Letters to the editor (Feb. 18, 2021)
Pro-life voters
I hope the violence on Jan. 6 in Washington D.C. — not to mention many, many moments from the previous four years — will lead to reflection among pro-life people, such as myself, regarding politicians we endorse.
It is a powerful and important voting bloc. It should demand candidates who want to do more than use “I’m pro-life” as a “Get out of jail free” card to justify cruelty, lies and incompetence.
We see where that gets us — Jan. 6 and several pro-life politicians, led by President Donald Trump, pushed an attempt at a coup, based on four years of lies and false grievances. A few later attempted to excuse those actions. I believe Christianity functions best in a democracy.
Pro-lifers can do good things and many in the movement are doing good work, work that often extends beyond the legality of abortion. I hope the political arm of this movement can have a discussion about who it endorses and how that process can reward more pro-life candidates who are interested in loftier and more long-lasting goals for all people than crushing the opposition.
We need more candidates who are interested in policies that improve health care, jobs and quality of life for families. We need to help make raising children a choice that is joyful. We should strive to remove obstacles that interfere with the goal of stopping the intentional killing of an innocent human being.
We need, it seems clear to me, better candidates.
That seems like a better way to advance the cause than tying ourselves to what we’ve seen the past four years.
Banana republic
I have an analogy: a tale versus recent events. Imagine a government official is undergoing a show trial in a banana republic in South America. Uniformed soldiers line the streets. Hundreds of witnesses swear they saw him commit the crime. He takes the stand and provides no proof of innocence but instead demands the witnesses recant and apologize. He demands they be silenced and painted with “scarlet letters.” He gets off scot-free and proudly states: “Justice has been served.” The courts dutifully acquiesce. The media cheer! Trumpets blare!
Meanwhile, back in the United States, Democrats have been accused of cheating in the election and stealing it. Hundreds of whistleblowers sign affidavits under penalty of perjury stating they saw cheating with their own eyes. Democrats who lied in the past about collusion with Russia feign innocence but won’t debate the evidence. Instead, they label the whistleblowers as racists and cultists. Vindictive Democrats compile a list of Republicans to be blacklisted and banned from getting a job. Journalist Katie Couric suggests “deprogramming” people who support Trump. Twitter and Facebook ban certain Republicans. Simon & Schuster refuses to publish Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley’s book.
Uniformed soldiers and police line the streets during the presidential inauguration. Joe Biden has the gall to state: “Democracy has prevailed.” The media fawn dutifully!
Is this America, or has it become Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany, North Korea, or a banana republic? Sigh!
Trump successes
When Donald Trump was sworn in as president, I don’t remember thousands of Americans losing high paying jobs with the stroke of a pen.
I do remember President Trump’s pledge to put America first and the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs, including the recovery of thousands of manufacturing jobs that Obama said were gone for good. I also remember that 63 House Democrats boycotted his inauguration, Madonna saying she wanted to “blow up the White House” and Democrats plotting his impeachment before he was even inaugurated.
What Trump gave us was unparalleled economic growth, energy independence, stable borders and the reassertion of our sovereignty over leach nations like the People’s Republic of China. We also got an amoral Democratic Party that lied, connived and disseminated at every opportunity.
What the Biden administration has delivered is thousands of high-wage Americans forcibly propelled into the unemployment line in pursuit of the existential fairy tales of the left. The same lofty promises and failed policies are being propagated by essentially the same pack of losers that gave us the malaise of the Obama years and are being replicated in the Biden administration.