After the election the media gleefully brought us stories of people who were fearful of what a President Trump might do. Many were afraid of being deported. Others lived in fear of hate crimes. They recited what they had been told to believe. Their words only emphasized America’s need for fear, respect, and trust. Threats of a Trump overreach show just how skewed the country’s values became under a sorry combination of Barack Obama and too much liberal lunacy.
This country would benefit from instilling a little fear from those who have been taking advantage. It could use some honesty, whether the dialogue is about hate crimes or what taxpayers have to pay to keep the left fat and happy.
We could also use some respect.
Fear, respect, trust: three goals for a new president
Fear, respect, trust. They don’t sound like policy, but these three things cover a lot of ground that we have all but given up on.
Can Trump restore fear and respect?
Courtesy Dept. of Defense
Fear is a good thing
America is hardly lawless, but there is a lot less fear than there should be.
There should be consequences for breaking the law. It doesn’t matter whether you are a corrupt politician whose taxpayer-paid income isn’t enough, a Mexican citizen who decides that life looks a lot better on our side of the border, or a teenage gangbanger with a gun.
Instead of consequences, sanctuary cities harbor illegals who have the audacity to protest how we do things because they know they can mouth off with impunity. Criminal aliens are released to the streets. Heavyweight drug dealers have had their sentences lifted by the White House. Police have been put on notice about defending themselves to such an extreme that being shot seems to be the only proof that a suspect intends to cause harm.
We could put an end to a lot of heartache if there was more fear of what violating the law can mean instead of more reasons to declare it unfair, discriminatory, or racist. Most people in this country lead good lives. They believe the laws they pay to enforce were passed for a reason.
Why do we refuse to respect that?
Respect would stop this
Fear goes hand in hand with respect. We condemn bullies in the schools and online but let groups like Black Lives Matter and CAIR attack our sensibilities, manipulate our freedoms, and make our country the problem instead of the solution.
Anti-American protests from a handful of highly visible professional athletes define the problem. Apparently they are worthy of the country’s money but America isn’t worthy of their respect. Equally visible celebrities threatened to leave if Trump won the election, as if their shabby substitute for entertainment was something we value. Our disrespect has become so extreme that a losing fringe candidate can keep herself in the headlines by leading a pointless ballot recount for reasons we still haven’t figured out other than to undermine our new president’s legitimacy. The Electoral College is under fire. The inauguration promises to turn into a circus.
The left is pulling every deceit it can come up with. If the same things had happened to Obama it would have been racism. If they happened to Hillary it would be sexism. Our new president doesn’t have an excuse. A little respect for America would make an excuse unnecessary.
Fear and respect from the world?
Fear and respect don’t end at home. The U.S. has lost a lot of face since 2009. Global disrespect is a dangerous thing.
It is no surprise that other countries prefer a docile, generous, get-along America. The world is full of bullies. Some like Russia and China are large and capable. Others like North Korea are foolish and weak, but all international bullies cause problems. The solution? Old-fashioned respect tempered with fear for what we might do.
A deal with Iran, a red line in Syria, unanswered cyberattacks allegedly from China and Russia, a saber rattling North Korea, an Israel hung out to dry, and sitting back while Mexico dumps its jobless hordes on our soil didn’t help Obama’s America earn the world’s respect.
We need to get that respect back. The outrage from China and the liberal left over a simple phone call to Taiwan shows just how far we have fallen under Obama’s complacent leadership.
Can Washington earn the people’s trust?
The people should be able to trust the government to do the right thing when it needs to and not make our lives worse when it doesn’t have to.
Imagine Washington sticking up for us overseas instead of pacifying every nation with a complaint or plan to do us harm. Consider trusting that things might get better instead of forever kicking the can of greatness down the road because taxpayers don’t hand over enough of their money to the government.
Ponder a government that pulls back and takes its rightful place as administrator and protector, not ruler and arbiter of how we live our lives.
You can’t buy trust. It has to be earned. That’s the challenge for President Trump.
Photo: “Missile Exercise.” U.S. Department of Defense, Week in Photos. August 2, 2009. Retrieved from http://archive.defense.gov/WeekInPhotos/WeekInPhotosSlideShow.aspx?Date=08/02/2009 on December 3, 2016.
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