Lest We Forget

Since rejecting and being rejected by the church world, this believer has missed only the great hymns of the faith.  Hymns like, “Lead me to Calvary”, remain in my bones.  Published a hundred years ago, the chorus cries out, “Lest I forget Gethsemane, Lest I forget Thine agony, Lest I forget thy love for me. Lead me to Calvary.”  We humans are best at forgetting for our selective memories fade so quickly.  The hill upon which Jesus was crucified was a dark unjust place and we, as humans, are prone to try and put such experiences behind us.  The author, Jennie Evelyn Hussey (1874-1958), was an invalid from rheumatism who was forced by her pain to focus inward finding a greater vulnerability, forgetting.  Out of her suffering came the words that will live forever even if they are ignored by today's “pop” religion.

Oh yes, I forgot, this is written for a political opinion page but are not politics and faith close kissing cousins?  Do both not involve trusting into the future?  The question is who do you trust, something greater than ourselves or do we trust government (politics)?  Or, quite possibly, is there a workable partnership?  Most of the framers of the American Constitution believed in such a partnership and their unique experiment in governance sought to give the people control of their own destiny.  It proved to be a success for 250 years despite constant pressure from the top down advocates.  In the last 25 years, we the people have progressively lost any hope of remaining that unique system and the bottom up governance that our forefathers envisioned, how soon we forget our heritage.

The killers of this heritage are the top down progressives who seek to divide and conquer America.  The progressive label has been adopted by such folk because it is less threatening than the labels of the past and present, labels like aristocracies, dictatorships, communism and socialism.  All these forms of governance consider the destiny of the people theirs to control top down.  Even the term democracy can be misleading, most governments like to use the term but the reality is the same old.  Holding an election does not make a democracy, the people who vote must be given a real choice.  The presidential election of 2016 was the first time we the people were given a real choice in decades and the people spoke loudly.  In electing Donald J. Trump, the people remembered who we are.

The praise and gratitude given to Mr. Trump will never be enough but our democracy is not saved with one election, the Trump Presidency faces dangers within and without.  The push back from the without forces, the progressive left, is obvious, they are fighting Mr. Trump viciously with every political trick in the book.  Some of us are bored with their antics but the threat from within the Trump camp is subtler, it is the perceived threat of our moneyed aristocracy.  The rich folk of American have been the only people to benefit from the stock market explosion under Obama and Trump as zero interest rates have propped up the market.  Will this sliver of Americans control Washington to enhance their portfolios?  Lest we forget the economic debacle of 2008, only eight years ago, the people must be vigilant.

Money is not a party issue, the power it brings separated the interests of the people from their elected political leaders of both parties.  It is why nothing gets done for us, only harm.  The Wall Street tycoons and politicians inflicted great pain on the average American in 2008.  No one has gone to jail; the Democrats did not pay a price for their push to recklessly extend credit.  Wall Street was fined pocket change and now it appears that they could be running the country.  The key word is “appears”.

We the people who elected Mr. Trump believe that he and his administration are for the little guy but a healthy skepticism is warranted.  The people have not forgotten.

G.Goslaw

Landers, Ca       

Beware of the Dark Side

The best time of day in Landers is the early morning hours in the cool of the day when the summertime flies are still asleep.  It has become my retirement ritual to smoke a morning cigar and follow our national happenings on Fox and Friends.  This ritual has inspired me to write opinions about the national political debate on the opinion page of our local newspaper.  None of my opinions are really welcomed by the paper but to their credit, most are printed.  You see, I was before the election and am to this very day an avid Trump supporter who is, in my opinion, the greatest American hero of my lifetime.  His election by the people has given me great joy and a renewed hope that my country will return to being the land of the truly free.

Former President Obama has taken up residence in the Dark House of Washington to direct radical left politics.  I am sure our paper will call this term racist but it is really about morality, about honesty, about truth and fairness.  The term, Dark House, reflects the divide between good and evil, between the oppression of government and the interests of the people, it is the divide between Darth Vader and Han Solo in the Star Wars saga.  The dark side navigates the national interest by protecting those who are complicit with the dark agenda and punishing those who stand with the people of America.  This dark side small ball reduces the political discourse to hate mongering when the function of our government should be to protect and facilitate people opportunities.

The dark side ignores our laws, deceives and condones violence against Americans as necessary to further the dark agenda.  Our political system, our justice system, even the medical community are only tools to punish all who may dissent.  Our court system is about making political statements not the law of our land.  The Internal Revenue Service is about making political statements not administering the collection of taxes in a just manner.  Our intelligence services are about making political statements not protecting the security of the people.  Our foreign services before Trump have been about making political statements here at home and not making our world safer.

The dark side has only one creditable issue that must be addressed by our current Republican politicians.  Politicians of the left rightly disparage the wealth gap in America but wrongly champion the redistribution of wealth as the solution.  The so-called Affordable Care Act is not really about the health of the people but about further depleting the wealth of the middle class.  Redistribution from on high is a perversion of our world as it exists. Our world is a competitive place.  In biological terms, our world moves according to the survival of the fittest.  In economic terms, our world moves according to the effort personally expended to build a future for you and yours.  Effort does not always bring the results we crave but effort always results in a more fulfilled life.  America has always been about hard work and the pride it brings to the individual.

Instead of the middle class carrying the burden of healthcare for the poor and those with pre-existing conditions, let's be fair, our hard-working politicians should tax stock market transactions.  A $1.00 healthcare tax per transaction would bring $30 billion a month to the crisis.  This seems only fair but the swamp will resist.  Politicians of both parties, including Barack Obama, are in debt to the special interests of the few.

   

G.Goslaw

Landers, CA