We at the Herald have been inundated by Spout Offs about President Trump for a time now. We assumed that it would simmer down after the election, but there is now no sign of that happening anytime soon, as pro and con opinions about him run high. This begs the question, why haven’t these submissions fallen off? For my part, as I stand back to look at it, I was wrong to think they were related to the election, it goes much deeper.
The national political order has been broken for a time now, with the Republicans and Democrats having grown increasingly unable to govern our nation in a cooperative way. When the people voted in the November election, they were fed up with the status quo of both political parties, and turned to the populist Trump.
As Speaker Paul Ryan expressed it, Trump was not going to be a conventional president. Come election time, “America” was not working, it was not thriving, and many in our nation were losing heart. They saw government as out of touch, as blind to their desires and day-to-day needs. They wanted work that paid a living wage; they wanted their children to be able to move out of the house; they wanted a government that did not intrude into their lives.
Trump articulated their concerns — seeing both parties as unrepresentative of them and driving their own agendas — while not being beholden to either political party. So, into the White House walks Trump, against the political parties, against the press, against academia, against Hollywood, and against the political establishment of our allies.
So what do we get as a result? A firestorm!
Over the course of my lifetime, I have had occasions to be in court. In those instances, I have been accused of all kinds of baseless, outlandish things, in an effort to convince the court that I am a dirty, rotten no good. I came to learn that this is the way the court system works: accuse the opponent of every despicable evil one could dream up, in order to turn others against him.
That said, we all know that Trump is no saint. However, given the vast power of his numerous enemies, the task he has taken on is nothing short of war. Is he really running roughshod over the environment? We’ve been sending hundreds of billions of dollars out of the country to buy foreign oil; can we keep that money at home to provide work for Americans? Energy policies, of course, must be weighed against environmental concerns, but let’s calmly discuss both needs.
Can we improve our healthcare system without the enormous insurance cost increases and impending governmental subsidies of ObamaCare? Let’s put down our stones and talk this through.
Our allies have been content to let us provide for much of their national defense, unfairly burdening us and giving them a free ride. We have discussed this inequity with them for years, to no avail. Trump now has their attention, something prior presidents have failed at doing. They don’t like being told to grow up and take responsibility; so they are screaming, but that is unavoidable.
It is our task as the citizenry to separate bluster from fact, and not be drawn in by specious charges and labels.
In summary, I now predict Trump spouts will continue because of the magnitude of the issues facing America and the vast size of the forces arrayed against each other. The encouraging thing is, the American people were unsettled, and they showed the political parties what can happen when those parties lose touch with the people.
Art Hall
From the Bible: “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Matthew 10:16
Cape May County – I believe it is time that California be returned to the indigenous people who lived there. They understood the land and the weather and built dwellings made as part of the earth and took care of the…
