On the Upcoming Election....

 Four years ago, I made my vote while holding my nose.  I felt like my choices were between bad and worse, and I made my own decision with many reservations, and without much hope.  I didn't know if this business man would do what he said he would do.  I didn't know if I could TRUST him to represent me and my values.

It's been another four years, and time to head to the polls once again (or to the mailbox, as the case may be in these Covid-ridden times).  This time around, I don't even have to think about.  I don't have to hold my nose (well, maybe a little).  Because I have seen what has happened over the past four years, and it makes my decision far easier than back then. 

I still think he's a big-mouth, and brash, and a narcissist.  I wish the guy would stay off of Twitter, but I understand why he does it.  He looks for a fight... all the time... but at the same time, why wouldn't he?  If he was nice and polite (like the Bushes were), they'd still try to destroy him, so he might as well fight back.  Yes, it's caused a lot of screaming and angst, and "can you believe what he SAID?"  It's caused a lot of people to loathe this man inhabiting our White House, with feelings of indescribable hate.  I keep hearing from the left that "he lied" to the American public.  And I want to say back "NO.  He didn't.  He did what he said he would do, while you all were screaming at the top of your lungs about the stupid stuff he says".  

I admit, I rarely listen to the man.  His persona (and I do believe it's a persona.  He is a reality TV star, and this over-the-top persona doesn't match the interviews he gave before all of this) is not pleasant to listen to.  But I don't have to.  Because I am voting for what he DOES, and not what he SAYS.  I am voting for the changes he is enacting, and not the individual human being that he is.  I admire his fight.  He is not afraid, and they have heaped attack after attack on him, and vilified him night and day for four years.  He's a boxer, a fighter by trade, really.  He thrives on the fight, and I hate confrontation.  It doesn't matter.   I see how the public is being manipulated, see how the media is spinning things, because quite honestly, it's all they've GOT right now.  Manipulation, crisis, fear, and self-loathing. In the absence of any real political power, they are creating mayhem, and it's all a ploy to get political power back.  So....this time, I am voting for a record of things accomplished, not just a person, and they are things I can throw my support behind 100%.  I don't care anymore that he's not "presidential".  Obama was presidential, and where did that get us? 

THESE are the reasons that the current administration gets my vote this time, without hesitation:

• Thus far, Trump has installed two (soon to be three, most likely) Supreme Court justices and 205  judges overall to the federal bench — all for lifetime appointments. Even if Trump is not reelected in 2020, his presidency will continue to have an impact on the direction of the US due to the sheer number of conservative federal judges he’s installed.  This, above all, made my 2016 vote worthwhile.
• The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The law was the biggest overhaul to the nation’s tax code in three decades, permanently slashing the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35% while also providing temporary benefits for individuals and their families.  This helped our economy to boom, and led to record-breaking growth prior to the COVID pandemic.  If we want this nation to get back to economic prosperity for its citizens, we need this man at them helm.
• The greatest increase in manufacturing jobs in the history of the US, and the lowest unemployment rate in 49 years, especially among African Americans and women.
• The First Step Act passed into law in December 2018, marking the first legislative victory in years for advocates seeking to reform the criminal justice system. The bill also aims to lower recidivism by offering more rehabilitation and job-training opportunities, and it includes provisions intended to treat prisoners humanely — banning the shackling of pregnant inmates, halting the use of solitary confinement for most juvenile inmates, and mandating that prisoners be placed in facilities within 500 miles from their families.
• The defeat of the ISIS caliphate.  The reduced threat from North Korea and Iran.  The leaders of our enemies know this man is not afraid to use force if necessary, and they haven't pushed the envelope during his Presidency.
• Trump finalized the Protect Life Rule, cutting Planned Parenthood’s federal funding by $60 million.
• He reinstated the Mexico City Policy that ends federal funding of overseas abortions. The Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance program safeguards more than $8.8 BILLION in overseas aid from being used for abortions.
• Signed a bill that allowed states to defund Planned Parenthood of Title X (family planning) funding, reversing an Obama attempt to force states to fund abortion providers.
• Defunded the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which supported China’s population control program (which includes forced abortions).
•  Cut HHS funding for fetal tissue research
• Decreased the cost of FDA approved generic drugs
• Brokered middle-east peace deals between Israel and other mid-east countries such as Bahrain and the UAE.  

There is more.  A lot more.  But for brevity's sake, I'll stop there.  

And he is running against a man who has been around for 48 years contributing to the "swamp" of DC politics, with a vice presidential candidate whose aim is socialism, and was rated by the independent govtrack.us as the most liberal of all the Senators.  I've seen many people recently say "what's so bad with socialism?"  The idea of "helping" everyone with handouts seems appealing.  By DEFINITION, though, socialism is "(in Marxist theory) a transitional social state between the overthrow of capitalism and the realization of Communism.".  It is further defined as "a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole."  How does the "community as a whole" own the means of production?  By the government running it, that's how.  Socialism takes away the individual rights and responsibilities of private ownership, the economic system on which our nation was founded.  

I see the media pitting Americans against Americans, spewing American self-loathing as a campaign strategy  ('we were never great to begin with!')('America is racist'!).  They are fomenting unrest, fomenting a civil war, and it is part of the playbook, make no mistake about it.  This is how governments get overthrown from within.  America is under attack, with the ultimate goal of changing the very structure of our democratic republic.  I can see it so plainly; in every riot, every defunded police department, every twist of words, every cancelled social media post that doesn't fit the narrative, every illogical and repressive executive order that comes out of Lansing without input from the legislature.  

So yes, I'm voting FOR his strong pro-life stance with actions to back up his words, his handling of the economy - which is good for ALL Americans- and his appointments to the federal bench and Supreme court. Top 3.  I am also voting AGAINST socialism in all its coercive forms.  I am voting against a culture of death.  I am voting against the lunacy of destroying statues and businesses and cities without repercussion.  I am voting against the closure of businesses and livelihoods in fear of an unseen virus. I am voting against identity politics, and the "woke" mentality that glorifies and encourages victimhood.   I am voting for decency, logic, reason, national prosperity, and for common sense.  I don't see that anymore on the other side of the coin.  America is a GOOD country, founded on honorable principles.  NO.  We are not perfect, but I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.   Our country needs us now more than ever.  We, the silent majority, the American people, the ultimate "check and balance" of our Republic - time for us to speak.

This year, I'm not torn at all.  I know what I have to do.

Quote Of The Day: St. Ignatius of Antioch

 From the martyr (108-140AD) and Apostolic father who studied under John the Apostle, whose words inspire courage even today, 2000 years later.

Just beg for me the courage and endurance not only to speak but also to will what is right, so that I may not only be called a Christian, but prove to be one. For if I prove myself to be a Christian by martyrdom, then people will call me one, and my loyalty to Christ will be apparent when the world sees me no more. Nothing you can see is truly good. For our Lord Jesus Christ, now that he has returned to his Father, has revealed himself more clearly. Our task is not one of producing persuasive propaganda; Christianity shows its greatness when it is hated by the world."

So, What's the End Game?

I've been complaining for years that America is getting increasingly mad and topsy-turvy.; that it has lost its moral compass, it's common identity, it's unifying values.  The loss of a Christian ethos in America - even among the plurality of religions that comes with religious freedom - is devastating this nation.  It used to be that the Judeo-Christian ethos was so pervasive, ran so deep into our roots, that even those who didn't go to church held the same moral code, believed similarly what was right vs what was wrong.  It seeped into all of us by osmosis, and defined how we acted as a country.   We as a nation were largely "watching the same movie", so to speak, about American ingenuity, elbow grease, baseball, and apple pie.  Land of opportunity and justice. We interpreted reality in the same way.  With the advent of the internet, and destructive policies, and the corrosive onslaught of intellectual elitism, this is changing... has changed.  And now, enter 2020.  We've reached a boiling point it seems.

The pandemic has touched every.single.person. in this nation, in some way.  No one is immune to it's scope.  So those who may not have taken the time or effort to engage in politics when it was merely an intellectual exercise suddenly have an opinion.  A DEFINITE opinion.  It used to be that what happened in a distant legislature largely didn't effect the person at a cellular level in an individual household.  Yes, taxes might go up or down, but the day to day stuff didn't necessarily change much... go to work, take the kids to soccer, put food on the table.  The American way of life - despite rhetoric - kept on largely the same despite who was in political power.  The pandemic, or more accurately, the RESPONSE to the pandemic, has made the decisions in far off places become REAL.   They effect me and mine, in very CONCRETE, LIFE-ALTERING WAYS.  As such, there are no more unengaged people in this country.  There are no more squishy, apathetic people.  We all have an OPINION about this, because it has caused major disruptions in the life of every single human being in the nation.

And now, on top of this anxious and unsettling scenario, we have the specter of race riots, of looting, of violence, tearing our cities up, polarizing people even more.  The charge of "racism" is being bandied about like mosquito spray.  It's supposed to be the end-all-be-all of slurs.  You're RACIST.  America is RACIST.  Wallow in THAT.  Self-loathe yourself for THAT, America.

Someone on Facebook posted a meme that basically implied that violence was necessary to "make a change" on the issue of race.  This is a well-meaning friend who has an African American granddaughter.  I get why she is passionate about ending racism.  She wants a world that treats her granddaughter with the dignity and respect that every human deserves.  I'm not here to debate on to the extent that is or is not the world we currently live in.   I do not see racism around me, but I am a middle-aged white woman in a rural part of the country, and am not qualified to speak of such things.  I don't know what goes on in other places where I am not.   I do know, however, that LEGALIZED racism no longer exists.  It is no longer LEGAL to provide a "separate but equal" education.  It is no longer LEGAL to deny someone the opportunity to work based on their skin color (in fact, it's now just the opposite, if you look at affirmative action).  It is no longer LEGAL to force some groups to the back of the bus, or use a different water fountain, or deny service in your restaurant, based on the color of their skin.  The Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s eradicated legalized racism in this country.  And that movement, those people fighting for these changes back then, did their work peacefully.  Dr. Martin Luther King insisted on the moral high-ground, used Gahndi and JESUS as role models.  As he so famously said:  

 “Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” 

That was the mind-set back when Dr. King was in charge of things.  I have no idea who is "in charge" of Black Lives Matter, but this is definitively NOT the guiding principle now.  There is shouting, and intimidating, and rioting, and looting, and anger, and legitimate HATE being spewed.  Not by the people RESISTING change, but by those SEEKING change!  Back then, the violence came from those who did not want equality, who did not tolerate the disruption of the status quo.  Now, the violence comes first, and is being used as a purported INSTRUMENT to cause a change.  

So that got me thinking.  What is the end game?  What do these people hope to accomplish?  They say they want the end of racism.  OK.  But what does that concretely look like, in a very real sense?  During the Civil Rights movement, there was the impetus to eradicate legalized racism in this country, and that goal was definitively achieved.  NOW, the "systemic, implicit" racism that is so vilified... that's in hearts and minds.  That's intrinsic to people, not extrinsic.  Do you change hearts and minds through shouting?  Demanding?  Destroying livlihoods and cities?  By making people feel unsafe?  By defunding police???  THROUGH VIOLENCE?  In what world does violence convert a human soul?????  And where does it all end?  When is the goal met?  By what standard is all this violence going to STOP?  It makes not one iota of logical sense to any rational person.  It is an expression of anger, an emotion.  It is not solutions-based.  It is a tantrum of a two-year old.  And it changes NOTHING.  It makes it all WORSE.  

Satan is working over-time these days, trying to make us fear one another, trying to make us hate one another.  We are being manipulated as a nation, make no mistake about that.  We are being whipped up and manipulated in very real, demonstrable ways.  But I see you, Satan.  The veil has been lifted.  Your seeds of unrest and hate are trying to destroy this nation, trying to cause an implosion, trying to make us self-destruct.  Because without the United States as a bastion of Judeo-Christian values to the world, as a light on a hill, it's so much easier to encase the entire world in darkness.  

I refuse to FEAR.  I refuse to HATE.  Call me any name you want.  I REFUSE.