Politics is smothering good Politicians

 The bodies weren’t even cold when the MAGA crowd started politicizing yesterday’s drone attacks by Iran-backed groups that killed three U. S. military in Jordan and wounded many others.  As expected, Trump immediately blamed Biden’s “weakness and surrender.”  Senator Tom Cotton (and Trump supporter) released the following statement almost immediately following the news of the attack:

 “Joe Biden emboldened Iran for years by tolerating attacks on our troops, bribing the ayatollahs with billions of dollars, and appeasing them to no end. He left our troops as sitting ducks and now three are dead and dozens wounded, sadly as I’ve predicted would happen for months. The only answer to these attacks must be devastating military retaliation against Iran’s terrorist forces, both in Iran and across the Middle East. Anything less will confirm Joe Biden as a coward unworthy of being commander-in-chief.

 

“On behalf of Arkansans, I extend my deepest condolence to the families of our brave fallen warriors. May God comfort them as He welcomes their loved ones into His embrace. And may God quickly and completely heal their wounded comrades.” 

Nothing wrong with the second paragraph of Cotton's statement, but notice how it comes as almost an afterthought to the political rhetoric of the first paragraph, rhetoric characteristic of many MAGA supporters yesterday.  One would think that someone with Sen. Cotton’s distinguished military service would have more sense.  But no, in the ever-growing insanity of the MAGA cult, politics (i.e. electing Trump) is everything. 

As to retaliation against Iran, there must be a U.S. response, but this is really a very complex issue.  Iran denies it ordered the attack.  We need proof that it did before we respond directly against Iran for that attack.  And whatever action we take must be carefully considered in light of the already potentially explosive nature of the Middle East following the terrorist attack on Israel, Israel’s legitimate response, the prisoners held by Hamas, and the many questions about Gaza.  Just a blind return of fire could cause far worse problems than a delay in order to respond with well thought out action.

But, this inability to think beyond political posturing, rampant on all sides, actually defines the MAGA Republicans today.  Consider the bipartisan immigration bill that was on a likely path to passage until Trump urged Republicans to vote against the bill because he needs to be able to attack his rival Biden over the border crisis. The bipartisan bill would have provided money to Israel and Ukraine in return for Democrats agreeing to several Republican demands that address the border crisis and immigration laws.  As one senator put it, “[Trump] doesn’t want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame Biden for it.”

Oklahoma Republican Senator Lankford, who continues to negotiate with Democrats to try to save the bill stated on a Sunday TV news interview:

“It is interesting: Republicans, four months ago, would not give funding for Ukraine, for Israel and for our southern border because we demanded changes in policy. So we actually locked arms together and said: ‘We’re not going to give money for this. We want a change in[immigration] law.  And now, it’s interesting: A few months later, when we’re finally getting to the end, they’re like, ‘Oh, just kidding, I actually don’t want a change in law because of presidential election year,'” 

And what does Sen. Lankford get for his efforts at bipartisanship to solve our country’s problems?  The Oklahoma Republican Party approved a resolution censuring the Senator and attacking him for negotiating with Democrats on a potential border deal.  Just more proof that the Republican party cares little for people affected by the issues it campaigns on but rather simply uses those issues as political talking points to achieve its own power.

This is the new MAGA Republican party, and it has frightening authoritarian tendencies.  This party is led by the presumptive (but hopefully not actual) nominee Donald Trump.  While it is true that Trump’s 2016 presidency did much to improve the day to day lives of many Americans, it also had a dark side.   There is no question that Trump’s words were often acerbic and designed to get a response.  The response, beginning immediately upon his 2016 election was a series of never-ending attacks and allegations, many false and pursued out of seemingly pure hate for the man, but some with at least nuggets of truth to them.  While racial and perhaps other divisiveness became apparent during the Obama years, it increased during Trump’s presidency and continues to this day. 

Both parties have fanned the flames of this atmosphere of anger and overwhelming divisiveness since 2020.  The parties and their supporters have become true enemies of one another rather than simply political opponents and all seem ready if not eager to sue, impeach, censure, or otherwise fully attack anyone whose views or policy decisions they do not like.  This does little for the American people but seems to satisfy some political need within our current leaders. 

Since 2020, Trump and his MAGA supporters seem to be the most eager to stir up hatred and discord against any who are not 100% with them.  Since he lost the 2020 election, Trump has a track record of attacking our Constitution and our very form of government.  His claims of a fraudulent election, his actions leading up to and on Jan. 6 (which I believe disqualify him from holding office) and his unsubstantiated and continuing assertions that Joe Biden was not elected and is not our real president are now joined by his actions setting up the same claims for 2024 as he currently asserts that the only way he will lose is if the Democrats cheat.  These assertions are all attacks on our elections, our institutions, and our rule of law, core elements of our democracy and the America and Americans which these folks claim to love.

But beyond these election related tirades, Trump regularly debases, ignores, and encourages others to violate the Constitution and laws of the United States.  In his many ongoing court cases he consistently ignores the court processes, procedures, and rule of law.  He then verbally attacks the courts, attorneys, and jurors for simply doing their jobs when he does not obtain the outcome he seeks.  Moreover, he uses these serious judicial matters as opportunities for campaigning.  The disrespect (which is  encouraged by MAGA supporters who, for example, urge the Governor of Texas to disobey an order of Stay from the United States Supreme Court), if not violation, of both Constitution and Rule of Law are direct assaults on the core of our democracy.  These disregarders of the Constitution are the same folks who assert they believe in its every word – apparently that’s only when they like what it says.

The MAGA cult wants what it wants, and its political ambitions trump (excuse the pun) any concern for the American people.  Sometimes their needs or desires may benefit, but that is nothing more than coincidence. 

While Trump’s rhetoric has always been acerbic, it has taken an extremely dark and un-American turn. When he says that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” (spoken at a New Hampshire rally December 2023) and then doubles down on that statement when given an opportunity to offer some less repulsive explanation, one can’t help but hear the echo of Hitler asserting Jewish blood was poisoning Aryan German blood.  And when his Christmas message is a hope that his opponents rot in hell, one can see that he is not interested in working across the aisle or finding space for all Americans in this country. (Trump’s Christmas rant included the following: “World Leaders, both good and bad, but none of which are as evil and ‘sick’ as the THUGS we have inside our Country.” The message ended with, “MAY THEY (referring to Biden and Special Prosecutor Smith) ROT IN HELL. AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS!”) Such rhetoric, in my opinion, does not belong in America, and certainly not in the mouth of a presidential hopeful.

Trump’s exclusive and authoritarian tendencies are apparent as he tries to push out of the Republican Party any and all who do no swear allegiance to his MAGA regime.  He asserted that all Nikki Haley supporters are now permanently barred from the Republican party which he now refers to as the “MAGA community.”  (So much for the big tent where all are welcome!).  MAGA, in true fascist fashion, does not really care about the people, but only its power and its own ideology. 

And, lest we forget the Democrats, they too are often more likely to attack their opponents as totally evil individuals out to destroy America rather than attack the positions and policies of those with whom they disagree.  President Biden himself has given some pretty dark and angry speeches and his view of opponents as enemy is often apparent.  Expect these type of attacks to become more common as we approach the November election.  

We have a changing world fraught with many crises.  These are not the fault of one person or one party.  The problems and complex and often interconnected.   We need politicians who want to solve these problems, not just use them to blame others for their existence.

The primary political responses to the drone attack simply underscore the overwhelming and devastating role that politics itself has taken in our country.  There are good and bad and mediocre politicians, and we vote in or out those whose policies we do or do not agree with, giving those we choose the opportunity to represent us, the people.  But when it is politics itself that begins governing our country – when decisions are made based not on what is good for the American people but on what effect they will have on the enemy/other party, then we are in real trouble.   This politicization of almost everything smothers the opportunity for real dialog, debate, and solution to this country’s and the world’s problems.

We the people need to begin thinking like Americans who believe in our country and all of its people and who can work together to find solutions to our problems, and we need to demand that our politicians do the same.  We must no longer tolerate a politics that is synonymous with a blood-thirst against those holding opposing views.  And we need to elect politicians who will help us to stand united as one country rather than trying to divide us until we fall.

Successful Government Does Not Tolerate Stubbornness

 The party that gets things done….is turning out not to be today’s Republicans.  At least not those elected to the House of Representatives.

They have had since mid-November when all election results were in to decide how they would move forward with their small House majority come January 1.  The people elected them to DO things.  Amend and pass legislation that would curb Biden’s unlimited and destructive spending, deal with the illegal immigrant crisis and the crisis at our borders, stand up for the American values of the people who elected them.  Others hoped also that they would objectively and fairly investigate some things that need investigating – not for political gain or retribution, but because Americans need those activities that are contrary to the interests of America and its people to be dealt with. 

The Republicans could have started working on these tasks on day one.  But instead, what did they do?  They created a veritable circus over their inability to elect a House Speaker.

Contrast this with typical behavior of the Democrat party.  While I adamantly disagree with and oppose many of the positions and policies of the progressive Left, I have to admit that not only do they have a clear agenda, they also effectively implement it.  They work like a well-oiled machine that understands that they agree on an end goal and that they will work in unison toward that goal even when one at times has to agree to something to which they may personally be opposed.   They are willing to make personal concessions, overlook personal preferences, to achieve the greater goal of implementing their agenda – the agenda that Democrat voters put them in place to effectuate.

Not so the Republicans.  With no viable alternative to Kevin McCarthy as candidate for Speaker, a small handful of Republicans who have personal gripes against McCarthy decided to hold hostage the Speakership, making it impossible for McCarthy to be elected while presenting no candidate who could garner more than a score or so of votes. 

In the first vote, a variety of other Republicans siphoned 19 votes off of the other Republican votes for McCarthy.   In the second round of voting Rep. Gaetz nominated Jim Jordon while Jordon re-nominated McCarthy.  In that round Jordan received all of the 19 Republican non-McCarthy votes.  In round 3, Jordan’s vote count increased to 20.

218 votes are required to elect a Speaker.  There are 222 Republicans in the House and 212 Democrats.  All 212 Democrats have voted for their candidate for Speaker,  Rep. Jeffries.  At one point during today’s voting it was reported that some of the Republicans who opposed McCarthy stated they would rather have Democrat Jeffries than McCarthy as Speaker notwithstanding that Jeffries would likely further a Democrat rather than Republican agenda.

After 3 votes the House adjourned.  Voting will continue until a Speaker is elected and until such time no work can go forward – no committees, no bills brought to the floor, no other votes.  None of the business that we the people elected our representatives to conduct.

Yes, a Speaker is important.  He or she leads the House, determines what bills will come to the floor for vote, oversees House procedures and rules, etc.  And there will obviously be a different focus depending on whether the Speaker is a Republican or Democrat.  But this display by the Republicans is ridiculous.

The handful who seem to have a personal dislike for McCarthy had plenty of time to develop support for an alternate candidate.  But all they did during that time was to badmouth McCarthy and assert he should not be Speaker.  They may have gotten their anger off their chest and they may have thought they were acting bold by being so negatively assertive, but what they did was not constructive and has resulted in a debacle that not only reflects poorly on the entire Republican party but also means that the bold agenda and action that the Republican party promised the voters will be stalled and delayed. 

I believe that the people of this country want their elected representatives to work for them; I know that is what I want.  I don’t know if McCarthy is or is not the best candidate for Speaker (and actually I quite like Jim Jordan) but I do know that McCarthy is the only Republican candidate that currently has any possibility to be elected.  And we need a Speaker before the House can do anything.

Working for the people means that sometimes you have to compromise.  One has to wonder if these folks who will not vote for the one currently viable Republican Speaker are going to stall every piece of legislation put forward if there is one word or phrase they do not like.  One wonders if they are going to essentially sink their own party’s agenda simply to prove some selfish point or believe that never ever giving an inch is really a constructive way to conduct the people’s business.  (Republicans could learn something here from the Democrats.)  One has to pick one’s battles; fighting everyone just to prove you are a fighter does not impress me and I doubt that it impresses most Americans.

Perhaps the adjournment today was a good thing.  Perhaps a good night’s sleep will cause this handful of selfish rebels to realize that they are doing nothing but hurting those who elected them and believed in them.  Tomorrow is another day and we can always hope.

The Power of WHY

 We all know that Biden repeatedly tells the country that we must vote Democratic as he repeatedly vilifies all Republicans.  Down the ballot most Democrats do the same.

But it is not only Democrats who demand unwavering and indeed unthinking party loyalty.  In my state the voters can vote to retain or not retain state judges who are already sitting on the bench.  The state judges are identified by party affiliation.   The Republican party recently posted an ad telling voters to vote no on every single judge who is up for retention simply because they are Democrats. 

It is not just political parties that demand unthinking decision making.  My state’s major newspaper apparently based its endorsements on the answer to one question – whether the candidate agreed with Trump that the 2020 election was stolen.  A clear No got you the endorsement but a Yes or even an answer that tried to explain the complexities of that question meant you would not be endorsed.  The paper itself noted that despite the Republican governor candidate coming out on top on nearly all the issues, he would not have received the endorsement had he not answered a clear No to that one question, while it failed to endorse a Republican candidate for House because that candidate failed to give an unexplained yes or no  (that was the only negative noted in the paper’s discussion of that candidate and her opponent who answered no and whom they endorsed).   

These demands that one decide a vote simply on one question or merely a party label are wrong on so many levels.  Let me suggest three.

First, candidates are individuals.  Voters need to look at each candidate as a full person, not as simply a cardboard cutout representing one label or one yes or no answer.  For example, in the judicial retention elections in my state voters have access to in-depth studies done by our Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission.  These include surveys of litigants, attorneys, and others appearing in that judge’s courtroom as well as surveys of the judge’s staff, and the Commission’s evaluation of each judge.  That is a starting point for voters to understand whether or not they believe a particular judge should be retained.  There are judges belonging to both parties that deserve to be retained, and some of each party that do not.  The total picture of each individual judge includes far more than just their party affiliation.

Second: it’s identity politics.  Using a party label to paint a broad and unvarying picture of everyone belonging to that party is simply the game of identity politics, something that we know the Democrats are very good at.  It is the Democrats who paint all opponents as “deplorables” or “terrorists” or “destroyers of democracy.”  The Democrats have given us excellent examples of how to pit one identity group against another as they do such things as paint all whites as racist or all Christians as intolerant or all Trump supporters as violent.

When the Republicans paint all Democrats as bad judges or when the newspaper paints all people with one answer to a question as not endorsable, they too are playing the identity politics game which is simply taking one characteristic of an individual’s many facets and painting all who have that characteristic with the same broad brush.

Group-think or don’t think.  The third and most troubling aspect of these party or single-question-based directives is that they are essentially orders to the voting public not to think.  Because if one thinks, they will go beyond the narrowness that creates cardboard cutouts rather than individuals:  they will think for themselves.

The danger of labeling based on one characteristic or identity factor out of the many that we all carry goes far beyond voting.  It destroys us by dehumanizing each and every one of us.

Humanity requires thinking and debate

Interestingly, in the SCOTUS arguments about affirmative action earlier this week, the justices sincerely grappled with the need for a diverse classroom environment while prohibiting race-based (essentially group identity based) decision making.

Diverse environments are essential to open all our eyes as we learn about, debate, and understand the diverse views of our pluralist democracy.  Labeling any one view as definitive of all who may hold that view is disingenuous and destructive of every positive aspect of pluralism. 

Questioning and debating is essential to human growth, but that debate needs to be based upon reality, not cardboard cutouts based on identity factors.  The debate needs to be individualized if the debaters are to learn and grow.  But the necessary partner with debate is the ability to think as an individual about other individuals.  Demanding thought and action based on group identity defeats the entire purpose.

Yeshiva schools understand how important true debate (debate and questioning in order to grow and learn) is to education.  In such schools the students, along with their rabbis, question the Torah, debating, often quite passionately, about its meaning and its application to their lives.  They are taught not to accept, but to question.  And with questioning comes not only thinking, but an evolution in one’s thinking as they grow deeper and deeper understanding of that which they are studying.

WHY – An act of love

The idea of questioning, even questioning God Himself, goes back to the story of Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis.  We are told that Eve’s mission is to be a helper against Adam.  The rabbinic commentators on this passage explain that this “teaches us a model of friendly antagonism, one in which, in order to support you, I challenge you.” (Prof. Elie Wiesel, quoted in Witness by Ariel Burger).  Such challenging refines the thinking of those involved, allowing them to refine and develop their ideas about the subject being debated. 

Learning about the beliefs of others allows one to challenge one’s own deeply held beliefs, something which is vitally important for one to grow in both spirit and intellect.  Disagreement and debate for the sake of learning, understanding, and growing and not simply to defeat or silence the other’s view is an act of love – for oneself and for the other.  It allows us to see one another for the complex individuals we each are.

Excluding debate, even when done with the misguided motive of protecting delicate feelings, is not an act of kindness but rather an act that serves to stifle individuality.  Demanding that someone vote or base any other activity solely on a group identity classification stifles the individual capacity to think.

Not only in voting, but in the world at large, we need to see people for the complex individuals that they are.  We need to question our candidates and the information that we have about them, not simply base an important decision on one alleged identity characteristic that may or may not be true for that individual candidate, whether based on party affiliation or single question answer. 

If we open our hearts and our minds to question and debate we can reach deeper levels of understanding about ourselves, those we interact with and society at large.  But those questions must not be in the nature of HOW CAN YOU disagree with me/say that? 

Rather, we must learn to ask WHY?  In the context of elections:  WHY are you a member of that party?  WHY do you support that?  In the broader context:  WHY do you say/believe that – help me to understand WHY you hold that view.

That simple word WHY used with curiosity and openness rather than with a closed-minded intent to shut unfamiliar or opposing views down, can go far.  Not only will it likely do more to elect the best candidates, it will also do much to heal our world.

Think Now or Forever Lose Your Mind

 It is not the opposing views but the lack of real thought about them that is destroying our country.

We seem to be living in a time of superficiality and unthinking acceptance, as if cowed into abject obedience by powers beyond our control.   But the only reason such powers become beyond our control is that we relinquish our control over them to those who would control us.

Sergei Dovlatov was a writer unpublished in and expelled by the Soviet Union.  He was a colleague of Joseph Brodsky who later, after his expulsion from the USSR, became the poet laureate of this country.  They, along with writers, artists, and other brave souls, had the courage to think and to stand for what they believe is right, despite every effort by their government to suppress them and their individuality.  We have people with that courage today – Senators Sinema and Manchin come to mind, and we see the hell that their own party is putting them through for having the courage to think rather than just blindly follow.

In authoritarian countries, one is officially punished for not speaking or behaving as told.  Thoughts and beliefs contrary to the official ones are kept secret to oneself.  But in this country we do still have the ability and the right to think, to question popular and party beliefs.  Yet we are allowing more and more control over our thoughts, relinquishing more and more of our individuality to others.

Perhaps we’re so conditioned by being able to google or ask Alexa, get an immediate answer and move on, that we have forgotten how to question anything. 

We used to use our minds:  if we were concerned about the upcoming weather we might have gone outside and looked at the sky, seen a storm coming, deduced that it was likely to rain this afternoon.  Now we just ask Alexa: “Will it rain this afternoon?”, accept her answer, and move on.

But the bigger issues in our society are not subject to such simple, one-word answers.  Whether we should improve America’s existing structure and cultural core or completely dismantle and then re-envision it is a question that is not subject to a simple yes or no response.  Yet that is what we are doing when we simply align with Left or Right without truly understanding the concept or consequences of their ideologies.

What are the opposing Ideologies?

During his long, meandering news conference last week Pres. Biden, while trashing Republicans once again, asked “what are Republicans for?”  The Republican Party of New Mexico answered that question.   Here is their response:

What we generally learn from the above is that the Republicans essentially are for improving the existing constitutional democratic republic structure of America.

What the Democrats are for is nowhere stated as succinctly as the Republican statement above.  Their national website (democrats.org) relies on the 2020 lengthy anti-Trump platform to describe who they are and what issues are important to them.

Reading the Democrat platform, one will be met with many lofty and lovely words, but little detail and no real specifics.  However, one can read the lengthy platform in the context of the actions of the President and his party over the last year to arrive at some concrete ideas of what the Democrats are for.

Based on their platform and actions, the Democrats are for:  

Essentially, the Democrats are for completely dismantling and then re-envisioning America as we know it.   They would alter, reinterpret, or ignore the Constitution.  Their weakening of individual and state rights while expanding federal government control over all aspects of existence is a process which is essentially creating an authoritarian power structure.

The existence of opposing views is not the problem 

These two views (improve vs. remake America) are in opposition.  That is OK; indeed, in America the idea of competing positions on issues is fundamental to our democratic system.   Strongly held opposing views need to be openly and civilly debated in depth.

What is not OK is:

1. When someone supports one or the other platform without fully understanding what it means or entails; and,
2. When those in charge of one or the other platform achieve their goals by intimidation and silencing of those with opposing views.

When either of these two problems exist, democracy is in peril.  Today, in America, we see both. 

We as individuals are fully in charge of averting the first.  We do not have to follow blindly after nice sounding words.  We have both the ability and the right to enquire further into the meaning of those words, to use our minds and think about what they mean, not only immediately but in the future.

Too many people are not doing this, but are rather following and accepting without question what they are told as true, right, and what they must do.  That is what people do in a totalitarian society.  That is not what we should be doing in America.

Of course, and this is also a key to American democracy, we must have access to relevant information to do the necessary thinking.  This is where the second part comes in, and this part is not fully in the individual’s control.

Let’s look at some of the tactics of the Democrats.  First, they have learned that a safe way to survive controversy is to blame someone else.  We hear the Democrats as well as those who support their agenda blame not only former President Trump, but Republican policies and law makers, and even the American people themselves for any and everything that is wrong with our country. 

Moreover, the Left loves to accuse its opponents of everything that they themselves are actually doing.  (Best example of this is racism and its use to divide the country.)  They repeat unfounded attacks over and over until they become commonly accepted.

Of their own people the Left demands unquestioning loyalty to their views and severely punish those who do not fall in line.  They ban opposing voices and remove all influences that do not support their narrative including literature, history, arts, and, most importantly, facts.  They are decidedly unprincipled as they see no problem with their continual hypocrisy and repeated lies.  The list of Biden lies alone reaches several pages and he may have a record for receiving the most “4 Pinocchio” ratings in fact checks.

Without actual facts, with only lies and narrative, it becomes more and more difficult to find, let alone understand, the truth underlying our issues.  We become conditioned to simply accept what we are told, either because it is easier, or because there is no other option.

This is a dangerous place for our country to be:  acceptance without question.  That is the making of an authoritarian society.  One where opposing views are suppressed, where facts are  omitted or manufactured, where the narrative is more important than the truth. 

 The silencing is all around us and is growing

Why do so many not see this happening around us?  Censorship of minority or unpopular views exists not just on social media.  The mainstream media is no longer objective or interested in mere reporting.  When was the last time a reporter asked a difficult follow-up question?  It was when they were using their admittance to press conferences to attack President Trump.  But for the last year the Democrats, from President Biden down, have not been held to account.  Meanwhile, the President weaponizes the DOJ and its hunt for “domestic terrorists” to silence those common citizens who disagree.

When a person in power makes a statement and it is accepted with no questions asked, that leaves the person in power the opportunity to create or omit facts as he or she sees fit simply to further a particular narrative – usually one designed to retain power.  And beyond simply restating the narrative without question, the Left-leaning media often actively attempts to construct it. 

Consider NPR’s respected Supreme Court reporter who created an argument between Justices Sotomayor and Gorsuch about masks, and then, even when presented with the actual facts by those two justices as well as the Chief Justice, refused to retract or correct her false allegations.  Because, for the Left, it has become OK to create narratives and the facts be damned.

Consider the continual overplayed horror and prosecution of Trump and others’ questioning of the 2020 election as some sort of coordinated anti-democratic attack upon our country.   Meanwhile, downplayed if not ignored by the media are the very same assertions by Democrats (Stacey Abram’s claim and belief that she won the Georgia governor election; Hillary Clinton’s claim that the 2016 election was illegitimate; and President Biden’s assertion and prediction that if the Democrats “voting rights” bill was not passed the 2022 elections will be illegitimate, at least in red states, thus giving Democrats a green light to challenge as illegitimate all 2022 results they do not like). 

At least in the case of the 2020 election there is evidence, if not of fraud, of the strong and possibly swaying effect that social and mainstream media had on the voters and thus the outcome of the election, not to mention Zuckerberg’s actual funding of liberal groups to infiltrate election offices in key swing states, effectively taking over governmental roles. Indeed, this was celebrated by that media following the election, including in Time Magazine which bragged and rejoiced about “the conspiracy behind the scenes” that gave us President Biden.  

If it works for the narrative, then the Left will continue to assert it as true, whereas if it is not part of the narrative, they will ignore and deny.  Consider the filibuster, a core democratic safeguard within our government that helps protect us from mob rule.  The Democrats at one time, until they wanted to pass their far-Left agenda, supported and defended the filibuster.  They even used the Senate filibuster earlier this month to block a bill by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) that would have sanctioned companies associated with Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The bill had 55 votes.  Democrats for some unknown reason did not want the bill to pass so used the filibuster to stop it.  Yet when they cannot pass their “voting” bill they call those who support the filibuster and its important protections the equivalent of segregationists. 

The Left, concerned with its own power more than the well-being of the country or its people, will use any means necessary to achieve its goals.

Think before relinquishing your power to do so

We have rival ideologies in this country.  That is nothing new.  What is new is the extent to which the Left would use any means whatsoever to silence opposition and award to themselves full power over life in these United States.  

Those who are old enough may remember the words from the opening of the Patty Duke show: “[Y]ou'll find they laugh alike, they walk alike, at times they even talk alike - You can lose your mind.”  

That is actually what the Left would like to see:  all of us walking, talking, and thinking alike in accordance with the mandates of the Left.  No individual thought.  No individual mind – at least not that one is willing to speak.  This is a totalitarian authoritarian existence, and it is where we are headed. 

We must use our minds now, or we will indeed lose them.

The words of Davlatov are as relevant today as they were in 1970s Soviet Russia.  

May we all be heroes!

The Nice Vote

I hate to keep harping on fraudulent elections, but before I get to the main point of this post I have one final thought on the election which I present in the first paragraph below.  The rest of this blog addresses what I refer to as the “nice vote.”

Elections and Integrity

I know that even if fraud is officially found it is unlikely at this point that it will change the outcome – in large part because once illegal votes have been cast it becomes next to impossible to determine which those votes were and hence impossible to remove them – but I am appalled that so many Americans seem not to care if there even was any fraud.  Even one illegal vote dilutes the strength of every legal vote.  If there are huge amounts of illegal votes as it appears there were in this election, then the essential right to vote of all Americans has been tampered with.  This is not a political issue but an American issue that goes to the very core of our democracy.  Every American, regardless of their political leanings, should demand a full investigation and demand safeguards so that from this point forward we can all trust in the fairness and honesty of our elections.  Many people don’t want the acrimony that may bring, but sometimes democracy is not “nice” which brings me to the main point of this post.

The Nice Vote

If the currently questionable results are nonetheless the same as they would have been if this were an election of unquestionable integrity, then I think that the reason that Trump lost is due to the people who voted for nice.  He got more minority votes than in 2016, but most Democrats and Republicans unlikely changed their votes, so it had to be the nice vote.

What do I mean by that?  Here is the reason given by many people, both Democrats and Republicans, whom I personally know and generally respect, for why they voted for Biden:  They wanted to express their hope for a kinder and more civil country.  These people, despite reservations about the dangers of big government, or reservations about Biden’s past record and corruptions, despite praise for Trump’s foreign policies and his accomplishments toward peace in the Middle East, despite their approval of how he was able to handle and improve the economy and the economic status of minorities, despite these acknowledgements and more, these people simply voted for nice.

Now, I happen to think they made a big mistake.  But I also think that they were not even seeing what was right before their eyes.  While Biden claims to be a nice guy, he is not.  He is a career politician and with that comes the self-interest and lying that is a common part of that role.  While he says he is a straight shooter, he is not straight with the American people. 

As I listen to Biden and his unauthorized transition team make more and more pronouncements about their plans, I become more and more concerned for America.  I wonder if the nice vote is beginning to realize what they voted for, and if they are beginning to have some sort of buyer’s remorse.

I also realize that if one is going to vote based on nice, then they really have very little understanding of our country and how it works.  Most of those I know who voted for nice live outside cities in comfortable suburbs.  They are of the type often referred to as “soccer moms” (though some are not moms, and some are men).  They have not experienced firsthand what it is like to live in a city, either as one of the privileged or as one of the underclass. 

Violence is likely something that is not part of these nice voters’ regular lives, although they see it on TV and therefore from a media perspective – a narrative, not a reality.  They have the things they need, including material goods and things like healthcare.  They feel badly for those who don’t, but they themselves do not experience it. 

Looking from afar they are told how those sorts of problems should be dealt with rather than having any real understanding of those problems.  So, they vote for what they feel is nice, be it nicer, more sophisticated verbiage, or nice sounding narratives about the future that a candidate will create.

But nice is not a requirement for any of the systems of our government.  And indeed, nice is often ineffective.  If we accept for the purpose of discussion the proposition that Biden is nice, then for 47 years his niceness was totally ineffective in getting anything done for the country. If anything, many of the programs his nice verbiage supported were more harmful than beneficial to our country or certain groups of people within our country.   Former President Obama made nice speeches, but his actions tore this country apart as he built and strengthened a politics of identity. 

Yet President Trump, with his rough and often acrimonious words, accomplished so many things that the nice talkers have only talked about for years:  prison and criminal justice reform, return of economic hope for inner city minorities, better quality of life for most Americans, more opportunities for all, but especially minorities, return of respect around the world, working to end foreign wars and bringing troops home; improved trade agreements that are fair to our own country, the list goes on.  He made and kept his campaign promises.  He followed the law and the Constitution.  And in getting it done he was often not nice. But his actions benefited our entire nation.

And that is what a President is supposed to do.  Support our laws and our Constitution.  Work hard, but within our system.   Put our country first.  Work to make things better for all of our people, not just those belonging to favored identity groups.  

There is no requirement of nice.  And indeed, no one can mandate nice because, at least in this country as long as we retain our Constitutional protections, people have the right to their own views and to speak their own words, and sometimes that is not nice.

The nice voters have in my mind been fooled by pretty words.  Pretty promises – we will all be civil and we will all get along and the government will take care of everyone in a kind way.  In the words of Thomas Sowell:  “Mystical references to ‘society’ and its programs to ‘help’ may warm the hearts of the gullible but what it really means is putting more power in the hands of bureaucrats.”

Listening to the plans being put forth by Biden and his handlers since he was declared the presumptive winner tell us that the nice that these people voted for will be a large government in charge of our lives and a diminishment if not loss of our freedoms, especially those set forth in the First and Second Amendments of our Constitution. They voted for a loss of our nationhood and a movement toward the New World Order.  They voted for loss of tolerance for individuality as we move toward a society where even our thought will be under government control.

What they voted for may sound nice, we may not hear so many acrimonious words (though I doubt that), or they will only be spoken in secret behind closed doors, but what they really voted for is not what I would call nice.  What they voted for is a march down the path toward full out socialism and all the evils and pain and suffering that brings.   

I think the nice voters made a huge mistake.  I suspect it will not take them long to realize that.  But it may nonetheless be too late.   God save us from nice!

Real Elections Require Honesty and Fairness and Sometimes Patience

 Elections.   Most every country has them, but they are not all the same.  In some countries we know that despite the people going to polls to vote that the result has been predetermined by those in power.  We laugh when leaders like Putin “amazingly” receive an almost unanimous vote. 

We laugh, because we know that in America that doesn’t happen – we vote, our votes are counted, and we the people decide the winner.  We have faith in that.  At least until now.

But now only a fool would think that there were no irregularities in this election.  Whether that changed the result, we will likely never know.  But it cannot help but change the faith of the people in our elections, both now and in the future.

But this is not just a problem with the fraud itself, it is a problem with the way we are reacting to it.  And that is what I want to address here.

First, there are credible acts of fraud, sworn affidavits by numerous poll workers, a small number of whistle blowers who were poll officials unattached to either party, obituaries from a year or more ago of people who seemingly also cast votes in this election, etc. etc.  The MSM does not report this because it does not fit their narrative.  The credible allegations by Republicans are regularly referred to by the press as “unsubstantiated” and “unproven.”  Well, of course they are at this point only allegations – that is why the Republicans ask for investigations that would prove or disprove what are credible and sworn statements of fraud.

By way of example of what is being alleged and some of the affidavits, here is a link to the complaint filed in Wayne County, Michigan (LINK). It is long.  The affidavits are near the end.  Its allegations are less egregious than what is being found and asserted in Pennsylvania and Georgia and perhaps other states.  

As I write this, the Georgia Secretary of State has announced a state wide hand recount.  The reason for the recount is to create trust in the ultimate result.  Yet even as it reports that announcement the press continues to call the allegations unmerited and essentially characterize them as nothing more than sore losing.  

Any citizen who truly cares about free and fair elections should be concerned.  And that concern should go far beyond the results in Trump v. Biden.  Because if we cannot trust our elections, if the identities of the dead are being stolen, if legitimate votes are not being counted while illegitimate ones are, then we are all being disenfranchised.  And we will never again be able to take the results of our elections seriously.

Any realist will acknowledge that no election is fraud free; there are always some dead people who vote.  But the problem this year was the huge amount of mail in ballots.  The mass mail in balloting of this year must be distinguished from absentee balloting which requires a request for a ballot as well as other verification procedures in order for one to cast a vote by mail.  But general mail in balloting has no such protections.  The following quote from The Kafka Election: Finding a Way Out of the Maze  (LINK) lays out the problem with frightening clarity:

          “When you vote in person, you first make an active choice to vote, confirm your identity as a registered voter to a poll worker, then mark your ballot privately but in the presence of other people, and finally hand it off to a poll worker who scans it directly into a vote-counting machine while you watch. In other words, you establish your legal right to vote and have a secure chain of custody of your ballot until it is scanned, which you yourself participate in.         

        None of those steps is present in mail balloting. You are a passive recipient of a ballot, your identity is assumed rather than confirmed, you may be marking your ballot under pressure of either family members or strangers, and you send the ballot to an anonymous election worker through any number of insecure methods of transmission. You have no assurance that your vote has been counted, and what’s worse, you may not even be a participant in your own vote being cast in your name.  

           The most important thing to remember about mail ballots is that once they are separated from their secrecy envelope, they are completely unidentifiable. They may have come from legal voters, or they may not have. They may have come in the mail, or they may have come in the soda delivery truck. They may have come one at a time, or they may have come 100,000 at a time.

                         And no one will ever know.”

We should all remember that near the end of the first presidential debate, moderator Chris Wallace asked Biden if he would “pledge not to declare victory until the election is independently certified.”  Joe Biden answered, “yes.”  Wallace then asked, “Will you urge your supporters to stay calm while the vote is counted, and will you pledge not to declare victory until the election is independently certified?” “Yes,” answered Biden.  (See C-Span video of that debate HERE.  This exchange happens about an hour and a half in)

Yet Biden, now proclaimed by the media and his party to be our next president, despite no certifications, and with legitimate ongoing challenges and recounts, does nothing to urge calm or patience.  Rather, he and his handlers and supporters mock the Republicans as simply sore losers for being concerned about the validity and fairness of one of the most importance processes of our democracy – the people’s vote.

Biden and the rest of America should review the Constitution.  The Electors must vote before we have a President-elect and that vote must be certified.  That is scheduled to occur in December.  That has not happened yet this year, so while we can have a presumptive or predictive President-elect, we legally and Constitutionally do not have an actual President-elect.  And the one who claims to hold that title should be the first one to understand that and to clarify our Constitution to us.  Afterall, the actual president must take an oath to uphold that very same Constitution.

Indeed, that is what makes us different from the countries whose obvious manipulated elections we laugh at.  We are a country of laws, not of emotion and mob rule.  We are governed by laws, not media.  We the people are the ones in control, not the ones who scream loudest or who have the best emotional propaganda.  To quote the current presumptive winner, “c’mon man.”  And by that I mean, c’mon, stop pretending and follow the facts and the law.  If Biden and his supporters really believe their victory is secure, then why not take the time to prove it?

As the above explanation of mail in ballot fraud demonstrates, we will never know what the true result of legitimate votes in this election was because once the illegal vote is put into the tabulating machine it becomes unidentifiable.  Even if we were able to say there had been a precise number of fraudulent ballots cast, we would not be able to tell specifically which of those votes were the fraudulent ones. 

So, as the Democrats now assert, it is unlikely that even if the challenges successfully show significant and possibly result changing voter fraud, we will nonetheless likely not see a change in the current narrative proclaimed to us by the media.

Whether any fraud was conceived and designed at some broad level with some master plan, or whether it was simply a result of a number of poll workers suffering from the hatred of Trump Derangement Syndrome, it doesn’t matter.  The fact is, the mass mail in allows it to happen and it is next to impossible, once it has happened, to determine for whom the actual legal votes were cast.

But that does not mean we should just ignore what went on.  It does not mean that we should just let the media decide for us when they decide that the time is right.  It does not mean that we should let the media and the presumptive winning party simply acclimate us to that win so that we accept it as we do so much of what we hear repeated to us on our various media sources. 

It does not mean that we should not demand, both now and in the future, that every legal vote be counted and that only legal votes be counted.  It does not mean that we should accept, or worse participate in, condemnation of someone who with credible evidence challenges election results.

Yet, that is what is happening.   We are being encouraged to just forget this and move on.  The presumptive winner, who said he would be the president for all Americans, seemingly does not care enough about those Americans to keep his word or to ensure for them that these as well as future results will be fair and honest.  That tells us a lot, doesn’t it?

Mass mail-in balloting was widespread in this election, and as predicted it was fraught with fraud.  Yet now the people are used to the convenience of mail in.  They will want to use it again and regularly.  If we do not fix its problems now, we will never again have an election result that the people can trust and believe in.  And every single American should care about that.  Even if this election provides you with the results you like, that does not mean that future fraud will do the same.

We need to return to elections that we can be proud of and that we can trust.  That requires patience.  It requires support for the investigation of legitimate and credible allegations of fraud.  It requires not letting the media decide who won.   Only when we know that the results are honest can the winner truly claim victory and delight in the result and only then can those who lost know that they were not cheated out of victory.  And what is wrong with waiting to prove an honest result?

 

Reflections for the Election

I am less than 3 years shy of having spent three-quarters of a century as an American.  I can still remember when I turned 21 and was able to vote for the first time.  I walked several blocks through a pretty seedy part of Detroit to reach my polling place and proudly cast my ballot.  Since that day I have voted in every election – not just presidential or midterm, but local things like schoolboard, etc.  I truly believe it is my responsibility as an American to do so, and I proudly cast each and every ballot.

Today I want to reflect on how this election is different and why, beyond any discrete issue, it is so important to the future of America.  This year it is absolutely crucial that voters understand not just for whom, but more importantly for what they are voting.

I have always been interested in politics – one of my earlier memories is my father allowing me to stay up to watch the nomination of Eisenhower for president.   Growing up there were many political discussions in my family; one thing they always included was the need to be well informed in order to properly carry out the Constitutional duty of voting.  I always try to follow that principle even though it is much more difficult in today’s world.

For most of my life I have been able to rely on a fair and objective media to keep me informed.  For most of my life I had a high respect for the media and its First Amendment right (and responsibility) to gather information and inform the people.  (My second law review publication while still in law school dealt with the First Amendment and specifically with freedom of the press and a reporter’s ability to gather news.) 

The press is sometimes referred to as the Fourth Estate which denotes its influence in the political system.  It has enormous power to frame and advocate political issues.  Until recently it, for the most part, did this in a fair manner.   But that has changed.

Today we live in a world of narrative rather than fact.  People select a narrative that is pleasing to them and support its authors without regard to the factual support or lack thereof for that narrative.  Because the news media now also takes that approach, it is no longer the source for fair and objective factual information. Even the alleged media fact checkers disagree based on bias. It has become more and more difficult for those who seek the facts (not interpretation of or opinions based on them) to find what they are seeking.  That alone affects the nature of this election.

My belief and my personal education about various candidates in the past always led me to the conclusion that they all wanted essentially the same future for America – a betterment and closer approach to the ideals embedded within the Constitution.  The various politicians and political parties may have had different ideas about how to accomplish that, but all those different paths had the same goal in mind and the same underlying respect if not love for America and its founding principles.

When I protested for civil rights and to end the war in Vietnam, I was not protesting against my country or its form of government.  Rather, I was protesting about specific policies within that government.  The protests were a means to an end – a way of making our country better, but not completely different.  In law school, when discussing those protests, one of my Constitutional Law professors noted that many wrapped themselves in American flags, not out of disrespect, but out of respect for the country that allowed us to speak our minds in this way.  That flag, representing America, was the shield that protected our freedom of thought and our ability to speak our views.

In the past voters looked at the planks of a party’s platform – what did each party intend to do for America?   It has always been unlikely that someone would agree with every plank of any party’s platform and so, in past years, informed voters would generally choose the platform and party with which they had more in common.  In the end, the voter knew that both parties had the same interest – a better America – at heart, and that they would listen to and follow the will of the people to get there. There was a unified respect for and pride in our country and that held us together.  Our goals were the same.

That is not so today.  Today there are two very different goals that include starkly different views of what America is and what it should be.  This year’s election is ultimately not about the specific planks in a platform.  This election requires the voter to go beyond the planks and specific policies to see the fundamental and dissimilar view that each party has of and for America.

Looking at various aspects of our nation’s culture and government, the two parties have contrasting views of what should be, many of which I have discussed in prior posts.  These include but are not limited to:  the individual vs. identity groups; self-reliance and self-determination vs. large government control; protection of inherent individual rights as outlined in the Constitution vs. rights created by the government that controls (or takes away) those rights; representative government giving voice to all vs. pure majority (mob) rule which silences the voice of the minority; equal opportunity vs. equal result for everyone; creating opportunity vs. maintaining an underclass of hopeless individuals; rule of law vs. rule by emotion and personality; capitalism vs. socialism.

The bottom line is that the Republican party is generally satisfied with the current governing structures of America.  While they would work to improve them and with that the lives of all Americans, to move ever closer to the aspirations that define America, they would not fundamentally change them.

In contrast, the Democrats generally no longer respect those structures.  They believe the very nature of our country and its governing bodies must fundamentally change. To reach their goals, to create the America that they envision, rather than improving current structures the Democrats would dismantle them and turn them into something else entirely.  

To achieve many of its goals, the Democrats must ignore aspects of our Constitution and cannot continue with our three separate but equal branches of government.  The Democrat vision provides much less voice to the people and much more to the control of the party and its government.  This would require removal of an independent and non-political judicial branch – hence the Democrat plan for Court-packing to create enough political judgeships so that their party would never lose a political case.  It would require more secure control of a Democrat voting bloc in the Legislative branch – hence their plan to create 2 new states giving a larger seat count to Democrats in the House and the Senate.  And it requires an assured voting bloc for those things over which the people maintain control – hence create 11 million new voters indebted to their party by giving unqualified citizenship to 11 million illegals. 

Of course, these may be short lived goals – there could come a time that these Democrat blocs would turn Republican.  But if the Democrats are able to seize control then they can make enough significant changes that a shift against them would make no difference.  If they do it right, the Constitutional guarantees that protect us will no longer have any force.  

And that is why this election is so very different.  The question of what kind of healthcare we will have pales against the question of whether we will have America as we know it or not.  This is why it is so important that people become educated about the true facts behind what each party seeks, and why it is so frustrating that we can no longer count on the media to inform us. 

Yet every voter must find a way to look beyond the surface beauty of the Democrat narrative to see the real and sometimes not so pretty consequences that lie beneath.  Some may prefer the Democrat narrative and be able to ignore the inconvenient facts that the Democrats and the media are not disclosing.   They may eagerly await a dismantled and different country.  

Personally, I love America with all its warts and blemishes.  I love its Constitution and its form of government, its rule of law.  It is a place where we can truly become the full individual that we are meant to be.  This is the America that I want my descendants to experience.

It is essential that people recognize the two different Americas that are on the ballot and truly know and understand for what they are voting.    This election is different because we are not voting about which way we will get to the same place, but rather to which place we are going. 

I ended yesterday’s post with a personal statement about my vote this year.  I repeat it here:

As I have said before, I am not a member of any political party and have voted for both Republican and Democrat candidates in the past.  But this year I believe that America’s future is fully dependent on our vote.  Because I believe in our Constitution and our Democratic Republic, because I value our democracy and how it allows every individual to determine his or her own beliefs and values and allows each of us to speak freely those beliefs while requiring tolerance of those who hold different views, because I believe that Democrat policies will truly weaken if not destroy many of the crucial foundations of our society, for those reasons and more I am voting Republican this year, and I urge everyone who holds America dear to do the same.

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.