I didn’t watch the Oscars this year or last year, for that matter. Watching performers get on their stump about what’s wrong with a country that hands them massive wealth for playing make-believe doesn’t sit well. Neither does listening to athletes defame America for making them rich playing games. Grace, gratitude, and gratefulness are not values for liberals and especially not for the handful who benefit most from the American way of life.
These are not Democratic values, either. Our taxpayer-supported talking heads on Capitol Hill are also adept at listing the many things wrong with America. Many of these politicians are very wealthy by the standards of the people they represent. Democrats tend to ignore this fact and yet they blame other wealthy Americans for not handing over what they consider a fair share of their incomes.
Biden’s message: America is just not good enough
Nancy Pelosi offered this in advance of Joe Biden’s first address to Congress:
Tomorrow evening, President Biden will present his bold vision to Build Back Better from the coronavirus pandemic and economic crisis, with justice, prosperity and opportunity for all,” said Speaker Nancy Pelosi.1
Justice, prosperity and opportunity for all is a risky order considering Pelosi’s party stakes its claim to Americans not having these things. That’s what we heard from Joe Biden on Wednesday night during his feigned effort at inspiring unity. The bottom line: we can be “more perfect, more prosperous, and more just, as one people, one nation, and one America.”2
For now, we are a country that’s just not good enough. It will take trillions handed to Democrats in power to get us started on the road to where we should be.
U.S. Capitol, South Wing, Cox Corridors
Architect of the Capitol *
There is no grace, gratitude, or gratefulness among Democrats
Politics of want define Democratic values
Democrats put tremendous effort into convincing us that we don’t have enough, we’re entitled to more, and that others are depriving us. They are the only ones who can give us what we deserve and what they believe we should have. Inevitably these things cost a lot of money and require lots of regulation. Money and regulation mean more power for liberal politicians and less for the American people they falsely credit with phony nods to democracy.
Perhaps the lack of grace, gratitude, and gratefulness ingrained in liberal Democrats leads them to assume that the American people think like they do. Not all of us agree. In fact, many Americans are very grateful for what we have and the lives we lead because we live in America. What we don’t feel gratitude for are the graceless public officials who keep telling us that none of what we have is any good and that for some, living in America is a death sentence:
In a just world, we would not be faced with a near-daily onslaught of officers assaulting, harassing, and murdering Black people simply for existing.2
These words come from a black American and U.S. representative, one of many people of color in Congress who somehow survived our country’s murderous agenda and was granted the opportunity to influence our destiny.
These are the words of a grateful American:
To deny the progress we’ve made is just as damaging as not making progress at all. I urge people across this nation to peacefully make their voices heard and engage in conversations that will continue to move us toward a more just America. I believe in the goodness of our country; we can and will do better.3
That was from Senator Tim Scott (R-SC). He delivered the Republican response to Biden’s address. Scott expressed gratefulness and gratitude in his speech because there is so much good in this country.
While there are also things about America that are not good, few are worse than elected officials who politicize the bad for their own power and profit.
This is what gratitude means to Democrats
Am I being too harsh? Even the angriest Democrats are capable of being grateful when they are the ones at risk.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) credited the Capitol Police after the January 6 riot:
These courageous women and men risked their lives to defend our democracy. It is testament to their bravery and dedication that no Members or staff were physically harmed. It breaks all of our hearts that so many Capitol Police officers were injured in the attack, many quite severely.4
DeLauro’s remark confuses “our democracy” with “our Democrats.” This wasn’t the tune she played last summer while violent protests raged. She used that opportunity to join her colleagues who added police brutality to the list of what’s terrible about America:
Over the weekend, we saw protests from coast to coast calling for justice and saying enough is enough. The American people are demanding change. The issues of systemic racism, unequal access to education, unfair hiring practices, incidents of police brutality, and distrust between law enforcement and communities of color cannot continue.5
Democrats have a habit of throwing everything they dislike about America into one pot. They stir and stir until opportunity knocks. That’s what happened with George Floyd and now everything from education to health care to infrastructure is really about systemic racism. They also have a habit of crediting Americans with what they want instead of what we want. When they do make an awkward attempt at gratefulness for the trust granted them by the people their words conflict.
Day after day we listen to liberal politicians pontificate about protecting our democracy until our ears bleed. Ironically, an alternative to American democracy is what Democrats are really working to create: socialism teetering on the edge of totalitarianism.
“Democracy” is a catchall like “infrastructure.” It means whatever they want it to mean, including placing the system of government made for we the people under control of we the Democrats. That control includes the plans announced by Joe Biden for government-moderated preschool to union job to retirement lives controlled by his party.
Liberal politicians beat the drum of democracy for anyone who will listen, but when it comes to policy they advocate wielding H.R. 1 to destroy the protections that ensure our democracy will continue despite a massive influx of foreign nationals that make protecting the vote more important than ever.
Instead of expressing gratitude for the election system they defended after the 2020 presidential race that put them in charge, Democrats still want us to believe that America is fundamentally unfair to voters. The only way to eliminate the risk of Democrats losing an election is to legislate one party control of the polling booth on the people’s behalf:
For too long, folks have been frustrated with the performance of the government – and rightfully so. There’s been too much money, too many special interests, and too little accountability. But last week, Congress took an important step forward to help ensure that government works better for the American people by passing the For the People Act (H.R.1).*6
*Rep. Kilmer’s statement is untrue. Congress did not pass H.R. 1. The bill only made it through the House.
Only a racist and preferably a Republican, Trump-supporting racist, would disagree.
Money doesn’t bring grace, gratitude, or gratefulness except for one group of Americans
According to the Census Bureau the median household income in 2019 was $68,703.00.
In 2020 we paid police $32.35 for every hour they risked their lives. A police officer’s median income was $67,290 per year.7
Incoming Democratic House and Senate lawmakers make $174,000 per year.
Would Democrats who harangue law enforcement and demand we defund the police put themselves in jeopardy for we the people on a cop’s salary?
Would they be willing to let protesters throw projectiles at them, spit on them, and hurl insults for $32.35 per hour?
Would they have the grace to comport themselves with dignity and still defend the people they serve when day after day they are subjected to the absolute worst that humanity can dish out?
Of course they wouldn’t. Even with their $174,000 salaries we hear little, if any gratitude or gratefulness from elected officials who will likely leave office very well off if they keep winning elections. That’s why H.R. 1 is so important for our democracy.
There is no grace in taking credit for what you didn’t do
At 6%, unemployment is way down from last year. It doesn’t matter. Democrats were never grateful for the massive economic upturn during the Trump years. They prefer to pretend that Obama’s Great Recession is still punishing their voters.
The president’s arrogance at taking credit for job creation during his speech last night was reprehensible:
And in the process, while this was all going on, the economy created more than 1,300,000 new jobs in 100 days — more jobs in the first — (applause) — more jobs in the first 100 days than any President on record.8
Like the development of COVID-19 vaccines under Trump, the fact that the economy was ready to explode again after the pandemic loosened its grip is disregarded by Biden. Even the 1,300,000 jobs he takes credit for are not enough to stop the spending. Instead, Biden refuses to be grateful for the pandemic recovery fueled by Trump’s economy. Instead, he insists we need “the largest jobs plan since World War Two.”9
This is not about helping the American people. This is about an arrogant group of liberal elites determined to take over the economy to benefit themselves and their supporters. Those supporters include the labor unions the president credits for building the middle class10 instead of handing the praise to hard-working Americans who don’t need their lives controlled by anyone but themselves.
Grace means being grateful for how far we’ve come, not how far we have to go
Democrats tend to be half-empty types even when their own glasses are spilling over. It’s in their nature because their agenda is the same now as always: take in lots of money, spend it, and blame Republicans when all that spending doesn’t do what you promised. Then spend more.
We spent trillions to rescue Americans. Predictably, the White House says it’s not enough:
The American Rescue Plan is already changing the course of the pandemic and providing immediate relief to families and communities across the country. But the President knows we need to do more to build a stronger economy that doesn’t leave anyone behind.11
If there’s a bottom to this pit we aren’t even close to seeing it.
The same day as Biden’s address to Congress CNN reported that the majority of Americans think the economy is good.12 Why do we need to spend trillions to make it better? Because Democrats can’t and won’t be grateful or express even a modicum of gratitude for how much the country delivers for the people because of the people. They want the credit and most important, they want the power of controlling who succeeds, who fails, and who profits.
There is no grace in politicians who lust to steal power from the people.
Neither is their grace or gratitude in dredging up every bit of historical evidence you can find to confirm the fantasy that the country that made you well off compared to most Americans and entrusted you with enormous political power is, in fact, a very terrible place:
In 1882, we had the Chinese Exclusion Act which banned the immigration of Chinese laborers. In World War II, we saw the forced internment of over one hundred thousand Japanese Americans, and it is in one of those camps where our own colleague, Congresswoman Doris Matsui, was born. And let us not forget that the very Ku Klux Klan that terrorized Black people in this country, also waged attacks on Asian Americans.13
No Rep. Waters, let’s not forget that. Let’s keep the dark moments in our history alive for as long as possible and stick to this graceless contempt for America promoted by arrogant, ungrateful Democrats who don’t have the simple decency to acknowledge what the country has done for them just by giving them a chance to be so much better than the hateful, divisive politicians so many are.
Sources
1“Pelosi Announces Virtual Guest for President Biden’s Address to a Joint Session of Congress.” www.speaker.gov. April 27, 2021. https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/42721-1, retrieved April 28, 2021.
2“Today, Congressman Mondaire Jones (D-NY) released the following statement after a Minneapolis jury found Derek Chauvin guilty for the murder of George Floyd.” jones.house.gov. April 20, 2021. https://jones.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-mondaire-jones-statement-verdict-trial-derek-chauvin, retrieved April 28, 2021.
3“Senator Tim Scott Statement on the Verdict in the Derek Chauvin Trial.” scott.senate.gov. April 20, 2021. https://www.scott.senate.gov/media-center/press-releases/senator-tim-scott-statement-on-the-verdict-in-the-derek-chauvin-trial, retrieved April 29, 2021.
4“Chair DeLauro Statement at the U.S. Capitol Police and House Sergeant at Arms, Security Failures on January 6 Hearing.” appropriations.house.gov. February 25, 2021. https://appropriations.house.gov/news/statements/chair-delauro-statement-at-the-us-capitol-police-and-house-sergeant-at-arms-security, retrieved April 28, 2021.
5“DeLauro Statement on Civil Protests.” delauro.house.gov. June 1, 2020. https://delauro.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/delauro-statement-civil-protests, retrieved April 28, 2020.
6“An Update on Providing Relief to Combat COVID-19 and Making Government Work Better.” kilmer.house.gov. March 8, 2021. https://kilmer.house.gov/news/newsletters/an-update-on-providing-relief-to-combat-covid-19-and-making-government-work-better, retrieved April 28, 2021.i
7“Occupational Outlook Handbook.” www.bls.gov. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/protective-service/police-and-detectives.htm, retrieved April 28, 2021.
8“Remarks by President Biden in Address to a Joint Session of Congress.” www.whitehouse.gov. April 29, 2021. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/04/29/remarks-by-president-biden-in-address-to-a-joint-session-of-congress/, retrieved April 29, 2021.
9Ibid.
10Ibid.
11“Background Press Call by Senior Administration Officials on the American Families Plan.” www.whitehouse.gov. April 28, 2021. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/04/28/background-press-call-by-senior-administration-officials-on-the-american-families-plan/, retrieved April 28, 2021.
12Egan, Matt. “Majority of Americans say the economy is good.” www.CNN.com. April 28, 2021. https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/28/economy/economy-biden-cnn-poll/index.html, retrieved April 28, 2021.
13“Congresswoman Waters Speaks Out Against Anti-Asian Violence, Participates in National Day of Action and Healing.” waters.house.gov. March 26, 2021. https://waters.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congresswoman-waters-speaks-out-against-anti-asian-violence-participates, retrieved April 28, 2021.
*Image: Architect of the Capitol. “Capitol Lyrics: “America the Beautiful.” Retrieved from https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/blog/capitol-lyrics-america-beautiful on April 30, 2021.
Original publish date: April 29, 2021.
Content edited for clarity on April 30, 2021.
Image added April 30, 2021.
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