn the violence propounded by his supporters?  No.  He ignored it completely.  Silence.   [Update: Late today a Biden spokesperson stated that "President-elect Biden continues to denounce all acts of violence" but did not name Antifa or BLM, the perpetrators of the violence against the marchers this past weekend. I do not see this as any sort of real condemnation of the divisive acts by the Left, but rather it continues the silence that is inconsistent with the call for unity.]

Did Biden’s voters who had told us they voted for him because he would bring civility and unite us say that this was not what they voted for?  No.  Silence.

This is not only the height of hypocrisy.  It tells me that in the minds of Biden and the Left that “Unity” means we all must hold our tongues and not speak if we disagree with them.  That is not America or the democracy or free speech that is our American Right.  This is an America without tolerance and where unapproved voices are silenced.

And it is not just the “unity” lie.  The hypocrisy is everywhere.  Before the election there was silence on Biden’s likely use of his office as VP to further his son’s financial benefits with Ukraine.  There was the ignoring of the charges of sexual harassment (quite a contrast to the way the Left treated the false charges against Justice Kavanaugh!).  There is the fact that Biden’s cancer foundation does virtually nothing with the money it raises except pay salaries to its employees.  All met with media silence.  Anyone who brought forth the actual evidence of these things was ostracized as some sort of nut.  Inconvenient facts – silenced.

But let’s look at the days post-election.  Besides the false unity appeal, we have seen several lies pass Joe Biden’s mouth, with no acknowledgement of that from his supporters who have been eager not only to point out every actual misstatement by the President, but even to make up many more.

Joe Biden told us during the debates that he would not declare victory until the election results were certified.  He lied.  He promised a middle of the road, not far left-wing administration, but look at his appointments thus far and projected ones – many far left, proponents of socialism, etc.  He lied.  Those who try to raise these and other lies are silenced; the press does not report them.  Silence.

But Biden is not alone in his lies.  He has the media at his back.  How many times has the media, in reporting that Donald Trump has failed to concede, told us there is no evidence of fraud.  Yet there are hundreds of pages of affidavits from poll workers, along with piles of credible evidence suggesting there are also piles of illegal votes that were counted.  That is not reported.  Silence.

No, the result of this election, declared by the media (who now seems to be running the country), is unlikely to change.  But that does not mean we should turn a blind eye to fraud, silence even the suggestion that it occurred, and silence any attempt to investigate so that it does not again occur.

In an essay, the whole of which is well worth reading, Caroline Glick states:

“If we learned nothing else from the election campaign and its aftermath, we learned American democracy is in crisis.

The media is the first force responsible for this crisis. For the past four years, all major U.S. television networks and national newspapers have dedicated themselves not to reporting news, but to defining the boundaries of acceptable public discourse. Big Tech firms—Facebook, Google and Twitter, in particular, having amassed powers the KGB could only have dreamed of—serve as the enforcers of those boundaries.”             

Entire article can be found here LINK 

I come back to my previous blog about the Nice vote.  The media convinced many that Biden would bring us nice – civil discourse in which we would all get along.  They believed the media propaganda that they could trust Joe and he would simply wave his magic wand and we would all get along.  They voted for that in their naïve belief that the job of a president is creating national civility rather than the actual domestic and foreign duties of a president.  No one corrected their misperceptions.  Silence.

But, regardless of what those nice voters thought, what this weekend march and Leftest violence shows us is that in the minds of the left and its handmaiden media, getting along simply means allowing only one voice. That is the worst kind of silence.

The nice voters and the naïve voters failed by blindly trusting the media.  Ms. Glick also writes:

“Nearly all the stories about Trump and his supporters have been negative for the past four years. Consequently, while most Americans never heard that Trump conceived and implemented an entirely new foreign policy doctrine that has met more success than any adopted since the end of the Cold War, all Americans know that the media expect them to believe Trump is a racist. They know that the media expect right-thinking Americans to hate Trump and his supporters, and admire his opponents, from Nancy Pelosi to Black Lives Matter (BLM).”

I would add to this that nearly all the stories about President Obama were positive and we see the same approach being taken toward Biden.  The press does not report the negative, and actually, most of the positive is not hard-hitting journalism, but fluff – for example, what pets Joe will bring to the White House – fluff about fluff.  Silence on real facts of real substance.

Yet too many have been silenced into thinking that if they do not hold the voice that the media instructs there is something wrong with them.  They are afraid to speak out, to even think or question what the media, the voice of the Left, tells them.  They are silenced, and the silence is indeed deafening. 

But more than deafening, is the sad truth that without critical thought and questioning, without voicing or hearing opposing viewpoints, eventually those viewpoints cease to exist.  With the silencing if different voices comes the destruction of the individual mind.  Tolerance of opposing views, what used to be referred to as the Loyal Opposition, is an essential piece of democracy.  Yet the Left is doing its best to silence that, and Biden seems inclined to just stand by and let them.

I turn again to Caroline Glick (and again I encourage everyone to read her entire article):

“The consequences of this media and Big Tech tyranny are disastrous for the health of American democracy. Americans know they are expected to act like the citizens of the totalitarian regime in the Soviet Union. The media will tell them what they can say, and social media will enforce the media's dictates.  And like the denizens of the USSR, Americans haven't stopped thinking as a result of this tyranny. They have just stopped telling people what they think. 

“The media's abandonment of journalism and their hatred of half of American society, as well as the Democrats' embrace of a totalitarian theory of race and American secular sin as an organizing principle, are unmooring America from its democratic, pluralistic anchors. American society is moving into a post-democratic reality. And if action isn't taken to restore those anchors, American society as a whole will suffer.”

I actually fear it may be worse – I fear that too many Americans have indeed just stopped thinking.  They seem to find it easier to just accept.  Do as told, think as told, say as told.  Just shuffle along without any brain and ultimately without any soul. 

Americans, all Americans, need to think if this is where they really want to go.  If not, they need to once again not only start thinking, but start questioning.  And most importantly, they need to start speaking. 

The fear of speaking may be great – you may lose friends, you may be outcast, you may be laughed at, you may even be attacked.  But anyone who wishes to enjoy the many benefits of such traditional American things as freedom of thought and speech and assembly and religion, who believes that tolerance of alternate views, even those with which one strongly disagrees, is a good thing and a healthy thing for democracy, those people need to speak out.

The silence needs to end – that is the action that is necessary to restore the anchors of our American democracy.  From Joe Biden who promised us something different and who refuses to speak out for tolerance and truth, and from the voters who voted for civility but are now being betrayed not only by breaches of campaign promises, but by acceptance of violence against opposition speech.  

But the silence from those who are still thinking and questioning but are not speaking, that is the most dangerous silence of all.  No one should tolerate their voice being silenced.  Rather than silence, we need to hear the cacophony of the many individual and diverse views that exist in America.

 

Joe Blames Trump – What Does That Tell Us About Him and His Soul

The new Democrat mantra, based on polling telling them that people do not like violent riots, is to blame all the violence on Trump.  Joe Biden plans to make a speech about that today.  Will you fall for it?

“He is inciting bad behavior” is just another manifestation of the Democrat Blame Game.  They blame Trump, not China, not Democrat governors’ decisions for CoVid.  They blame Trump’s gatherings without masks for the spread but encourage both peaceful and violent protests against Trump without masks.  They even blame Trump for their candidate’s 2016 loss.  To hear the Democrats, they are never at fault, only and always victims of their opposition.

As to the racial blame game, the Democrats neglect the fact that they for 50 years have made promises that they have not kept.  They have done everything in their power to make things more, not less difficult for minorities – no school choice, send jobs overseas, poor education, the lure of permanent dependency rather than self-reliance.  These are Democrat policies, policies that Trump has from day one begun to turn around:  he provided support for Black colleges, support for better education and school choice, better job opportunities due to better trade deals and encouragement of American industry, support for families, etc.  The list is actually quite long if one takes time to actually look at the President’s accomplishments rather than the media’s mere repetition of the Left’s hateful mantras.

But, now the Left claims the unrest in due to Trump.  The Democrats will not denounce the anarchists of Antifa.  It was antifa that killed the Trump supporter in Portland.  That is the Trump supporter that Biden says was just looking for trouble.   It is the killing that was celebrated in the streets and after by the Democrat and Leftist protesters. 

The Left encourages the war on the police, labeling law enforcement as some evil and racist group.  The Left are the ones that violently disrupt Republican gatherings and who assaulted attendees at Trump’s convention speech as they were leaving the White House grounds. 

Yet the Democrats would have you believe that somehow this is all the fault of President Trump.  By their reasoning, if you don’t like me and you shoot me then it is my fault.  The cure to your behavior is not law and order, but for me to just shut up and give you what you want.  That is not how I dealt with my children’s temper fits and it is not how I will respond to the Left.  I will not be silenced and I will vote for those who truly support America.

The Democrats do not want to offend any of their key identity groups, so they let them – indeed encourage them – to do as they please, including looting, destroying property, maiming and killing.  To denounce them might mean the loss of their vote, so the Left stays silent.  Then, they blame Trump when that violence isn’t playing well in the polls.

Joe cannot pin the unrest on Trump.  He and his party created it along with the hate filled identity victim groups and the deranged hatred of the President and the disregard of the Constitution and the rule of law.

The Democrats, especially those following the socialist playbook, foment mob rule.  But, more often than not, mob rule gets it wrong.  Just like the old movies where the mobs with lighted torches take after the wrong and the innocent targets, today’s mobs also often get it wrong.  The rush to judgement and retaliation is encouraged and is often violent.

Without facts and with the help of the Left, a particular narrative is put forth by the media and that narrative is then used to incite yet more hatred against Trump, Conservatives, and any others holding views that the Left does not approve.  When actual facts come out, they are barely reported and often hard to find but they frequently show us that the initial narrative was not accurate, and the mob was after the wrong target.

Joe Biden wants us to believe that he is the “soul of America.”  If that is true then America’s soul is one of self interest and deceit.  And the newest deceit is again one of self-interest based not on what is right or true but on what polls well. 

Joe, who praised and would not renounce the violence now learns that it is better for him if he speaks against it.  But how does he choose to do that – not by saying it is wrong but by trying to pin it on his opponent.  Sorry Joe, this tells me that you have no real backbone and no real soul. 

More importantly, what this tells me is that Joe, like all the rest of the Democrats, is a self-interested and power-hungry exploiter whose ethics depend only upon what is advantageous to their own gain. 

The real American soul seeks and honors an objective truth, not a truth that blows in the winds of self-gain. 

I think of the phrase “actions speak louder than words.”  Joe’s actions, like the actions of the Democrats, show us that their focus of concern is on themselves and their power and not on America and its people. 

I will not fall for the hollow and dishonest words from a hollow and dishonest soul.  I hope that the rest of America will see the Democrat blame game for what it is – just another exploitive grab for power.

 

 

The Contrast Could Not Be Starker

Freedom, prosperity, hope vs. control, despair, hopelessness.  If you paid any attention to the two conventions, that contrast should be perfectly clear to you. 

How do you see America?  If it is a beacon of hope, a place of freedom and prosperity, a place where every person has the right to choose how to lead their life, can work for what they value and hope for, then you are a Republican. 

If you see America as inherently evil, a place where you have no hope unless you turn over to the government all your freedom and all your ability to choose what your life will be.  If you believe it is those in power who should have the right to control you, then you are a Democrat.

You might be thinking that both sides promise us a better America. Perhaps.  But go beyond the promises.

Let’s start with who it is that keeps promises.  Donald J. Trump has kept every campaign promise he has made.  This very well may be a first.  It is certainly a first in my lifetime.  And it is certainly in contrast to the record of Joe Biden.  For over 40 years he has made promises to a variety of groups – farmers, small businesses, minorities, school children, etc. –  promises to improve some aspect of their lives, and then has turned around and taken actions that do just the opposite; actions that are far more likely to help him and his family rather than those to whom he made promises.   

As the VP candidate, in conjunction with Mr. Obama, Biden promised us hope and change, but all that administration did was pour fuel on every spark of discontent that they could find as they created divisiveness and despair.  This was not unintentional.

Trump does not have the silver tongue of career politicians, but what he does have is the inclination to simply tell it like it is.  No sweet talk, no fancy words that say nothing.  He tweets.  Sometimes those tweets are hard to take, but they are honest and real.  And when he tells us he is going to do something, he does it. 

His actions are not divided by victim-hood or other identity groups.  All of his actions are for all of the American people.  You may not agree with his policies, but his policies, unlike those of the Democrats, are not divisive.  Indeed, the Democrat policies, like those of socialists before them, are intended to divide us and make us ripe for the destruction of America as we know it that the Democrats seem to be seeking.

These are not the Democrats of old.  Once upon a time both Democrats and Republicans loved America.  They may have had different ideas of how to improve it, but with their common goal they were able to work together.   Perhaps old Joe was once one of them, but he is no longer or if he is he has lost his control to the progressive Left.

Today’s Democrats do not love America.  They believe that America and its ideals are fundamentally flawed.  Their goal is not to improve America but to completely dismantle it – tear it down and start over.  But if you listen carefully you will learn the sort of place that they will build instead.  One in which they, not you will control your life.  They will decide what you can say, what health care you will receive, how much you can make, what God, if any, you can worship, what medicines you must or cannot put into your body, what you must read, what you must learn and where you must learn it, and how much of what you earned you must give to others who may have done nothing to deserve it.  They will dismantle the concept of citizenship and country as they open borders and provide benefits that once belonged only to citizens to every person in the country. 

The Democrats don’t come out and say these things directly.  To listen to them, if they are elected we will all be sitting happily singing Kumbaya while everyone’s life is one of bliss.  But look beneath the pretty words, ask how that hoped for idyllic vision will be achieved.  It is not so pretty and it looks a heck of a lot like the failed socialist dreams that have caused enormous suffering around the globe.

Let’s take a minute to look at our Constitutional freedoms.  We know that the Democrats would delete the Second Amendment in a second if they could and will erode it in every way possible until it is effectively non-existent.  (For example, my city’s Democrat mayor has declared all city parks and civic plaza to be “school zones”, hence banning all guns from these places.  Overreaches such as this will become more and more common until there will be no guns permitted.)

But what about the First Amendment.  We have already lost much of its guaranteed freedoms to the Democrat agenda and its “cancel culture.”  Those who speak words that they do not approve of are assaulted verbally on social media and in person, are sometimes assaulted physically (witness the actions of the Left outside the President’s speech last night in DC.  Look at the videos – it was not a “peaceful protest” but a violent mob that not only attacked police, but also those who had attended the speech.  Sen. Rand Paul, his wife, and others with him were clearly in fear for their very lives).  People more and more frequently lose their jobs if they make a statement of which the Left does not approve. 

These attacks have already silenced many who keep their mouths shut rather than face the Left mob.  But it is not just speech.  It is the other topics of the First Amendment as well.  Religion is under attack, especially Christianity whose views on family, marriage, etc. do not comport with those of the Left.  The free press of the First Amendment is long gone; it is little more than a propaganda machine for the Left.  Those seeking facts will not find them in the media; rather they will find the Left’s narrative.  And peaceable assembly has likewise lost all meaning.  Violent riots, if they support the Left and its causes, are labeled as peaceful protests, whereas a peaceful right-leaning protest will be silenced by the Left.

This is just the beginning.  The Left is stirring up trouble, but it is not good trouble.  It is a pull out all the stops effort to keep President Trump from being re-elected.   And if the Democrats are elected they will be chomping at the bit to begin their total dismantling of America and they clearly have no hesitation to use violence to do so (and let’s not forget that good socialists believe that the overturn of the current regime should always be violent).

Back to the conventions.  The Democrat convention was nothing more than 4 days of hate directed at Trump and his supporters, with the occasional assurance that the Democrats would take care of us (read that as they would take our freedoms and they, not we, would control us).

The Republican convention, rather than a dystopian nightmare, presented a positive and hopeful picture of America.  Each night's theme portrayed a different and upbeat aspect of America.  Land of Promise moved us by showing us the great promise that America has always held for the rest of the world and how the promise continues as we work to ever move the country forward to meet all of its aspirations – something that cannot be done without its core freedoms.

The second night showed us the Land of Opportunity.  Individually perhaps not exciting stories, but these were not the speeches of career politicians.  These were the stores of common people – of real Americans.  The third night was labeled the Land of Heroes.  But these were not for the most part famous names – rather, they were again the everyday heroes.  These are the true Americans, the heroes that the freedoms of this country allow each and everyone of us to be.

The fourth night, the Land of Greatness, was indeed a celebration of this great land.  It also laid out the stark contrasts between the Democrats/Mr. Biden and the Republicans/President Trump.  But it wasn’t just in the people speaking at the conventions that we heard such contrasts.  We heard them on the streets and read them on social media.

During the Democrat convention, Republicans did take to airways to respond to points made by the Democrats.  This is expected.  But the Democrats, in full Leftest form, did more than that.  They took to social media to make hateful attacks on every Republican speaker.  These were not attacks on the substance of speeches, they were personal, ugly lies turned into hateful attack.  A tweet after Melania Trump’s speech ridiculed her for being an illegal alien (not true, she is a citizen) and being unable to speak English (because of her native accent).  Black speakers were essentially called nothing more than tokens (because if you listen to Democrats, Blacks cannot think for themselves), other speakers were told they sold out or were using their personal and moving stories for political gain.  Even the sweet story of President Trump’s 3-year-old grandson making a Lego White House for him was met with hate and ridicule.  It was labeled a lie, even though prior photos in the White House show the child with his grandfather and the Lego structure as well as the structure’s later resting place among other memorabilia in the oval office.

And, we have the demonstrations.  Outside the White House lawn where Trump gave his speech accepting the nomination, the Left did everything it could to disrupt the speech.  But that was not enough.  Afterwards they terrorized those leaving.  I certainly did not see such violent behavior or even such attempts to silence the Democrats during their convention.

Actions speak louder than words, but in this case we have both actions and words to guide us.  The Democrats words paint a world of hate and anger, an America that is evil and must be completely remade into something that we would not recognize.  The words superficially may sound pretty, but when one examines what is really being said it is not pretty at all.  Their actions show us the tactics that they will use to subdue and control us and to build the world that provides them the power that they seek – a power to completely control our lives.  If that is the America that you want then vote for the Democrats. 

If you want the imperfect America that gives you the freedom to be who you are, the freedom to improve both your life and the lives of others, the freedom to work for equality of opportunity for all, then listen to the words of the Republicans and look at the actual accomplishments of President Trump.  Those words and those actions do far more to create the idyllic world that the Democrats tout than anything than the Democrats have ever said or done.

Beyond 4 Days of Emptiness

Wow these people are full of hate! 

The Democratic convention is now over.  I’m not sure what they needed 4 days for.  Certainly not to tell us about their candidate or their platform.  Most speeches spent about 1% or less of their time talking about the Democrats and their plan.  The rest of the time was spent on Trump-bashing.

What this amounted to was a 4-day hate-fest.  About the only thing we learned was that Trump Derangement Syndrome is going nowhere and that the Democrats seem to have nothing in the way of platform – at least nothing that they are willing to honestly tell us about before the election.

The most informative piece of the convention was AOC’s one minute.  In that one minute she actually summarized for us the entire Democrat plan for the USA.  They could have just put that speech out and not wasted anymore time.

Here is the entire text of her speech (which was actually 1:24 minutes).  The underlining is mine, noting the points I will discuss in more detail below:

 Good evening and thank you to everyone here today endeavoring towards a better, more just future for our country and our world in fidelity and gratitude to a mass people’s movement, working to establish 21st century social, economic and human rights, including guaranteed healthcare, higher education, living wages and labor rights for all people in the United States. A movement striving to recognize and repair the wounds of racial injustice, colonization, misogyny and homophobia. And to propose and build re-imagined systems of immigration and foreign policy that turn away from the violence and xenophobia of our past. A movement that realizes the unsustainable brutality of an economy that rewards explosive inequalities of wealth for the few at the expense of longterm stability for the many, and who organized a historic grassroots campaign to reclaim our democracy. In a time when millions of people in the United States are looking for deep systemic solutions to our crises of mass evictions, unemployment and lack of healthcare, and out of a love for all people, I hear by second the nomination of Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont for President of the United States of America.

This is a clear socialist agenda.  It snuck in as a second to the nomination of Bernie Sanders.  But it echos everything that we hear from every corner of the Democrat party.  Let’s look at it a little more closely.  The words sound lovely.  They create a vision of a beautiful place.  But let’s look at 5 key phrases and what they really mean. 

1.  “working to establish 21st century social, economic and human rights, including guaranteed healthcare, higher education, living wages and labor rights for all people in the United States.”

What this says is that the Democrat goal is that EVERY person living in the United States, (not just citizens) will look to the government to provide for them:  healthcare, higher education, a guaranteed wage, a job.  What it does not say is where the money for this will come from.  Certainly the current tax burden will not cover all this and so it would seem that one of two things are necessary to make this happen:  either taxes must be significantly increased or the benefits are not going to be as wonderful as they sound.  For example, what kind of healthcare will be provided?  Who will decide who gets what when there is not enough to go around?

2.   “striving to recognize and repair the wounds of racial injustice, colonization, misogyny and homophobia.”

These of course are the buzz words of the Democrats.  “Racial injustice” – they love to spout this phrase as justification for their identitarian politics that divide us into hateful and competing identity groups.  They urge one group to find their victimhood based on such things as “colonization, misogyny and homophobia.”  They then urge these victims to hate those whom they have labeled as the perpetrators of these evils and thus the ones responsible for the victimhood of those labeled as victims.  (This by the way is a classic socialist political technique.)  Their fine words do nothing to improve or heal America.  Instead they are specifically designed to tear us apart.

3.  “And to propose and build re-imagined systems of immigration and foreign policy” 

Again, fine words.  But what would that new and re-imagined system be?  For one, we know that the Democrats favor if not open borders then widely loosened immigration laws.   They are perfectly willing to accept illegal immigrants as legal equals to those who follow requirements and enter the country legally.  In their desire to remake America in a way that establishes their own power, they are willing to overlook the centuries of not just American but World history that demonstrates that a country requires borders if it is to be a country.  They don’t seem to be willing to consider the effect that unlimited immigration has on the economy and job market, not to mention crime and culture.  

In the same vein, they denounce our current foreign policy.  This is a policy that has brought us an historic middle east peace agreement, talks with countries such as North Korea which, until this president, was considered beyond any hope for reduced tension.  Current policy has revised old trade agreements to the benefit of our country and our citizens rather than to the benefit of foreign powers.  These and many other accomplishments of President Trump are apparently disdained by the Democrats and their hate.  They will likely return us to a policy that favors not our people but those who benefit the Democrats and their own power.

 4.  “A movement that realizes the unsustainable brutality of an economy that rewards explosive inequalities of wealth for the few at the expense of longterm stability for the many, and who organized a historic grassroots campaign to reclaim our democracy.”

What this says is that the Democrats are against capitalism.  Capitalism rewards one for one’s own work and accomplishments.  Because those are different for everyone, based in large part of the individual’s own desires and motivations, there will be inequalities in those rewards.  The Democrats would instead take those rewards from those who justly earned them and redistribute them so that everyone would receive the same. 

There are two problems with this:  first, it destroys incentive and as the motivation to work for a reward decreases so will the actual reward be less.  What this leads to is the second problem:  There will be less to redistribute.  While everyone in the Democrats’ ideal world may get the same, there is no definition or guarantee as to what that sameness will be.  Picture the bread lines in any socialist regime and you have an example of everyone getting their equal piece of what is left to go around.  Under capitalism, people work hard for what it is that they desire and they have the choice as to how hard they will work.  That choice is part of democracy, something that the Democrats seem to despise.

 5.  “deep systemic solutions to our crises of mass evictions, unemployment and lack of healthcare”

I am not sure that we have a crisis of mass evictions, unemployment, or healthcare, but if we did, the Democrats seem unable to tell us what their solutions are.  That is, what is their platform?  We know that they favor some form of universal government healthcare, but is that really a solution?  As noted above, how will they pay for it and what would it really provide?  As to unemployment, President Trump, prior to CoVid, gave us the best employment figures ever, especially for minorities and women.  Even with CoVid, we see the unemployment rates steadily going back down.  Yet the Democrats detest Trump and his policies which indeed were solutions that the Democrats have never been able to give us.  Similarly, evictions are not mass, though CoVid has caused problems.  But it is the President who has sought and to some extent succeeded in halting CoVid based evictions.  So, where is the need for a solution when one is already provided?

Not unlike their presidential candidate, the Democrats are empty when it comes to providing substance about their policies.  They talk a good game, they tell us how they have a “love for all people.”  But they do not show us that love.  Look at their policies.  How have inner city Blacks fared for the last 50 or so years under their leadership of victimhood identity?  Rather than raising people up, the Democrats, who think they know better than us, keep people down and dependent.  Why?  Because if we are dependent upon them, we will need to keep them in power. 

It is President Trump, not the Democrats, who has begun to empower people of all group identities to rise up and better themselves.  Women, Blacks, Hispanics, Poor, People of all Faiths or of none.  The equality that he envisions and that has begun to manifest itself under his administration is one of better, more equal opportunity for all.  It is not that which the Democrats envision:  dependent victims who must reap not their own rewards but those of others; a country in which wealth and other rewards are redistributed so that everyone has the same, and what that is will be decided not by the individual, but by those in power.

When AOC refers to deep systemic solutions, reimagined and rebuilt systems, she is stating the obvious plan if anyone listens to the Democrats:  Rebuilding America to their liking rather than as envisioned and as carried out for the last 244 years.  What no one should forget is that before you can rebuild, you must tear down what currently exists.  That is the Democrat plan.

I don’t know if Joe Biden understands the plan, but I am sure that his handlers and his chosen VP do.  I think the Democrats spent little time on their vision because they don’t want us to be fully aware of their plans.  Rather, they spend their time ginning up hate for the current President.  Someone who many find hard to like, but who, unlike the Democrats, is a man of action.  Unlike the Democrats who rarely keep campaign promises, President Trump keeps his.  President Trump’s words may not have the soothing sounds of the Democrats’ song of love for all, but unlike the Democrats whose words do nothing to heal or fix anything, Donald Trump is indeed getting things done, not for himself, but for this country and its citizenry.

I leave you with a list of President Trump’s accomplishments since taking office – not complete, but quite thorough.  Take a look, because the Democrats and their sycophant partner main stream media will never tell you any of this.  Consider it along with the Democrats’ 4 days of nothing but hate before you vote. 

Trump Accomplishments LINK   

 

 

 

 

 

Question One

We will be having an election soon.  I don’t know how many people are truly paying attention.  I fear that many are not actually becoming the informed members of the electorate that they need to be before casting their vote.  Or, perhaps, they are focused on one issue only, one that is personal to them, and will allow their feelings on that one issue to overshadow everything else and keep them from seeing the big picture.  Or, and we all know this is true, they will allow their hatred for one man (whether real or created for them by the media and the very real Trump Derangement Syndrome) blind them to the actions and accomplishments of that person serving as President for this country and its people. 

This is an important election – perhaps the most important one that I have seen in my 72 years on this earth.  So, I thought that through some posts over the next two months or so I would consider some key questions that this election may very well answer.  Questions that deal less with specific issues and more with the big picture that this election’s results may create.   Here is the first question:      

Who has/should have authority over whom?

That is, how much authority do you want the government to have over you and how much authority do you want to maintain and to have over government?  Stated another way:  How much do you value your autonomy?

Autonomy is a key word here, because the more you expect or demand that the government take care of you, the more autonomy you are relinquishing to other than yourself.

We have two candidates, one of whom stands for small government and the tradition of American individualism, the other stands for large government in the tradition of Socialism.  These two positions are polar opposites and we see their clashing ideology currently not only in the violent streets, but also in the halls of Congress.  There is truly a battle going on for the soul of America and this election will be perhaps a last chance for the people to truly have their say about on which side of the divide they stand.

Donald Trump, whether or not you like the man, is essentially styled in the mold of a rugged individualist.  The America he envisions is one of small government, a government as outlined in our Constitution which provides great autonomy to the people as it protects their freedoms from an intrusive government.  It is an America that aspires to equal opportunity for all, based on their individual talents.  It does not guarantee equality of result, but rather encourages excellence from each individual regardless of and without comparison to his or her neighbor.  It allows each individual to determine his or her own goals and also allows every individual to retain the fruits of their own labor. 

While we may not have that in perfection today, that is the America that Donald Trump strives for.  And we see that many of his accomplishments have worked toward that with such things as the best economy for minorities ever, the positive environment for industry and especially small business start-ups, and, until CoVid, the historic low unemployment especially for minorities. 

A vote for Donald Trump is a vote for maximum individual autonomy to the extent acceptable within a civilized Democratic Republic. 

Joe Biden, on the other hand, leans heavily toward Socialism.  Whether or not he himself is a socialist is up for debate, but his statements on his positions, to the extent that he has currently articulated them, are clearly from the socialist mold.  Rather than an America in which individuals have rights and freedoms that are protected from government by the Constitution, Biden’s America envisions a government that provides rights to the people. 

We must remember that when a government is the provider of a right, it also has the power to take away that same right.  In such a government freedoms such as speech and worship are not inherent in the people and their right to choose, but are determined and allowed or not by those in power who decide for all what “we” will say, believe, and do.   And that is the problem with the Socialist or far-Left dreams for America.  The dream of equal result for all requires that the government determine who will do, say, and have what.  The individual autonomy of traditional America is ceded to the government. 

Joe Biden and the socialist dream may sound lovely – everyone will have all that they need, no one will have more than anyone else – no more privilege, no more income gap, no more educational distinctions, no more ghettos or wealthy gated neighborhoods.  Everyone will be on an equal plane, not only of opportunity but of result.  We will all equally care for our neighbors.  “we” will all be on the same page marching as one to the same drummer.

Sounds lovely, does it not?  The problem is that it doesn’t work.  You can read my previous blogposts about socialism, you can read any history of any socialist system and see what happens.  It may work for a short while, but then reality sets in and not only the economy, but the human spirit is crushed.  People are not all the same, and no amount of government intervention can make them so.  And to ask people to give up what they legitimately have worked for, whether it is material wealth or simply a form of self-esteem and pride, is to destroy their motivation to continue to be who they are.  Indeed, Socialism denies the right of the individual simply to be.

Actually, we have an example of this right here in America.    Following the civil rights demonstrations and legislation of the mid-20^th century, the Democrats created any number of social programs to take care of the Black population (apparently they believed that the Blacks were incapable on their own to handle their new found freedoms).  Those programs required Blacks to behave in certain ways – to relinquish some of their autonomy in order to receive them.  The result was in many instances to destroy individual incentive and ultimately to make a large part of the Black population dependent on those programs. 

This leads to people like Biden saying in the 21^st Century that Blacks are not a diverse population (response to a question from NPR reporter Lulu Garcia-Navarro, 8/5/2020 that he has since attempted to “walk back") and that Black voters “ain’t Black” if they don’t vote Democratic (Interview on The Breakfast Club 5/22/2020, which he has also since attempted to “walk back").  These socialism inspired policies allow Democrats to create a Black victim identity group to use as part of their base in their attempt to gain power and further enlarge government; they do this for their own ends while at the same time destroying individual spirit and thought.

The bottom line is, if you value your individual autonomy, then this is an important election in which you must do your part to deny the Democrats’ push to socialism.   If you are uninformed, it is time to educate yourself about the realities of Socialism, especially in contrast to a Democratic Republic form of government, and also about the realities of what Donald Trump has actually done to promote equality of possibility for all Americans vs. what Joe Biden and his handlers have planned for America.

Perhaps the following chart will help to focus on the bigger picture of what this election means and how it will affect the answer to question 1 and more importantly how it will affect who each of us are, how we will be defined, and what our future will be.

 

Finally, I note that I am not registered with any party, but as an independent thinker and voter I truly believe that this may be one of the most important elections of our lifetime.  I hope that everyone gives it the serious consideration that it deserves.

Transformation, Reality, and Dreams.

Joe Biden tweeted Sunday that if he gets elected, his administration “won’t just rebuild this nation — we’ll transform it,”

Seems like I’ve heard this nebulous sort of promise before.  Candidate Obama promised us “hope and change.”  The problem with such a chameleon-like phrase is that it leaves each of us to decide for ourselves what it means. 

Obama’s “hope and change” slogan sounded great.  Was it?  For some perhaps.  For others it meant the rise of identity politics that create more and more discord in our country.  To some it meant continuing to be left jobless and hopeless in the inner cities of America.  For some it meant the rise of the deep state and the ability to weaponize our federal agencies against political opponents.

And who was a part of that “hope and change” administration?  The man who now claims he will transform our country.  The man who spent his life as a political leader apparently making a country that he now suddenly decides must be “transformed.”

Transform it to what?  He says he will not just rebuild.  To rebuild presumes that something was unbuilt that needs to be rebuilt.  In this instance it means that he is with those protestors, progressives, and socialists who would unbuild – destroy – America as we know it so that it can then be rebuilt.  And, in the words of Joe (or his handlers), not just rebuilt, but transformed.  So, it will not be America as we know it.

What will it be?  A dictatorship commanded by those elites or intelligentsia who think they know better than we do what is good for us?  A socialist state which begins with a Utopian sort of dream where everyone will be happy but quickly devolves into horror for all but those in power who, by the way, are rarely the ones who were used to bring the destruction of the old regime about. 

Is this the transformation we are to look forward to with a Biden presidency?  Will he tell us?  Or will he, like Candidate Obama, use some words that have the potential of conjuring up positive visions in the mind of the hearer but which may not be the actual intent of those words at all?

Wake up.  Everyone who fell for the unsubstantiated and dreamlike promise of the Obama-Biden candidacy should see the truth underlying Biden’s campaign promise of “transformation.”  Repeat the words:  fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

Do not vote for the unstated destruction, then the rebuilding with transformation unless and until you are absolutely sure what those words mean.  Demand specifics.  What will be destroyed?  What will be rebuilt?  What will be transformed?  And how?

Do not assume you know what those words mean.  And do not assume that even if they do mean what you want them to that the promise is possible:  consider what must be given up to make it possible.  For example, let’s say you believe that transformation means a perfect world in which we all are happy and healthy and have all that we need and want.  The socialist or Utopian dream.  But what would you give up to have that dream?

In Episode 24 of the original Star Trek’s first season, the crew of the Enterprise end up on a planet where everything is perfect – health, happiness, love abound – it seems a true Utopia.  Seems, but is not.  Captain Kirk realizes that things are not as they seem, the crew is under the spell of some strange spores, and that strong emotions will counteract the effect of the spores.  Once everyone is freed from the spores and have left the planet, the following conversation ensues:

Dr. McCoy: Well, that's the second time man's been thrown out of paradise.

Captain Kirk: No, no, Bones, this time we walked out on our own. Maybe we weren't meant for paradise. Maybe we were meant to fight our way through, struggle, claw our way up, scratch for every inch of the way. Maybe we can't stroll to the music of the lute. We must march to the sound of drums.

In many ways this exemplifies the American spirit, something which needs America in its present (though always improving) form.  The American spirit is not a pretty Utopian creature.  It is the spirit of someone who is not dealt a perfect hand, who has missteps and misfortunes and is sometimes stepped upon, but gets up and moves forward. It is the spirit of someone who dreams beyond what is, who fights and struggles to make things better, always moving up, always improving, never perfect.   It is the spirit of someone who believes that he can, of someone who works hard for what he wants and needs and takes individual responsibility for his successes and his failures.  It is the spirit of someone who is real in a real world, someone who is not content to live statically strolling to the lute.

I can easily equate the spores in this Star Trek episode with the unrealistic dreams purveyed by those who would turn this country to socialism.  Socialism is nothing more than a dream of a perfect world.   Sometimes it is presented with specific images, sometimes with ambiguous words like “hope and change” or “transformation” that suggest your own dreams.  But those dreams are not real.  They are sold by those whose own dreams, not yours, are the goal.

These dreams require that one must give up the American spirit that allows one to be their own individual.  That Utopian dream has only the “music of the lute.”  It denies to us the other passions and emotions that make us human.  It requires us to suppress all that makes us each the individual that we are and instead bow to the behavior, thought, speech, and very being that the Utopian leaders, the spores, mandate.  No drums, just the lute – their lute.  No real emotion, just that which is approved.

Utopia is not freedom.  It is a cage.  And to achieve the socialist dream, to “transform” our current America to something different, relinquishment of individual control is necessary.  The leader of the Utopia will decide what thoughts, words, and, behavior is allowed.  There will be no dissent.  No contrary emotions allowed. 

And, be very clear, the class or identity group that is used to fight for socialism will not be the ruling class of the socialist state.  The workers may have been used by Lenin to destroy the old order and bring his Marxist socialism to power, but the new state was then "rebuilt" from the top down; the workers were not the ones who ruled its brutal Communist state for 75 years.  The workers in Venezuela similarly bought a Utopian dream, but that dream become a nightmare for them once their usefulness to those in power ended.  And, after Obama’s election, the voters who had bought his promise of “hope and change” and given him victory, languished in the same inner cities of crime, unemployment and hopelessness.

The American spirit is sometimes rough and hard and not pretty.  Its music is seldom that of the lute, but more often loud and sometimes discordant.  But it is also full of energy and hope and, perhaps more importantly, it is never static but always growing.   Think hard about whether that is really something that you want to destroy (unbuild), rebuild, and then transform.

We are not just pretty lute players.  We are also drummers and dancers and shouters and singers and inventors.  We don’t all have one idea, but we create new ideas and inspire new and diverse thoughts with our ability to speak and think and behave as the individuals that we are.

The current demonstrations are of course a product of this freedom.  And if they were simply about creating an even better place in which the American spirit can thrive, I would likely support them.  But, they are not; they are about destroying and then rebuilding America into something else, something that it is not.

And I am offended that a presidential candidate would use the already fomented discontent to essentially further urge a destruction of America to be replaced with some sort of unattainable Utopian dream.  A dream that by necessity must destroy the American spirit because individual thought does not work when your goal is to make everyone move in unison to the sound of your lute.  Perfection does not allow for dissent because any dissent is seen as an imperfection.

I am delighted to accept an imperfect world if it means I can be who I am, think what I think, experience all my emotions, and walk in unity with people who are not all like me but are each and everyone their own unique and diverse being.  I do not want that world “transformed.” 

The imperfect democratic republic in which we live is the best place for our full humanity to thrive.  The American spirit and the America in which it lives can and will always find ways to improve itself.  And anyone who believes that it should be destroyed and “transformed” either does not understand who and what this country and its people are or is willing to sacrifice them to achieve their own (not America’s) dream.  Like the crew of Star Trek, we need to banish the effect of the false dream and walk away, “on our own” from Biden and the Left’s “transformation.”

The Impeachment Show

So, tomorrow the Impeachment Show begins – live TV entertainment.  You may watch if you like that sort of thing – a crusade based on hatred of an individual, not unlike the bullying by the “in-crowd” against a successful outsider. This is a not so good sequel to the Russian Collusion show.  If you don’t realize that this is all just part of the ongoing coup/now revolution jihad then you have not been paying attention.

Yes, it is really that ridiculous, and if it weren’t so frightening for the survival of America and all for which it stands, then it would simply be a rather poor comedy.   But it is not.  Last month I wrote about how we were no longer in a coup, but now a revolution (LINK).  My final words (before quoting “Revolution) in that post were

America is under attack.  What was an angry outburst against election results has moved from a childish outburst to a coup and now a revolution - a full out challenge to the established political order, government, culture, and their related associations and structures.   This matters.  This is a challenge to every American.  And every American who is involved in this revolution needs to be very clear on what they are doing while those of us not involved need to do everything we can to educate those warriors and defend our country from their attack.

The revolution is going full force ahead.  The frightening results that we face as both individuals and as a nation are made woefully clear in an excellent piece by historian and scholar Victor David Hanson; LINK  .  His final lines in this essay read, “One side will say, “”Just give us more power and we will create heaven on earth.”” The other says ““Why would anyone wish to take their road to an Orwellian nightmare?”” The 2020 election is that simple.”

Why, you may ask, am I quoting something about the 2020 election when this post’s title and beginning are focused on impeachment?  The answer is very simple:  the Impeachment Show is nothing more than a Democrat campaign strategy to keep Donald Trump from being re-elected.  Anyone who examines the alleged evidence realizes there is just nothing there – nothing other than innuendo and gossip and perhaps some actual disagreement about policy.  But nothing impeachable.  Let me repeat that: NOTHING.  Just as there was nothing there in the Russian collusion show; nothing there in the Kavanaugh #metoo show, nothing there is the daily diatribes against the President.  NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING.

The Impeachment Show is a campaign strategy and part of the overarching campaign to remove the president from office (the original coup attempt) and now the broader campaign to completely remake this country (the ongoing revolution).  As a campaign strategy it allows the Democrats to justify not doing what the people sent them to Washington to do (things like pass laws that benefit the people and the country, debate important issues, etc.).  They are too busy with impeachment to do anything else, and so they justify a failure to serve the people who elected them.  And, by their doing nothing, the President’s agenda becomes stalled, so they can argue that he did not accomplish what he should.  Further, it allows Democrats to throw all sorts of dirt at the President and the Republican party – the sort that you see and usually object to in the ugliest campaign ads – claiming that they must release this hearsay and innuendo as part of an open impeachment.

Of course, you must realize that this is anything but an open and fair process.  The key witnesses are avowed anti-Trumpers who consult with Democrats before coming forward.  Adam Schiff (who salivates every time he even thinks about removing Trump from office) has been running and continues to run a Star Chamber sort of process.

For those not familiar with Star Chamber, it was a court process that existed in England from the 15^th to mid-17^th centuries.  While it was originally created to fairly enforce laws against socially and politically prominent and powerful people whom ordinary courts were reluctant to convict, it became synonymous with social and political oppression through the abuse of the power it wielded.  Its proceedings were secretive and its judgments arbitrary.  It became an instrument of oppression rather than justice.

One can see why Schiff’s impeachment show is often linked to Star Chamber.  He is using what in the past has been generally a fair process and corrupting it to his purposes of removing the President from office, or failing that objective, of destroying his chances for re-election.  This is in effect both social and political oppression as it attempts to remove a duly seated president and overturn the will of the people with absolutely no valid legal basis for doing so. 

Until tomorrow the hearing has been in secret with even Republicans (and through them the people they represent) denied access.  Questions by Republicans have been disallowed.  Schiff met with the “whistleblower” before he became a whistleblower, and both are avid anti-Trumpers.  Schiff determines what witnesses can be called and which can be cross-examined.  He suggests written questions to the whistleblower instead of live testimony.  Yet it is a basic principle of American justice that one is allowed to face his accuser.  No one knows what went on in Schiff’s secret hearings – what Schiff may have said or how he may have coached witnesses.  His selectively leaked information must be viewed as tainting any future testimony and his ability to selectively allow or prevent witnesses and testimony makes the who process more of a show trial than an actual quest for justice.

The list goes on; you need only consult the daily outpouring of information.  The problem is, however, that the mainstream media fails to report much of what is happening if it even sounds, let alone is, averse to the Democrats’ position.  This is not surprising since they also fail to report the many positive accomplishments of the President for our country, or, when they do, they couch them within something portrayed as negative.

Those who hate the President will simply accept without question the narrative of the Democrats.  Yet, anyone who gives it the slightest thought will see how weak and contrived this impeachment claim is.  First, we don’t just give away taxpayer money to other countries without expecting something in return.  Any taxpayer who thinks we do should be screaming in objection. There is always some sort of exchange (“quid pro quo”) and hence that alone is certainly not an impeachable offense.

Second, the country has a valid interest in learning about foreign interference in our elections, and the President’s request that Ukraine investigate that was valid.  Similarly, if a sitting Vice President used his influence to benefit himself or a family member financially or to demand the firing of someone within a foreign country who was investigating his son, the country has a right to know about that and the President was within his right and it was his duty to ask the Ukraine to investigate. 

Third, if a sitting Vice President might now become a candidate for President, that does not negate the justification of investigating questionable acts made during his Vice-presidency. 

Fourth, there is absolutely no evidence of direct request for “quid-pro-quo” of aid for investigation, and certainly not simply for political reasons.  Indeed, not only the transcript reveals no quid pro quo, but also some very credible witnesses have clearly asserted there was no quid pro quo.

The bottom line is clear.  There is absolutely no evidence (unless you consider someone’s addition of their own narrative to actual concrete fact to be “evidence”) that the President asked for an investigation of his possible opponent in return for our foreign aid.   It just didn’t happen. 

What is happening is a group of people, led by Schiff, want to unseat a sitting president that they think the people should not have elected.  This has been their goal since 2016.  And the Impeachment Show is just their latest episode in their on-going drama.  Watch it for entertainment if you wish; but, understand that the underlying concept is based on hatred and malice the intent of which is to overthrow that which we know as America.  The Impeachment Show may look like a comedy, but if it is allowed to reach its sought-after conclusion, we will see that it was really both a horror show and a tragedy.

"Debate" Part 2

Second verse, same as the first.  But angrier.

I commented on part 1 of the Democrat “debate” in yesterday’s blog post (HERE).  My overall thoughts remain the same:  Frightening that any of these people could actually become the head of our country and terrifying what that would mean for this country (more details in that post). 

But, there were a few differences in the second “debate,” probably because the second night candidates were coached based at least in part on the first night and reactions to it.  So, there was more Trump bashing and there was more anger.   Especially from the women (except, of course, the love guru, Marianne Williamson); I think that Democrat women think that being angry somehow proves that they are strong.  Yet I have no doubt that Kamala Harris’s angry and self-righteous attack on Joe Biden was prepared and memorized long before the debate began – she just needed to find the right opportunity to use it.

Actually, the toxic anger spread from Kamala to the rest of the group on stage, making the “debate” even less useful than the first night.  Does anyone really think that anger and hate are the best way to govern?

There were a few other things that especially bothered me.  First is the number of candidates who indicated that their preferred method of governing was to ignore Congress and the will of the people and to govern instead via a stroke of the executive order pen.  Yes, executive orders are at times useful and necessary, but in a democracy that should not be the first choice; that sort of rule by fiat is far more suited to a dictatorship.  But, then, the further left a candidate goes, the more he or she is entering dictatorship territory – a place where the state tells us what to do, what to think and where the people have no real voice at all.

I was also bothered by the belief, expressed most articulately by Pete Buttigieg, that those who oppose the Left’s position on the border have no right to call themselves Christians or to ever invoke the name of God again.  I would argue that those who use religious teachings to support their secular agenda do not understand that the values and teachings of the Christian and other religions can be expressed in any number of ways in the secular world.  I happen to think that the directive to love or care for those in need is better expressed in terms of the migrants by doing what we can to stop those caravans that put people in danger and also that simply opening our borders in the long run is not the most loving act toward either those seeking to enter or those already here.  What the Democrats don’t understand is that religious laws are not political policies and by trying to use them to further a political or personal agenda suggests that it is they who are not following God’s teachings.

I heard many on the stage refer to climate change as an “existential threat.”   I’m not sure, but I think that using the word existential in this phrasing is not really correct.  I think what they want to say is that climate change is a threat to mankind.  They want to make that sound fancy, so they use the word “existential” but that word, while defined as “relating to existence” is specifically related to human existence as viewed in the theories of existentialism.  Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes individual existence, freedom and choice.   So, I don’t really think that existential is the right word here.  As my middle school English teacher always said, don’t use a big word just to try to impress people if you don’t fully understand its meaning and its connotation.

Finally, the overall problem with all these candidates was summarized by Bernie Sanders when he said that “we can transform this country.”  I don’t think most people want the country transformed.  I certainly do not want the country transformed.  I want what it is to remain, but improve, as it has done and continues to do since its creation.  Trying to improve something that is less than perfect is far different than “transforming” it to something else.

The Democrats do not really like America and would change it to something else.  For some that something else is socialism.  For others it is something else that they may or may not articulate.  But for none is it a country that holds traditional American values including individual freedom and responsibility.  They would change our Democratic Republic, the shining star of freedom, into something fundamentally different.  And that is the most frightening thought of all.

Solving Real Problems Means Distinguishing Reality from Ideology

Does ideology prevent one from seeing the most obvious distinctions of fact, let alone the more refined?  Or is it simply that we have dumbed down so much that many are no longer capable of doing so?

We seem to have lost our ability to think – to examine a situation for what it is rather than for what we might like it to be.  This does not allow us to find realistic solutions for real problems.  Some examples:

There is a difference between legal and illegal, yet when it comes to those entering our country, many are incapable of making this distinction.  The result is that we can’t get past that to address the real issues and rework our immigration laws.

There is a difference between solid waste pollution and global warming.  Reducing plastic bags (the current go-to feel good act for environmental activists), while reducing land fill solid waste, does nothing for climate change; it does not reduce CO2 or other emissions.  It may even aggravate climate change since it takes more energy to manufacture and transport the likely alternative paper bags.  But, apparently it has become too hard to think past the feel good act and consider even this obvious distinction.  And, the failure to do so likely means less focus on climate change solutions.

Those who would welcome all border crossers, legal or illegal, try to shame those who do not help them by quoting religious references such as “love thy neighbor.”  Yet they ignore the fact that we have citizen neighbors who are suffering from hunger, violence, and other conditions similar to those the migrants claim.   And, the demand to open the border as the only way to satisfy  helping one’s neighbor ignores that there are other reasonable and responsible ways to do so; indeed, one can question how it is “loving one’s neighbor” to place children in dangerous caravans, to promise families a “better life” here when they may not be able to find work and may end up in situations worse than what they left.   When the demand to help is limited to that which supports a political agenda, the motive is suspect, the actions tainted, and the “help” perhaps not so wise.

There also seems to be a basic inability or disinclination to read or listen.  "Narratives" overcome facts.   The instances of this increase daily.  But here are just 2 examples: 

Joe Biden is using a false narrative to support his campaign to “make America moral again.”  While Trump did utter the phrase that there “were very fine people on both sides” in regard to Charlottesville, that was in the context of referring to the fact that some people were there only to protest for or against the taking down of a statue.  He further clarified “I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and white nationalists because they should be condemned totally.”  Yet, because it is more politically convenient to perpetuate the dishonest mischaracterization of the statement, many will overlook the dishonesty as well as the irony that this dishonesty is the underpinning of a campaign for morality.

Just one of many mischaracterizations from the Barr Senate testimony:  The Mueller report provides some evidence that Trump questioned Mueller’s objectivity and considered REPLACING based on conflicts of interest.  REPLACING.  Not firing and ending the investigation.  Yet, those (firing, ending investigation) are the words repeated over and over by Democrats in referring to this evidence.  When someone is replaced, the implication is that the job of that person continues (in this case, the investigation would then continue, not end).  Yet, driven by political desire to claim obstruction by Trump, the Democrats seem to have lost not only their ability to think, but to just plain read.

Finally, while politicians throw money at problems such as poor schools, violent cities, and poverty, the same politicians refuse to consider such things as different cultural values that may contribute to the problem and call those who would look at such differences “racist.”  That is, the bias or fear of political correctness often keeps us from even acknowledging that a problem exists.  The belief that all people are equal does not mean that everyone is the same.  Nor is it synonymous with equality of opportunity.   And, none of these concepts fully comport with reality.  Indeed, identifying particular behaviors or needs of certain communities that would enhance their equality of one or another opportunity may require identifying ethnic, cultural, economic, or other distinguishing characteristics of those communities.  Yet, such identifications are often seen as politically incorrect at best and racist at worst, so we avoid them with the result that the people within those communities suffer.

The above are only a few of the numerous examples available of over-broad thinking and characterizations that cloud our perceptions of and ability to deal with reality.  Reality is more than a wishful narrative and there are many shades and distinctions between even the most similar facts and situations.  To fully deal with and solve the problems of the real world we must first be able to identify these distinctions.

When we start letting our biases color, alter, and even eliminate actual facts we lose our ability to realistically and candidly assess a situation.  We lose our ability to solve or resolve a problem.  As a society we used to have a seemingly better ability to assess situations realistically and intelligently consider actual facts and make distinctions between facts and their circumstances.  

While intelligence demands the ability to make distinctions, biased rhetoric requires only emotion.  Emotions may give one the will to solve a problem, but it takes intellect to figure out how to do so.

Yet, today we find politicians grasping at straws and mischaracterizing evidence just to make a political point.   We hear people talking in bumper sticker rhetoric.  This riles the emotions but does little else.  Complex problems do not respond to sound bite solutions.  Instead they require clear and objective thought - thought that is based in reality not ideology.