When I was a young man, I veered into the Republican camp. After voting for Humphrey in 1968, I voted for Nixon in 1972 and Ford in 1976. My New Deal liberal father almost disowned me. He hated Nixon with a passion reserved for former SS members, especially after Watergate. But even worse, I worked for and campaigned for Reagan in 1980. I thought Carter did a poor job as President. I did not regret voting for Reagan nor my invitation to his inauguration, although I did not attend. I turned Democrat in 1992, with Bill Clinton, and remained such until the present day. My father never forgave me for my apostasy. I know now, with the benefit of hindsight, I was sorely misguided. I regret all of it, because Dad was right when he told me, "Every bit of beneficial legislation for the people comes from Democrats." That has not changed, even though Republicans are selling a different brand of Kool-Aid.
I continue to be astonished by the cruelty of this administration.
The rounding up of immigrants in the fields, in places of employment, and in their homes. People hiding and afraid to go to church, and under the advice of prelates, being forgiven for not coming to worship. In the eyes of the Catholic Church, one risks damnation for not following the dictates of the holy bishops: to come to confession, to come to prayer, to take communion. Unable to work, to pray, to walk freely in the streets recalls the horrors of the police states from which they escaped to America.
Hunger is growing in America. PBS and NPR are not the only ones losing their federal funding. Food banks feeding the poor and needy will be losing their federal monies; Medicaid will no longer be available for many. Draconian work requirements for the disabled augur poorly for them. The President wishes to strip many naturalized citizens of their citizenship. Reminiscent of the Nuremberg Laws, this quest is frightening.
Will no one in Congress challenge this denigration of our laws and the Constitution? Are senators and congresspeople so afraid of losing their parking spots at National Airport?
The United States has shined through the presence of immigrants. From the earliest days, and especially in the 19th century, until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1924, the United States had unrestricted immigration. Until that discriminatory act, anyone without a communicable disease could come. Today, of course, that is not possible, but our doors should be open to non-criminals, the border should be secure, and through a liberal vetting process, people should be allowed in to fill jobs that are open.
Scientific funding to the National Institutes of Health, the firing without cause of essential federal employees, in the name of government efficiency, strikes me like the firings on The Apprentice. The cutoff of funding for Radio Free Europe, giving hope of the American ideal (what happened to that?) to many in the unfree world. The harming of our allies in Canada and Mexico by placing tariffs on them is basically unconscionable. They are not the Chinese, competing for hegemony with us; they are our friends whose economies are placed in jeopardy by their largest trading partner. These inflationary tariffs will wreak havoc on Canadian and Mexican employment and will inflate the price of goods here in America, according to a substantial majority of non-partisan economists.
It risks the devaluation of the dollar and investment markets and U.S. debt. The U.S. dollar has had the luxury of being the world's reserve currency, and if that is changed, we will lose control of markets and erase the benefit of being able to monetize debt by increasing the money supply. Countries that do not have this control must obey different rules, like balancing their budgets. A balanced budget here? The chance of that is smaller than finding alien life on the moon.
Pure Trump transactionalism is not the basis for international relations. While it is true governments act in their own national interest, not recognizing that long-term national interest cannot be trumped by anger and simply short-term political popularity seeking. If the long term is ignored because of misplaced petulance, the national interest is not well served.
