IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray
# 244
“Americans At Their Best”
August 28, 2017
Sadly, this President is hit from all sides on all issues. Never mind the job numbers that are growing rapidly or the lessening of stifling regulations imposed on business over the past eight years that cost American workers their livelihoods. Never mind that illegal immigration is down 70%. Why? Illegals now know they will be sent back.
How sad.
And what is the genesis of this? I claim the over forty years of education that preached the evils of capitalism. Oh, yes. Capitalism. It’s at fault! Sure, it is….
Facts are facts. Capitalism has fueled more fulfilled dreams that you can count. Socialism, on the other hand, dilutes the population to one size fits all and completely destroys incentive.
If our young people only see how they have been deceived. Where, I ask, is the discussion of history as it happened? Had it not been for Republicans, the slaves would not be free, and integration would never have happened. It was the Democrat Governor who stood on the steps of the high school in Little Rock and ranted against integration. Democrats voted against integration, and only Republican votes carried the day. Jim Crow laws were another gift from the Democratic Party.
Yet, all our young people have heard is a pitiful, fact-devoid rant against conservative Americans. Republicans want to throw grandma off the cliff and only favor the rich. In essence, bias is on overload. The high regard that mainstream media places on Democratic candidates is more than sad. It is dangerous.
My age group witnessed the devastating losses on our parents’ generation from World War II through Korea. My classmates fought in Viet Nam. A neighbor boy died. Yet, today’s high school history textbooks lack so much that one column cannot adequately address their shortfall.
Hurricane Harvey provides the latest fodder for the left. Even if there is nothing amiss, they parse their words to cast aspersions on the response from President Trump. In their eyes, the man can do nothing right.
And the self-proclaimed, trumpeted “resistance” of the Democratic Party? Well, they certainly qualify to recognize inaction. They are experts at doing nothing. It’s their long suit. The other side of this coin is that when they do something, it does not bode well for the majority of working Americans.
So what DID they do when left to their own devices? They passed healthcare legislation in the middle of the night — a complicated, convoluted law that stifled job growth and impacted 1/6 of the national economy. And their explanation: they were “helping people.” Sure they did….
Tell that to each worker who lost a full-time job when employers to hired two or three part-timers for every dismissed employee. With that arrangement, employers did not have to pay benefits — a crippling blow to countless families.
Over the remaining years of the previous administration, reported unemployment numbers did not reflect workers dropped out the job search or workers that were under-employed. Estimates would have soared into the 20% -plus range if those people had been included. Nice, huh? Is that their definition of success?
So, now, with the first natural disaster of this administration, all the left and its minions can do is search for something — however trivial — to paint this president in a bad light.
Does he couch his words a bit differently from the political movers and shakers? You bet he does. He talks to the people in a way that they understand. He does not talk down to people he talks TO them. My hope is that Americans see the media for what they are. This strikes fear into the elites who “know best” what we, the average Americans, need. Yeah….
One would think that in the face of the problems caused by Mother Nature in Texas, the left and its complicit media would suck it up and think about the people affected by the storm instead of trying to find fault. Fat chance….
I have written very few columns the last two months. In the face of what has been an onslaught of media-driven divisiveness, I felt that a series of columns targeting that nonsense would have collapsed my already well-worn soapbox. Facts are inconvenient. Facts are lost on the media. Instead of reporting news, they create “news.”
Most, if not all, of these media types have virtually no business experience. In my book, they are not fit to carry Donald Trump’s water. How many jobs did they create? How many of them understand the underpinnings of running a successful enterprise?
In truth, the fourth estate did a better job in the past when a president used colorful language. Those days are gone, and we are not better for that loss.
Do what you can for the folks in Texas. Don’t look for planeloads of supplies to arrive from all the foreign countries we have helped over decades when they faced disasters. It seems that Americans are the only ones the world can count on in the wake of a natural calamity. And we can count on each other in these dire circumstances.
If you can, donate money. If you are available, volunteer to go to Texas to help in person. Support relief organizations and faith-based groups like Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse. This crisis will not be over quickly. The damage is wrenching and will last for years. The lack of insurance will doom the finances of many a family. And, if the situation mirrors that of Hurricane Sandy, many insurance companies will look for any little reason to deny coverage or greatly decrease monies due homeowners.
Did you see the men and women who took to the bayous in boats to help their neighbors? They reflect what this nation is all about. One reporter called them “The Red Neck Navy.” Well, bully for them. They reflect what is best in all of us. And, by the way, it was those “Red Necks” — and millions of others of like mind — who elected this president. He knows them and they know him.
In the end, we are Americans. When in a tough spot, Americans pull together to help each other. You and I know that. What’s more, President Trump and his administration know it all too well.
My classic column challenge is to “think about it.” This time, I am changing gears. This time, don’t just think, do something —anything you can. Every little bit helps.