To the Editor,
I’m seeing Trump signs “Keep America Great.” That’s assuming he has made America great these past 3 1/2 years. I feel he’s made the office of the presidency and our country more like a disgrace. Even though we have many issues and differences, I’ve always thought our country is great.
Unfortunately, Trump has sabotaged the Republican party. It seems that the only true Republicans left are Mitt Romney and John Kasich. I can no longer support the Republican party as is. I’m not necessarily in agreement with the liberal progressive views of the Democratic party, but I am in favor of a return of some common respectful decency from our leaders, something we haven’t had with Trump. Trump is self-serving, self-congratulating, lacks empathy, and continues to spew out vicious lies.
According to his niece Mary Trump’s book, none of his siblings supported him during the last campaign. Mary wrote a book, Too Much and Never Enough, calling him the world’s most dangerous man. She holds a Ph.D. in advanced psychological studies. She mentions that her Uncle Donald meets all nine criteria of a narcissist outlined in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It seems he was enabled and groomed by his father Fred and never grew out of that mentality.
I fail to understand how supporters can back someone with so many disorders and character flaws. It’s such an awful model for our young people. It’s ironic that if he had taken a more serious approach to the pandemic (“China flu” will be gone this summer), the economy he brags about may have remained more stable. “It is what it is.”
When voting, please consider the next generation and the need for good character and decency in our leadership.
Nathan Davidson
Grand Meadow, Minn.
Gerald Boyum says
Yes, America is still great, but Marxists/leftists are trying to undermine all of the elements listed below in attempts to “fundamentally change America” with their false fantasies of a manmade utopia of universal material equality that will ultimately destroy our country as it has done in many others. President Trump has shown more leadership in combatting the totally anti-American Marxist ideology efforts to “fundamentally transforming the United States of America” that will ultimately destroy our country as it has done in many other countries. (from “Independence Day 2020” by Jarett Stepman, July 2, 2020)
1. What made America great? There are more than the primary ones listed below; however, they are more unique to America, and enabled our country to rise from nothing to become the world’s superpower in a short amount of time.
a. Culture of Self-Government. The British colonies established institutions of self-government with community participation in creation and upholding of laws was extensive. However, the threat of losing their grip on self-government due to British ham-handed attempts to re-establish control without giving them representation in Parliament in making laws sparked the drive for independence.
b. Constitution and Rule of Law. The Founding Fathers codified the principles of self-government to serve future generations. After a false start with the Articles of Confederation, they wrote the Constitution (to form a more perfect union) which was then ratified by the American people. It created a framework of America’s federal system that has lasted for over two centuries. The Constitution, as the Supreme Law of the Land, is the glue that defines our government and binds us under a single system with many parts. The rule of law comes from “all men are created equal (in the image of God, and equally subject to His judgement), and means that “all are equal under the law.”
c. Individual Liberty. Liberty is a God-given Right. “…they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” Rights are neither given or redefined by government; it’s primary role is to protect those rights and defend us against enemies, foreign and domestic, who would take our Liberty. The government must maintain a strong and effective military defense against enemies abroad and provide strong and effective education and legal systems to defend against internal enemies.
d. Limited Government. When government expands beyond its rightful guardian of our God-given liberty (which given the flawed nature of man, it has a tendency to do just that- power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely), individuals are no longer free to pursue happiness, but instead become slaves to a government that is intrusive and oppressive. Limited government is also required to give each state the right to pursue its own course within the Union.
e. American Dream. The country’s strength comes from millions of free-born, self-governing and self-sufficient people who have taken the protection our unique government provides and created the most wealthy and prosperous nation in human history. Our attachment to rule of law and defense of private property allows growth of an expansive middle-class.
2. President Trump, unlike the last “lead-from-behind” lack-of-leadership president who said that “We are five days from fundamentally transforming the United States of America”, was most likely elected because people were getting awfully tired of the Marxist/socialist propaganda coming from the White House, in media and elsewhere. Trump is hated by the leftists because he’s actually delivered on his promises. Trump is an American president who understands that he works for the American people. He says what he’s going to do, then goes out and gets it done- all in the face of Dem. Socialist opposition, lies, distortions, phony investigations and an impeachment attempt.
3. The choice for the next four years should be obvious: Liberty and a great future with Trump/Pence or dismal failure, poverty, even tyranny under a one-party system that will eventually destroy America, as indicated in Venezuela, and Democratic Socialist-controlled cities like Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, New York City, etc. It should be no surprise to anyone that citizens and businesses are voting with their feet from these cities as people have done in Venezuela, Cuba, and the former East Germany that built walls to prevent this “voting”.