Yes, it’s a Political Post

Twelve years ago, in 2009, I was a part of the Republican chorus warning of the pending destruction of our nation that was about to take hold as Barack Obama was set to take the White House, backed by a Democratic super majority in Congress. I had just voted in my first presidential election, and for the first time in decades, my home state of Missouri did NOT vote on the side of eventual presidential winner. Missouri’s run as a bellwether state ended as conservative media reached maturation, fed by fears of the incoming Obama administration.

I penned letters to the editor, posted provocative and narrow-minded opinions on my Facebook, and had hours-long arguments with friends over the inevitability of Obama confiscating our guns, destroying Christmas, crashing the economy, and eroding the moral fabric of America.

Essentially, none of this came to fruition. Obama’s ‘reign’ was nothing but the status quo. Ammo sales increased during his two terms in office. Neither his administration or the Democratic Congress had anything to do with legalization of gay marriage. People still say “Merry Christmas” and freely practice their religion in this country. The economy steadily improved from the near-apocalyptic disaster of the 2007-2009 banking crash and recession and was at near-record levels of employment and years of continual growth as Obama left office.

ASIDE: Are we becoming Communist?

This deserves its own discussion, but for now, view this chart and table.

Currently I believe we fall into the “Conservatism” square on the lower right hand quadrant.

Differences between selected Economic Systems

None of this is to say that Obama’s presidency was especially successful. Obamacare was mostly a failure, in part because it was not comprehensive and bold enough. It was a compromise plan based on the Republican agenda (a Federal adaptation of Romneycare) that Republicans subsequently decided to use as a political pain stick against the Democrats who were naïve enough to compromise with them. Our positions in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars essentially did not change over his tenure. When he left office, the United States was the most politically divided it had been in decades.

Enter Donald Trump.

Trump did do things. Almost everything he said he would. Which, in many cases, was terribly bad. In spite of some of his less palatable actions, many Republicans are thankful for some of what he did accomplish. Some people have made the argument that “at least he tells it like it is,” but that his a hideous reason to support his buffoonery. The destruction he has caused to our government will take the entirety of Biden’s administration to set back to the way it was, if not longer. Most of what he “changed” were things that, before Trump, were not political issues.

The Environment

Take the Environmental Protection Agency, for instance. The EPA was originally a Republican program. Trump’s administration rolled back the regulations, bringing our standards below that of every other post-industrial society. The Trump administration would have us return to a time when Los Angeles looked like Beijing.

EPA regulations on leaded gasoline are likely the reason for the otherwise unexplained decrease in crime in the late 80s and early 90s. With modern issues looming over head and more on the horizon, this was far from the time to be rolling back and shrinking this agency.

The Economy

The idea of trickle-down economics was an understandable reaction to “stagflation” of the 70s. It was theoretically logical. However, like usual, human behavior rarely follows logic. Years of experience with this have shown us that trickle-down does not work and has in fact made things much worse. The fact is, rather than reinvesting, large corporations and wealthy business owners horde their money and invest in financial options that build capital on paper, but create no true economic growth. This was accelerated under Trump and the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act, which radically reduced taxes on corporations and the rich, while greatly expanding the Federal deficit.

Assault on Democracy

While there are many other things that could be discussed regarding the Trump presidency, the last I will discuss here relates to the constant assault of Democratic principles.

Our government is designed to move slowly and deliberately, to promote consensus and to make sure all involved parties are a part of the process. Since the day that Trump started his campaign for President, he has constantly shown his disdain for this entire process. From the very beginning he has told us that he would not accept the results of an election he lost. His recent behavior over his decisive defeat in the 2020 election should come as no surprise to anyone paying attention to anything Trump has said over the years.

Trump was enabled by Republicans in Congress who opted for four years of governmental control in exchange for whatever moral fibers they had left. His 2016 election win was an anomaly; the Democrats could not have put up a worse candidate against Trump. That point was emphasized in the 2018 mid terms and 2020 election where we saw unprecedented rebukes of Republicans across the country in places like Georgia, Alabama, and even Texas. Despite this rebuke and Democratic control of the House, Mitch McConnell in the Senate essentially shut down all normal business in this chamber previously known as the world’s best example of political debate and compromise, due to support from Trump in this endeavor.

Congressional Republicans, minus a few who already either resigned, retired, or have passed away (John McCain and Jeff Flake are the first to come to mind) gleefully defended every absurd action of the President, no matter how indefensible or contrary to their previously stated positions. That is what Trump demanded; loyalty.

When you see how Republicans have coddled the President over the past four years, it makes the story of the Emperor’s new clothes seem much less far fetched. Republicans watched as Trump made a fool of himself, they supported him and reinforced his behavior.

No Surprises

Unfortunately, it took the “storming of the Capital,” literally at the feet and in the face of Congressional Republicans, to break this spell and realize that they could no longer pretend to see the “invisible gown.” It is sad to me that Republicans are only now rebuking Trump. His actions are no different than they have been for years. His rhetoric was the same during the 2016 campaign, where he encouraged violence against the media. He provoked the Charlottesville mob, saying there were “good people on both sides.” He all but drove Kyle Rittenhouse up to shoot protesters himself. All this time, Republicans ignored the President’s tyrannical tendencies because they believed it served their purpose. Only once his ire was directed squarely at them did (most of them) finally understand how dangerous they had allowed the President to become.

Trump worked constantly to undermine the elections, and then tried to blame Democrats for it. Trump was the one who famously ASKED Russia, on national television, to interfere with the election. He asked the same from China in early 2020 as well. But somehow, it’s the Democrats who are rigging things. Trump has poisoned the well in every conceivable way, and gaslit the entire country to the point where it is difficult to even know what is true anymore, to the point that many of my conservative friends and family are legitimately and sincerely frightened of what will happen when the Democrats take power on January 20th.

“Prepare for $4/gallon gasoline.”

“Get ready to give up your guns or prepare to fight for them.”

“No more Christmas”

“Inflation will go through the roof”

“The government will take everything”

“We’re going to become a socialist country!”

“There goes our freedom of speech!” (The irony of this one just kills me).

The Great Tragedy

There’s just no evidence for any of this. While there are the fringe segments of the Democratic party who have a much more radical vision for the country, unlike Trump and the Republicans, there are no signs that Biden will indulge, or even address, the radical wings of his party. Biden is barely a “liberal” at all. In any other Western nation, his ideals would fall into a moderate-conservative party. Like his former running mate in 2008, Joe Biden will not be leading us into the arms of communism.

This is the great tragedy of the Trump era. The political division that started during Bush and Obama as exploded to the point that Trump supporters and Biden supporters can barely talk to each other (in real life, or in Congress). This is not the way forward. Conservatives and liberals will never agree on everything, but they don’t have to as long as they both keep the nation’s best interests truly at heart and we can agree to a common reality that is not spun by a gaslighting failed businessman and dictator wannabe on a daily basis.

I believe that the internet and other forms of impersonal communication has lead to this radicalization. It is far too easy to dehumanize the other side from the safety of your keyboard. In 2021, once Covid is under control, I hope we can all rip off our masks, take a deep breath, and once again have face-to-face discussions with our neighbors, friends, family, and others without automatically assuming they are racist because they are Republican, or that they are baby-killers because they are Democrats. We are all more than any one “label.” The challenges of the next 10 years will be immense for our society, and some degree of compromise and unity will be needed for us to avoid disaster.

Hard changes are needed. Most importantly, to our economic and tax structure. Our current wealth inequality is unsustainable. We need to return to levels as they were in the 1950s. Our healthcare system is in complete shambles, and its deficiencies are in full view due to Covid (more on this in the future). Nothing short of a complete overhaul will be sufficient. Climate change, whether human-induced or not (it is) is causing real problems now in coastal cities like Miami. Changing seasonal lengths are making certain crops harder to grow. We will have to address this in some way or be forced to evacuate whole cities and change our entire food distribution process.

A lack of action is what we should fear. Americans overwhelmingly want to address these issues. Don’t let your representatives in Congress avoid them any longer, whether they be Republican or Democrat.

Your representives are charged with listening to your concerns even if you voted for their opponent. Call them. Write them. Post on Facebook.

Just do it respectfully. If Trump taught us anything, its that being a jerk doesn’t make you any friends or convince anyone. Just look at the Republicans today… at their first real opportunity, they dropped him like a hot potato. So much for loyalty. Maybe Trump wasn’t as strong of leader as we thought, he was just the emperor in invisible robes that everyone was too afraid to mention until the crowd finally came to their senses. Only then was the spell broken and the absurdity laid bare.

I hope the Republican party recovers from this. We need two healthy and cooperative parties to work together. Now that Trump is leaving, perhaps we can get back to that.