Letters on Obama mandate, electors’ morals, progressives

Obama blew his mandate, legacy

In my humble opinion, President Obama had a mandate for change comparable to that of Franklin Roosevelt, and he blew it.

▪ He gave Wall Street and mortgage companies a pass on the 2008 housing bubble, abandoning the foreclosed and bailing out the banks. Nobody went to jail for white collar crime.

▪ He further embroiled our military in international conflicts, Syria being the latest, while arming foreign countries to the teeth with munitions and aircraft to the delight of U.S. defense contractors. He surrendered civilian control of the military to his generals. Perpetual war leads nowhere.

▪ He ignored American workers’ concerns – especially in the Rust Belt – about the Trans-Pacific Partnership and insisted that what’s good for the G20 is good for America. Even Hillary Clinton had the sense to change her position, but too late in the game.

Author Joseph Heller said, “Peace on earth would mean the end of civilization as we know it.” This quote seems to be a conundrum, but it simply means that only by rejecting the hubris of so-called world leaders and economic gurus can we start the journey toward peace.

Follow conscience?

If you are a pharmacist and your conscience tells you not to fill a prescription that you believe to be abortifacient, some people want you to be fired because your job is to fill prescriptions. What would happen, they say, if every pharmacist decided to follow his conscience?

However, if you are an elector and the election involves Donald Trump, then they wanted you to follow your conscience, even though your job is to fulfill the desires of the voters in your state. It would appear that their hypocrisy knows no bounds.

Electors’ morals

We may soon trust the leadership of America to the moral turpitude of a career playboy, vulgar showman, ruthless con man and casino promoter who routinely abandons his responsibilities through bankruptcy, at public expense, when his businesses fail – and then blatantly lies about his wealth and about his opponents (Republicans and Democrats). He invites foreign enemies to meddle in our affairs, and threatens to defy any law he dislikes. He ridicules democratically elected presidents of both parties, while expressing admiration for foreign tyrants.

This man claims he’ll “make America great again”? When was America ever as low as Donald J. Trump?

How our electors voted Monday in the Electoral College didn’t reveal the already well-known character of Trump. Rather, it revealed the morality and responsibility – or lack of it – of those entrusted to serve as electors.

Reason to cry

“As Electoral College nears, a deluge of pleas to reject Trump” (Dec. 17 Eagle) detailed the attempts to challenge our constitutional values by looking for “faithless electors” to un-elect President-elect Donald Trump. The attempt to find dishonorable electors demonstrates the three-party system in America of Republicans, Democrats and progressives of both parties.

I trust Americans will prevail in maintaining our constitutional republic that progressives have been dismantling for decades.

The challenge by progressives will not stop with the electors, because they fear their work being undone by Trump. Their prize trade treaties that caused unfair competition for America may disappear. Eliminating treaties that have tied us to unnecessary water regulations could restore private property rights to owners.

The treaties that would have taken our constitutional rights, such as the Second Amendment, will be endangered. More importantly, Trump will appoint Supreme Court justices who will interpret the Constitution and not create activist policies.

The progressives have good reason to be crying.

This story was originally published December 20, 2016 at 5:03 AM with the headline "Letters on Obama mandate, electors’ morals, progressives."