As Americans, Who Are We?
I’m not sure which I like better: the meme here, or this quote from Mark Twain, “Patriotism is the act of believing your country is the greatest country in the world based on nothing more than the fact that you were born there.” The message is the same in either case, we need to understand that there is nothing singular about the United States. God has not chosen America over France or Lithuania for His blessing. When we act with fairness and compassion in our dealings domestically and internationally we are good; when we act with malice and aggression we are evil.
The very best thing that can happen to the U.S. at this point is that this moment in U.S. history serves to alert us as to how far wrong we can go. There is nothing good about flouting international law at our borders, a president who is a pathological liar, overt racism, destroying the environment for profit, denying healthcare to poor people, or the countless other atrocities in which this country is currently involved.
What needs to happen in 2019 is a grand awakening. None of this is normal. It is not sane, rational, or good. Four star generals are not leaving the administration because they want more time to play golf. Our intelligence communities are not unanimously telling us that Russia is hacking our elections because they’re part of a liberal conspiracy.
Let’s wake up and turn this around.
Craig,
In your daily rant’s against President Trump and his administration, you often refer to him as a pathological liar and yet remain surprised and outraged at the lack notice the ordinary American cares.
Perhaps the answer to your angst can be found in that the average American is far more sensible and sophisticated than you believe. The average American always understood and differentiated between the exaggerations of political rhetoric (or sales talk) and serious campaign promises.
To that degree, they accept and ignore the ebullient, and sometimes overly-enthusiastic exhortations of ‘Trump the Salesman’ , and judge him by his record of promise keeping and effectiveness of policy decisions.
By that standard, it must be conceded he is a remarkably faithful President in keeping his word to electors.
Just in case you’ve forgotten, I’ve sourced the following from the American Presidency Project at University of California Santa Barbara (hardly a pro-Trump organization) which rates The President highly for promise keeping.
The APP lists all the Presidential campaign promises and records the results of keeping those promises, or at least using best endeavors, to provide a comparison of Presidential promise keeping.
Measured against previous Presidents, Trump’s record is astonishingly faithful, against modern Presidents, Trump scores the highest so far !
Even the President’s most ardent critics must admit he faithfully pursues his election promises.
even a fan of Mr. Trump to appreciate that it’s actually good for democracy when politicians, after elections, try to keep the promises they made during campaigns. When such promises are quickly or easily abandoned, it risks breeding voter cynicism, disillusionment, and disengagement.
It must be conceded, President Trump (in at least this particular way), is neither corrupt or dishonest.
To a great many Americans, this quality is far more important than the bluster in his speeches or misstatements.
To many of his supporters, he’s the first “promise-keeping” President! To them, that’s what’s important. For too long they’ve witnessed politicians making promises only to cynically abandon those commitments once elected.
To these voters, as long as President Trumps fights to keep his election promises, they will forgive his personality flaws and sometimes unconventional behavior.
You don’t have to be a Trump Supporter, or even a supporter of his policies, to appreciate it’s good for democracy when politicians keep their election promises. When politicians quickly or easily abandoned core promises, it breeds voter cynicism, disillusionment, and disengagement from the political process.
Why bother turning out to vote if what candidates promise bears no resemblance to what they eventually do? Say what you will, at least in this way, President Trump keep faith with the American voter.