by Robert M. Traxler

Is symbolism more important than substance? During the latest curtain call for Democratic candidates for President in Houston, it sure looked that way. To say they want to do something that will never be allowed by the U.S. Constitution or is not economically feasible matters not one bit.

The Green New Deal is a classic example. We would never be able to pay for it, and the restrictions on American farmers would barely allow us to feed our own people, let alone export the 1.53 billion bushels of grain we exported in 2018.

American farmers export more food, feed more people outside its borders than any other country in the world by far. American food costs would sky-rocket and poor people world wide would starve, but who cares? We are environmentally responsible and it is a great symbol. The American farmers would be in dire straits, but again, who cares? The Democratic constituents are in the cities and near the coasts; the American heartland is an afterthought. Perhaps a good reason to keep the electoral college?

The candidates during the debate called President Donald Trump a racist so many times I felt they should have placed it on a flash card, and just held it up every few seconds.

The mantra was, “we will take away your AR-15s and AK-47s,” and every time the audience went wild with cheers. OK, how does that square with the Second Amendment? How about the Fifth Amendment and the “taking clause” contained in it? Estimates run as high as 10 million AR-15s and are all over the place on AK-47; a fair estimate would run near 2 million. Assuming we follow the Fifth Amendment, the cost would be staggering. Our Constitution does not allow the government to take property without “just compensation.”

We also run into the problem of defining what is an AR-15 or an AK-47. There are hundreds of variants, and how about AR-10s and AK 74s? Weapons abound that are not on the AR-15 or AK-47 platform, that are just as capable. If we ban weapons based on the AR-15 or AK-47 platform, a person could purchase an H&K, Uzi, or M2 carbine along with 147 other semi-automatic “military” platform (old and new) weapons currently for sale. Taking away the AR-15s and AK-47s would make some folks feel good, but it would not change a thing and the cost would be high, in dollars and freedom.

Are all National Rifle Association (NRA) members terrorists? Of course not, but the symbolism, the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities, conjures up images of horrible people doing horrible things.  If the NRA members are terrorists then logic would tell us mass murders were NRA members, right? Well according to IJR.com, not one of the mass murders was an NRA member. That sounds questionable, as the NRA has according to them 5 million members.

The Washington Post tells us the NRA is a shadowy organization, with no one knowing the number of members. OK, I went to the website and got the number.  If you want to believe the NRA members are terrorists, then you need to believe mass murders were NRA members who are hiding in the shadows. I could find none; logically the odds dictate there should be a few.

“The Trump administration is keeping children in cages” was mentioned more than once; not true, but who cares? They desperately want to believe it, so they do. The audience broke out in cheers of approval once again.

The “slam dunk fact” that President Trump is a paid Russian agent came up again; not true, but they want to believe it so they do.

The folks in the media just may have been own their worst enemy, with a long list of just plain lies concerning President Trump; some folks are just getting tired of them. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. I would refer you to Ranger Rick’s  excellent columns listing media out-and-out lies.