![]() As is so often the case, people on the left look at problems and issues from a negative and stilted point of view. Late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, who sobbed about the challenges his family faced when his son was born with a congenital life threatening condition, used his TV forum to criticize the Republican healthcare law just passed by the House, and he let his emotions affect his thought process. His question, “... why are the vast majority of Republican politicians against making sure Americans are truly covered when it comes to health care?” is a loaded question. It presumes that Republicans, simply because they disagree on the means to insure people, do not want to insure people at all. He focuses on the emotional aspect, instead of the real issue: How do we protect people from catastrophic health costs, in a fair and equitable way? Interesting isn't it, that leftists who are so preoccupied with trashing conservatives about their strong convictions, their 'black and white' assumptions, and their principled prescriptions, are the ones who make such unsupported leaps in judgement when it comes to massive social programs and how they are administered and paid for. In his mind, unless the government is involved in forcibly transferring wealth across all levels of society for the specific purpose of paying for 'healthcare' (so we can all rest assured that we will never have any concern about medical expenses), than we will all be without any coverage or hope. In his diatribe, he made it clear that universal health insurance will only work as a Post-Office-style bureaucracy, or it will not exist at all! Talk about 'black and white' preconceived notions! He implies Republicans WANT to deny most of us coverage, because presumably they hate children, old people, immigrants, people of color, celebrities and of course, the poor. His angry monologue indicates no critical thinking about the possibility that his collectivist solutions might actually make things worse. That Obamacare designs to tax our way to making healthcare a government entitlement would eventually destroy the quality of the service, and any semblance of high quality protection. Apparently, it hasn't occurred to him that a socialist version of healthcare would lead to a Venezuelan-style total melt down once providers realize they are no longer in business but are actually government employees. I like Jimmy, and I want his son and all of our children to have what they need to live a long and happy life. It's a crying shame that not everyone has access to the top end medical services you do. But we have to work together to get there, and impugning the intentions of those who disagree with you is not going to promote solutions that are sustainable and that we can all be proud of. Jimmy, come down from your podium, join the discussion, and if you really want to form a consensus, please stop pointing fingers. Last night President Trump gave a Lincolnesque speech at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum commemorating the seminole Battle of the Coral Sea in World War II that was a turning point. He told incredible stories of the bravery and determination of our Aussie allies to stop fascism from conquering the world. His speech was, in my mind, a metaphor for how Americans must stick together and make sacrifices to save our Nation to protect liberty for all of mankind. Meanwhile, the pundits are all over television and the internet making ridiculous claims that Donald Trump is a militarist dictator and a racist. That he is going to get America into an unnecessary war while depriving citizens of their constitutional rights. There are riots in the streets and college professors sending students out to join in protest movements across the country. All of it designed to destroy Trumps presidency and reclaim the Progressive movement Barack Obama was leading for the past eight years. Clearly the leftists in our country are desperate and the Democrats are feeling abandoned because their anointed Queen was not only defeated but embarrassed during the campaign. What is now becoming abundantly clear is that many establishment Republicans are also feeling threatened by the Trump populist movement, and they are quickly aligning themselves with the more moderate Democrats. Conservatives, who at first thought they had another Reagan in the White House are starting to worry that many of their most cherished goals are fading into a legislative fog, and that Trump may be too eager to achieve victories to stick to his promises of draining the swamp, which would presumably include many of the Old Guard establishment RINOS like McConnell and McCain. Perhaps the truth is Trump is simly bigger than all of the everyday story lines. In case you have been living under a rock for the past half century, our country is slowly sliding into another Civil War. But this time it isn't being fought with muskets and swords. This time it is being fought with electronic media weapons of mass dissemination. The information age is experiencing growing pains and it has become difficult to distinguish truth from fiction, lies from deception and right from wrong. I would argue that Donald Trump won the Presidency precisely because so many Americans are concerned that the nature of our Union is under assault. Voters were looking for a Lincoln figure to heal our wounds, even if he prescribes some painful medicine to do it. And in many ways Trump is the modern day Lincoln. Not a conventional politician, Lincoln came to politics to interject some sanity to the process. Trump has said that his motives are just as patriotic and pragmatic. Let me point out how the issue of slavery is still with us today. In the early 1800's it was considered acceptable to use imported black people to do the hard labor whites didn't want to do. Today, politicians say illegal immigration is a necessary evil because they do the work our kids won't do. Plantation owners varied in the way they treated their slaves, but in most cases, they protected them, gave them medicine and housing, and thou by today's standards, they were essentially imprisoned, the Master's thought of themselves as humane and generous. Democratic leaders in cities like Detroit and Baltimore think of themselves as protectors of the poor and disenfranchised. They provide housing, healthcare and welfare for the poor minorities who cannot take care of themselves. And though Democrats have been in elected positions of power for decades, the abysmal conditions have changed little since, well, the civil war! In the 1800's the trade off for human exploitation was money for plantation crops and trade. Today it is for votes, another form of compensation that can lead to great wealth and the preservation of power and influence, mostly for Democratic plantation owners and their appointed allies, the Mainstream Media. And though the Republicans were the Party pushing to free the slaves in 1861, many were half-hearted about it. President Lincoln was confronted with conflicts amongst his own party and the entrenched slave owner culture of the Democrats. He stood tall in his unwavering principles and humane instincts, only to be killed before he was able to see the Southern States rejoin the Union. It is frightening to consider the parallels in the rise of Trump and demise of our proud institutions of open debate and diversity of thought. All of us, on the left and on the right, as we watch street warfare, ask ourselves, "What is wrong with these people?" I can only imagine the elders of the Union and Confederate combatants asked the same question. Trump has been steadfast in confronting political correctness, which is in it's own way a form of servitude. American's sensed this when they went to the polls for him, as he was the only candidate willing to tackle the massive cabal of group thinking media elitists. Political correctness has devolved our schools, our entertainment, our social discourse, our sense of security and the relations we have with each other. Less tangible issues than those of states sovereignty, but just as divisive. Lincoln, fearing the destruction of the Union, reached out to the average worker, the small business man and to older citizens, appealing to their sense of righteousness about what made America unique in a world dominated by aristocracy and religious hierarchies. Trump did exactly the same thing with disenfranchised males who have lost their jobs, their careers, their self esteem, even to some degree their role as head of a family. He reached out to Christians and Jews who feel threatened, to disenfranchised Muslims who hate watching their belief system being hijacked by psychopaths, and even to many moderate blacks who are fed up with pandering politicians using misplaced accusations of racism, bigotry and anti-semitism and Republican selfishness to keep the slaves on the proverbial plantation. Many women feel disparaged by Progressive efforts to marginalize men, housewives and the nuclear family. Former Democratic Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said "There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women" suggesting it would be heretical to vote Republican. Many homosexuals were insulted when Democrats claimed that you can't be a gay Republican. Diversity is turning out to be a straight jacket. The point is, our nuclear family, America's social glue was being turned into quicksand for political expediency. And political correctness was the vehicle that allowed it to happen, and only Donald Trump had the issues of media misinformation and political correctness in his crosshairs. This all begs the question, will all-out civil war erupted in America? Will the forces of anarchy grow to a point where we will all have to choose sides? Will our beleaguered President live to see his efforts to heal the nation through? Though the journey for President Lincoln ended in his tragic assassination, let's never forget, his patriotic efforts saved the Nation. |
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