Why do we need a contentious political party to watch our backs? Just because Democrats want us to isn’t a good enough reason. It’s what President Trump would call a hoax. All we need to do is have faith in America and back public officials who agree. What we have done for nearly 250 years works. It’s something we can put our trust in, yet many of us are led astray.
The Democratic Party’s mission is to secure a 2020 takeover by eroding our faith and making it easy to be weak and run to its greedy, waiting arms. Candidates endorse the myth that everything about our country is wrong and counter to our values as Americans. For some inexplicable reason this includes their own too-expensive health care plan and yet the most popular solution for this epic stumble is much larger, more costly, and more likely to set us up for an even bigger fail.
The slogan Make America Great Again is met with jeers and even violence. Is an agenda destined to Make Americans Weak really what we the people want? Has left wing propaganda so thoroughly shattered our faith in America that this is an appealing alternative?
If you’re looking for an answer, search no further than the popularity of Bernie Sanders who, during a March 12, 2020 address tried to destroy our confidence in the federal response to COVID-19 by charging the Trump administration with incompetence.
That’s an easy, albeit irresponsible stance to take when you don’t have to be responsible for a solution and stand something to gain by taking potshots from the campaign trail. Undermining public trust during a crisis is damaging and intolerable, but this is how opportunistic politicians place themselves front and center in the public eye.
NPS photo
Have faith in America. We don’t need these Democratic Party deals.
Senate Democrats offer A Better Deal “to help build an America in which working people know that somebody has their back.”1 They back their promise with enemies of the people propaganda:
American families deserve A Better Deal so our country works for everyone again, not just the elites and special interests.2
House Democrats are For the People with a plan “making sure all working people know that somebody has their back.”3 They promise to “lower health care costs”4 and to:
increase pay for American families and workers through strong economic growth by rebuilding America …5
It’s a familiar refrain, but when they had their chance they gave us an unaffordable health care system. It took a Republican at the helm to deliver strong economic growth by instilling trust in the business community instead of making corporations public enemy number one and threatening to strip them of their profits.
Obama wanted us to know that he had our backs, too. He proved it by sticking us with DACA and saddling his own party with Obamacare, two big problems we still haven’t fought our way out of.
The values that have served us for centuries have always had our back, but faith in America is not what this is about
Democrats like nothing better than to manipulate fear. They target the weak and vulnerable even when they aren’t all that vulnerable. This includes the “Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents” who receive federal benefits and for some inexplicable reason should not be required to work in return.6
Expanding welfare creates weakness. Weakness creates political opportunity.
The theme that work for welfare is an offense to American values is another familiar Democratic theme. Chicago Rep. Danny Davis weighs in:
I am alarmed and outraged by the Trump Administration’s decision to increase hunger and food insecurity for millions of Americans. Governments should strengthen their people, assist the vulnerable, and improve well-being.7
That was in December 2019, well before coronavirus became the most popular word in the English language. Davis’ remarks typify the Democratic Party rejection of the idea that able-bodied individuals should work for an income, even if that income comes from taxpayers.
The media and politics-fueled panic from our newest national crisis takes American strength out of the equation. Instead, House and Senate Democrats are invigorated with a new excuse to expand welfare benefits that may be a good idea in the short term but in the long term supports their vision of a nation populated with needy people:
But two things that we could do right here that help the families and help the economy. Making sure people have food, so they can then go – then spend that ability – that opportunity. And have unemployment insurance, and of course we want to add family leave in that.8
These barely intelligible words from House Speaker Pelosi sound reasonable considering what we are up against, but as you hear escalating demands to expand SNAP benefits and family leave remember that these have been volatile issues for years. This is just another opportunity for the party to get its foot in the door. When the current crisis is past, Democrats will fight tooth and nail to keep these measures on the books in perpetuity. If Republicans protest they will blame Trump for attacking American families just as they continue to trot out the 2008 Great Recession to demand that we bolster the social safety net.
Pushing federal benefits for people who can work is just one example of how the Democratic plan for a better country strives to Make Americans Weak.
Here are six more.
A booming economy is fundamentally unfair
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer calls “growing the economy and raising wages”9 a broken Trump promise. While this is absolutely not true, now Democrats finally have the plunging Dow and economic dislocations they have been longing for. This time it’s hard to blame the usual villains, the corporate and financial engines that drive prosperity. That doesn’t mean the party of division won’t give it a try:
We can’t champion policies that only work for the wealthy and corporations, and not expect our economy to be bruised when moms and dads are unable to work. House Democrats understand this. That’s why we’re continuing to fight for policies that create opportunity and security for all Americans.10
Thank Democratic Vice Chair Katherine Clark (D-MA) for that bit of Democratic Party agenda. She joined House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries to accuse President Trump of hanging out at his golf resort with the “billionaire boys club” during this “global epidemic”11 that, to the best of my knowledge, has not been classified as an epidemic by WHO or the CDC.
Jeffries and Clark didn’t applaud our unemployment rate, but her party has always seen an inverse relationship between low unemployment and the availability of jobs. Does that mean a down economy is better? Democrats didn’t seem any happier during the last recession. It was just another fortunate excuse to spend our money.
Our values are all wrong
Democrats cry foul when conservative values butt heads with liberal pandering. Even a tax cut betrays our values. Nancy Pelosi threatened us with “A dark cloud over the Capitol because of their [Republican] tax scam.”12
Regulating immigration is a “hateful agenda that betrays our sacred American values.”13
A public charge rule to prevent Democrats from adding immigrants to our welfare rolls is “completely at odds with our core American values.”14
For a party that prides itself on inclusion, “our” and “American” are very exclusive terms.
Socialist health care is better, isn’t it?
Why is it that Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) backed Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All bill but decided not to back Sanders for president? Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) also cosponsored the measure, but she hasn’t decided which candidate she supports. These three senators were willing to sneak socialism into our economy. Why won’t they stand behind their beliefs?
Medicare for All is good for a press release, but if foreign governments offer much better health care it’s puzzling why prominent politicians who are diagnosed with cancer or other life-threatening illnesses don’t travel abroad for treatment or if they do, why we don’t hear about their great experiences.
Damning the health care system Democrats already overhauled is bad for the nation when we face a public health emergency. Days before the Dow went into free-fall Democrats were still trying to use the coronavirus to support their Affordable Care Act even though 132 of their House and Senate members cosponsored bills to eliminate it:
This same week, the White House is in court attempting again to dismantle the ACA and advocating for their budget proposal that would severely underfund Medicare and Medicaid. So expanding health care quickly becomes, in a crisis like this, not just the humane and right thing to do, but it becomes a question of national security. And we cannot let this be jeopardized.15
For some reason that all-important national security doesn’t matter when it comes to our borders.
Democrats aren’t the only ones who know how good American health care is. Like other problems they create, they hold themselves blameless and only worry about security and who comes and goes when it furthers their cause. When it comes to the Census the more illegals who need health care, the better:
Their [ICE agents] increased presence will inevitably scare people from participating in the Census 2020. In the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, more aggressive immigration operations will create a bigger health risk by discouraging people from seeking medical assistance if they need it.16
The message hasn’t changed. Only the excuse is different.
Financial security is a federal obligation
It is not the government’s fault that Americans don’t save, but Bernie Sanders insists that it’s Washington’s responsibility to take up the slack:
It is time to expand Social Security, not cut it,” Sanders said. “At a time when more than half of older Americans over the age of 55 have no retirement savings, our job is to expand Social Security to make sure that everyone in this country can retire with the dignity they have earned and everyone with a disability can live with the security they need. ”17
While it makes sense for socialist Sanders to back the European model for taxes and retirement security, expanding the program’s benefits beyond what was originally intended won’t help the fact that “one of the most popular and successful government programs”18 is going broke.
Telling Americans they should not have to work for welfare benefits won’t help either, because if they aren’t working they aren’t paying Social Security taxes.
The silver lining is that the more debt we saddle Social Security with the better Democrats can argue for tax increases. It’s a win-win for the party and a lose-lose for everyone else.
Financial security during low unemployment is a non-existent federal obligation. It’s a policy that draws votes, but it won’t deliver anything but weakness.
Democracy is just a political football
If you are a Democrat, bolstering American democracy most likely means getting rid of our very pro-American president.
In his farewell address Barack Obama’s words were a lot more hopeful than what we hear from his party now:
We, the People, through the instrument of our democracy, can form a more perfect union.19
We the people might be able to, but after losing the White House Democrats have done everything in their power to destroy American unity. Even in the midst of a national crisis, dividing the people comes first and solutions come later.
This is where they want us: in jeopardy with no solution from the political status quo and no way out.
A discriminatory society
By and large Americans are an incredibly generous people. We accept those who aren’t like us. We help when we can. Yes, there is discrimination like there is in any society but it’s not the American way. Most of us understand that and we act accordingly.
Finding instances of discrimination and using them to characterize our society works well for Democrats. It helps them mobilize the masses. You’ve heard it before. We are a “basket of deplorable” because we don’t vote for their party. Hillary Clinton’s historic three words were discriminatory and offend the value we place on freedom of political thought. We should place the same negative emphasis on the current deplorable trend towards bringing socialism to America.
Have a little faith in America, people
No matter what your political beliefs are you can still have some faith in America and federal agencies that do their jobs and don’t have to pander to voters with a slew of promises every two to six years. That’s why when something like the current public health-financial panic occurs we should have a little faith in the CDC, the Federal Reserve, the Treasury, and other departments that work hard to keep things moving.
Faith in politicians? Just don’t. They aren’t the ones who get things done.
It’s time to suck it up, folks.
The current crisis will pass. When it’s over, Democrats will use it against the Trump administration despite the president’s willingness to sign the latest pandemic spending vehicles.
This one fell right into their laps. Democrats will compare the 2020 economic dislocations to 2008. Their incessant economic fear-mongering will make the situation worse.
Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) asks for “close coordination with our allies and partners”20 while criticizing America’s president for his recent travel ban announcement:
The President did not consult with Congress or our European partners prior to his announcement, and he should immediately make public the data he used to arrive at this decision so that Congress and the American people can understand why he took this step.21
Americans should have a little more faith in our country and leader than this. We don’t have to rely on other nations for permission during a crisis and we should never, ever criticize America’s president for partisan purposes in the midst of a national upheaval.
Don’t place your faith in politicians and especially not those with something to gain. They will fail you each and every time. Long after they have gone on to count their winnings, America and what we really stand for will still be here. You can have faith in that.
UPDATE March 23, 2020: Congressional sickness makes us even weaker
While Americans are sick and dying and our economy self-destructs we are hearing about bickering on Capitol Hill over a stimulus bill that includes provisions wholly unrelated to our uncontained and rapidly worsening public health crisis. If that isn’t enough, Politico reports that the House is about to take the wrapping off a new 1,400+ page Democratic Party stimulus spending monstrosity.
In her press release announcing the “Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act” Pelosi commented:
The Senate Republicans’ bill, as presented, put corporations first, not workers and families.22
That’s the tip-off that this is all about agenda. Corporations employ those workers and support their families. Unless we help them do their job and manufacture the drugs and devices we need to save lives, Pelosi and her party will have a lot fewer workers and families to worry about in the future.
The pervasive political sickness that continues to stymie Congress’s efforts to do anything productive in the nation’s interest threatens to make us even weaker than we were at the close of last week, which is saying a lot. The economy is in full shutdown mode, which should be absolutely terrifying to Americans even as the death toll mounts. Meanwhile Democrats are demanding climate provisions be added to a bailout bill to save the nation from a very foreseeable pandemic.
This is not 2008. Obama is gone. It’s not the time to resurrect his failed legacy. There should be nothing in whatever stimulus legislation is passed that does not directly impact the nation’s quick recovery. It’s unethical and wrong to play games and manipulate this situation to implement the agenda Schumer, Pelosi & Company are itching to set in place so they can boast a pre-election victory for working families and climate change activists when and if this is finally behind us.
“If” is a pretty big if at this point.
Sources
1. “A Better Deal.” Senate Democrats. https://www.democrats.senate.gov/abetterdeal, retrieved March 10, 2020.
2. Ibid.
3. “For the People.” Speaker.gov. https://forthepeople.speaker.gov/, retrieved March 10, 2020.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. “Rep. Adams’ Statement on the Administration’s Heartless SNAP Final Rule.” Alma Adams. December 4, 2019. https://adams.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-adams-statement-administration-s-heartless-snap-final-rule, retrieved March 11, 2020.
7. “In Strong Opposition to Trump Administration Proposal to Increase Hunger and Food Insecurity.” Danny K. Davis. December 5, 2019. https://davis.house.gov/statements/in-strong-opposition-to-trump-administration-proposal-to-increase-hunger-and-food-insecurity/, retrieved March 12, 2020.
8. “Transcript of Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer of Media Availability Following Meeting on Coronavirus Response. Nancy Pelosi. March 9, 2020. https://pelosi.house.gov/news/press-releases/transcript-of-speaker-pelosi-leader-schumer-media-availability-following-meeting, retrieved March 12, 2020.
9. “President Trump’s Promise to the American People.” Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. February 4, 2020. https://www.majorityleader.gov/content/president-trump%E2%80%99s-broken-promises-american-people retrieved March 14, 2020.
10. “Chairman Jeffries: “Trump Was At a Florida Golf Resort Hanging Out With the Billionaire Boys Club in the Midst of a Global Epidemic.” House Democrats. March 10, 2020. https://www.dems.gov/newsroom/press-releases/chairman-jeffries-trump-was-at-a-florida-golf-resort-hanging-out-with-the-billionaire-boys-club-in-the-midst-of-a-global-epidemic-, retrieved March 13, 2020.
11. Ibid.
12. “A Betrayal of Our American Values.” Nancy Pelosi. January 29, 2018. https://pelosi.house.gov/news/pelosi-updates/a-betrayal-of-our-american-values, retrieved January 29, 2018.
13. Ibid.
14. “Trump’s Public Charge Rule is Cruel and Completely at Odds With Our Core American Values” Says Congressman Garcia.” Jesus G. “Chuy” Garcia. February 24, 2020. https://chuygarcia.house.gov/media/press-releases/trump-s-public-charge-rule-cruel-and-completely-odds-our-core-american-values, retrieved March 13, 2020.
15. “Chairman Jeffries on Coronavirus: “Our Job is to Protect the Health and Well-Being of the American People With the Fierce Urgency of Now.” House Democrats. March 3, 2020. https://www.dems.gov/newsroom/press-releases/chairman-jeffries-on-coronavirus-our-job-is-to-protect-the-health-and-well-being-of-the-american-people-with-the-fierce-urgency-of-now, retrieved March 10, 2020.
16. “Statement by Rep. Garcia on Increased Surveillance on Immigrant Families.” Jesus G. “Chuy” Garcia. March 6, 2020. https://chuygarcia.house.gov/media/press-releases/statement-rep-garc-increased-surveillance-immigrant-families, retrieved March 10, 2020.
17. “Sanders, DeFazio Introduce Bill to Expand Social Security.” Bernie Sanders. February 13, 2019. https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-defazio-introduce-bill-to-expand-social-security, retrieved March 15, 2020.
18. Ibid.
19. “President Obama’s Farewell Address.” Obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. January 10, 2017. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/farewell, retrieved March 14, 2020.
20. “Engel Statement on Trump’s Coronavirus Response and Travel Restrictions.” Eliot L. Engel. March 12, 2020. https://engel.house.gov/latest-news/engel-statement-on-trumps-coronavirus-response-and-travel-restrictions/, retrieved March 15, 2020.
21. Ibid.
22. “Pelosi Statement Ahead of Unveiling of Democrats’ Third Coronavirus Response Bill.” Nancy Pelosi. March 23, 2020. https://pelosi.house.gov/news/press-releases/pelosi-statement-ahead-of-unveiling-of-democrats-third-coronavirus-response-bill, retrieved March 23, 2020.
Image: NPS Photo from “Armed Forces Day at Fredericksburg National Cemetery.” National Park Service. March 14, 2018. https://www.nps.gov/frsp/learn/news/armed-forces-day-at-fredericksburg-national-cemetery.htm, retrieved March 14, 2020.
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