“I mean to say that every day it’s just another rotten mess. And when it’s going to change, my friend, is anybody’s guess. So I’m watching and I’m waiting. Hoping for the best. You can think I’m going to praying, every time I hear ’em saying that there’s no way to delay that trouble coming every day…” — Frank Zappa, 1966
Long ago, but not far away, a former friend told me one huge problem with religious zealots and idealogues being elected to public office is that they get everybody bogged down in issues that actually don’t really matter. Some political observers have been critical of President Donald Trump for that very reason, driving political discourse on such questionable topics as:
- The condolence call to Sgt. Johnson’s widow.
- The lengthy, fruitless debate about taking a knee for the national anthem.
- Picking a fight with the mayor of San Juan.
- Challenging Rex Tillerson to an IQ contest.
- Name-calling exchanges with Sen. Bob Corker.
- Making unsubstantiated claims about Obama wiretapping him.
- Refusing to shake hands with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
- Elbowing his way past an Italian official ahead of him at a European political gathering.
- His many golf outings after insisting Obama golfed too often.
- Failure to call out white supremacists at Charlottsville.
- Referring to North Korea’s leader flippantly as “Little Rocket Man.”
- Crowing about bringing back “Merry Christmas” to greetings over the holidays.
There’s more, but you get the idea. There are serious problems confronting this nation and planet, but we seem bogged down in attacking and defending Donald Trump’s personal behavior. We’re not properly dealing with serious issues such as climate change and three devastating hurricanes and numerous wildfires out West, a possible nuclear war with North Korea, the War on Terror, the worst mass domestic shooting in our recent history, a growing gap between rich and poor and dealing with the most expensive health care system in the world.
I’ve heard some say Trump and his legions actually want us to be distracted and diverted. The president more than two weeks after the reports of the ambush deaths of four special forces soldiers has refused to talk about what happened and why. And even GOP senators have admitted they didn’t know we had troops in Niger, Mali and Chad.
One report I saw noted that Trump’s latest travel ban list included Chad, which was so outraged it pulled back its support for our troops just before the ambushes occurred.
And while we’ve been focused on Trump’s perceived foibles, 51 Republican senators have announced support for a budget with huge tax cuts for the rich and increasing the deficit by a trillion dollars.
The most important issue for me, and I hope it can serve as a lesson learned for many, is that we’ve often been told we need someone to run government like a business. Now we have a businessman at the helm, and his approach is undemocratic, top-down, just like a corporate CEO. A business is not a republic, not a democracy, It is an autocratic institution, governed by its top dog, and everyone serving under him must do as he says or be fired.
I sincerely believe that Tump indeed is unfit to be president of a republic or a democracy, that he is incompetent in the job. He is unable to negotiate with our enemies and projects a leadership style of “my way or the highway,” which may work at a private business, but not a nation that supposedly values freedom.
The real fault lies with us. We elected him and too many of us don’t understand the folly of our actions. Too many also tenaciously want to stay the course, which will take us down a path that perhaps our Founding Fathers couldn’t have seen coming more than 200 years afterward.
I’ve heard some say Trump and his legions actually want us to be distracted and diverted. The president more than two weeks after the reports of the ambush deaths of four special forces soldiers has refused to talk about what happened and why. And even GOP senators have admitted they didn’t know we had troops in Niger, Mali and Chad.But I recall Thomas Jefferson say that when you hear a speaker talk about silencing the press and free speech, you are listening to the words of a tyrant.” And don’t forget Benjamin Franklin’s warning: “He who would sacrifice freedom for security deserves neither.”
Thanks, David, for an insightful editorial. We are spinning our wheels over the faults of our presidents. They cannot be changed. Voicing our opinions to our elected officials have a better chance of making a difference, provided those thoughts are thoughtful and civilized.
Please go back and see what you said about President Ronald Reagan. I will wager you were displeased with him as well, using some of the same type of material.
The loser president we had is gone. Get over it.
Hillary lost. Get over it.
Trump won. Get over it.
Otherwise, it is going to be a miserable 8 years, Get over it already.
How many times do we have to say it? We’re over all of that. What we are not over is the demeanor and temperament of this current president. And if he doesn’t change his boorish ways it will, indeed, be a long eight years.
Trump is unfit for office for that reason, and several others (untruthfulness, major character flaws, disinterest of history, mental health issues, nuclear brinksmanship, blatant disregard for the health of the planet, etc.) He was elected, with nearly half of those American that voted casting their ballots for him.
Sort of like President Clinton who did not get as high percent of the popular vote as President Trump? Twice. Do not forget President Lincoln who received a lower percent than President Trump in his first election?
No, it’s not “sort of like President Clinton”. In his election, and in his re-election, Ross Perot was a viable third party candidate.
The authour wrote an opinion piece. Its his opinion and based on Allegan County 61% of voters in the 2016 election wanted to see a President Trump. The author was probably one of the 39% who didn’t.
Doesn’t matter total votes for his opponent exceeded the GOP candidate’s vote total. We have an Electoral college system and the Trump campaign did the political calculus that won in November. No different than 1996 Clinton campaign knowing what states that had to win and in some states they could win as little as 47% or 48% of the vote. Trump’s campaign, like Bill Clinton’s knew popular vote and 50.1% wasn’t required for winning. Just win in the right states regardless of the margin.
“Yeah but” and “what about” don’t matter. What the author previously wrote about Ronald Reagan doesn’t matter. The 1992 and 1996 Presidential elections are past history and had the dynamic of a well known, well financed third party candidate. Last I checked President Obama can’t run again and the odds of another run by Hillary Clinton to face President Trump in 2020 are very long.
Get over It is a nice 2-3 second soundbyte response to allows one to refuse any questioning of what the winning candidate does after taking office. Below are a few reasons why I won’t sit silently and “Get over it”.
I can’t “get over” 3.5M Americans who live in US teritory where over 60% of the island is still off the grid 5 weeks after the last hurricane. I can’t get over Puerto Ricans lack of water having some using wells on EPA Superfund site wells. I can’t get over President Trump not extending the Jones Act waiver so every item shipped to the island by ship allows the shipper to add an additional fee making everything more expensive.
I won’t “Get over” hearing a sitting US President denegrate and threaten to be tough with a highly decorated USN fightter pilot who was a POW, is a current US Senator and has terminal cancer. As a USN veterean myself I am ashamed of the way he has treated Senator McCain.
I won’t “Get over” a candidate and now sitting US President wanting to sue reporters and their employers for libel or broaching the idea of pulling broadcast licenses of networks who run stories he doesn’t like. That would include running video of things the President has said that he later denies. If the Predisent had his way its possible this media outlet could be shut down because of the piece that is generating our comments.
Rather than siiting back and getting over it, we need to be aware is and isn’t being done. Are deficits important? Who pays for the proposed tax cuts, the wall along the Mexican border. Why do we have a Preident who labels any news he doesn’t agree with as “Fake News” like climate change when his own company cited climate change in Ireland as why a sea wall should be built on a Trump property.
Winning a national election doesn’t give a US President a free pass to criticism.
The author is correct, you can’t run a government like a business. Because a business has to make a profit or go bankrupt. And it doesn’t take too much time to determine if your business will be successful or not. Government used to control it’s spending within manageable limits, no excessive deficits or overall accumulated debt. Government never has to answer to taxpayers for overspending, they just rack up deficits and debt year, after year, after year. Can you rack up your credit cards or overdraw your checkbook? Why can’t government live within its means?
Face it, the government is broke and we are all on the hook for Congressional malfeasance and piling of debt. Are you planning on a happy and carefree retirement? Expect larger and larger taxes on your social security and 401K account and retirement pensions. They have no where else to find enough money to cover the total debts racked up by Congress.
How do you like your government now? They should all be thrown in prison if they don’t cut budgets and live within the tax revenue they receive. Both parties are to blame, so don’t point to one or the other for the problem. It would never happen if there were protections put in place where they are responsible for the overspending. Overspend and you go straight to jail, no court, no jury, guilty!
Mr. Couchman, does PR have a government? Yes, they do, but they are so inept and corrupt that any progress to bring cleanup, power, and water is only looked at to the United States to provide? Why are they sitting on their rears and not doing things for themselves with assistance from the U.S.? The hurricanes were devastating, but you have to take responsibility on yourself with assistance from the U.S., not sit by and wait. Nobody in PR knows about electricity and telephone wiring and construction of downed poles? Get real. Get off your rears and do for yourself before you point fingers at the U.S.
I had a friend in the eyewall destruction of Irma in the Keys. He lost most of his building, cars, boats, and had 2 ft. of seaweeds and debris on his property. Couldn’t get out, couldn’t get help in. He found shovels and rakes (some his, some he found) and started cleaning up his property. Took him two weeks to clear it and have some semblance of a house to sleep at night. Looters showed up and he had his .38 to defend himself. There were easy pickings elsewhere, so they left him alone. He didn’t wait for the government.
A Navy vet, works for himself and is quite capable to taking care of himself. It’s called getting on with life.
I always am confused when people who indentify ar “Free Market” have so little information on subjects like laws in a US territories are different than states. If Michigan (or Florida where your rugged individual acquaintance resides) were run under the same laws that Puerto Rico is required to use.
The US was foolish/lazy when they failed to correct the error Spanish to English translation that was made in 1952 which allowed the Puerto Rican government borrow more than other US territories. Then 10 years ago, as our Congress took the tax benefits to coporations to manufacture on the island, they also took away the island’s right to declare bankruptcy like states we live in can do if they find themselves underwater financially.
That’s why the financiers were so willing to sell bonds and increase Puerto Rican debt. Heads they win, tails the island looses. They made their commissions selling bonds and then sold the bonds to investors. There is also the Merchant Marine act of 1920 aka the Jones Act. Sweetheart legislation that allows US merchant ships to have exclusive rights shipping to and from the Island with additional fees so Puerto Ricans pay more for imports and exports can’t compete with its Caribbean neighbors.
A bit more complicated than a 15-30 second radio rant about lazy island residents. Imagine Michigan, with its 2005-209 exodus of manufacturing losing revenue but everything shipped into the sate is more expensive than our neighboring states and everything MI would produce would be more expensisive than the same stuff made in IL, IN and OH. Add in MI couldn’t declare bankruptcy to get out from under its bond responsibilities.
My solution is vote so Puerto Rico becomes a state so it would get the same attention Texas and Florida recently got in relief resources or stop the territory business or let the island become a nation. I’m guessing China would be anxious to help rebuild the island’s infrastructure for a Carribean port with a 99-year lease.
Claiming to be a fiscal conservative shouldn’t include moving 3.4M US citizens into 3rd world status.
Maybe a tornado hits your home, maybe wipes your whole neighborhood or village/city. I suspect your disdain for government help will vaporize when the disaster leaves you homeless like the storms in Kansas and Oklahoma or those in Houston and New Orleans left Americans homeless.
Mr. Couchman, your vast knowledge of PR government and our sins against them are voluminous , maybe you should go back and help them out? They need the extra hands.
All the information you set forth may be true (I have no doubt it is), but what does that have to do with doing for yourself instead of waiting for help?
Like usual, Liberals like you love government and don’t understand why, why, why. Because the utter destruction of the island, the power grid, sewage and other public services doesn’t exist. It has to be made from the ground up. Also, the graft and corruption by PR officials and those in power at the local level is untenable.
Did you see when the San Juan mayor (D) was complaining about not getting food and water to the citizens she was standing in front of a huge supply of bottled water? Why doesn’t she call upon citizens to come to the distribution center and get water and distribute to family and friends not able to physically get there? The problem is there were no trucks serviceable to distribute water and food, but I guess the U.S. has to provide everything? The PR people are completely helpless?
I have no problem with the government to intervene after a natural disaster to maintain order and help with services to feed and hydrate the population temporarily. If a tornado would level your house, would you sit around and wait for the state/national government to help? Or would you do what was needed to keep your family together, nourished, and start cleanup and saving what could be saved? Most of the destruction to your home would be covered under home insurance if you had it. If not, you could apply for a home loan under emergency relief.
A common trait of Liberals is to deflect from answering/deflecting the question or addressing the idea and talk about something else that has nothing to do with the subject at hand. Nice try!
The government of PR and the U.S. are both essentially broke and bankrupt without the official notice doesn’t change the facts, they are broke. All the U.S. does is print more money (debt). And there will come a time that will be addressed, and when it is, Hell will look good from bankrupt reality.
Couldn’t help but notice there is no rsponse about making Puerto Rico as state. Granting statehood would make Puerto Rico with its 3.5M population the 30th largest state giving them 5 members of Congress and 2 US Senators.
If self indentified fiscal conservatives are sweating the costs of the territory then have the political fortitude to cut Puerto Rico loose and let it become an independent nation. Then things would get intersting. My guess is the US politicians would struggle with the changing dynamic of 2 additional Senators and 5 additional Congressmen and those holding Puerto Rican bonds would lobby because they don’t want the State of Puerto Rico to be able to declare bankruptcy.
So why not an independent Puerto Rico. Cut them loose. So do free market conservatives want the US government to have a US presence on the island and agree a level of foreign aid to keep them as an ally.
Would the US sit back, save millions maybe billions and watch China become Puerto Rico’s new best friend pumping billions into the island infrastructure and economy in exchange for a 99 year lease? It would be similar to what the US did to create Guantonimo Bay Naval base on tthe island of Cuba or the agreement that Russia and Syria recently entered into for the Russian naval base in Tartus on the coast of the Mediterranean. Think of the money the US might save.
Couldn’t help but notice no comment of President Trump’s treatment of Senator McCain. IS that acceptable? How about all the claims of Fake News that turn out to be based on the President’s own statements?
Trouble with governing is there are no easy solutions. Free market fans rail about government debt. Folks do take out mortages and then get the property foreclosed. That’s debt. Free market fans I know have several credit cards that’s aren’t paid off every month. That’s debt. Free market fans I know have run a business into the ground, drained assets, declare bankruptcy and re-open doing the same thing under new names and new addresses filing new business names. Even our President has declared bakruptcy multiple times to re-organize the debt held by his company valued at $4B plus. Yet countries need a balanced budget? In the case of an armed conflict or natural disaster what is the US to do? Have bake sakes, telethons and car washes?
Going back to our current President, everything he has proposed ends up costing more and will create bigger deficits. Again we see an administration calling back 1000 USAF pilots to active duty, wanting to expand weapons systems spending and cut taxes at the same time. Its like 1981-1988 never happened.