This country has changed for the worse in the last decade. It used to be that Democrats and Republicans in Congress got together to hash out issues that divided them on bills, finding compromise where neither party got all that they wanted, but legislation still passed, usually better for the bipartisan input. Now, parties generally vote as their leaders tell them to vote, which mostly means against anything the party in the White House wants passed. Members of Congress are cowed into doing as they are told lest they risk the all important party money that can get them reelected.
The most ridiculous example of this occurred when Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, instructed her members to vote for the thousands of pages long Affordable Care Act that none of them had read, telling them that they would find out what was in it after they had passed it. Really? How many of you would sign a mortgage on a house without knowing the terms, or buy a car without knowing how much you were going to pay for it? None of you, and none of the Democratic idiots in Congress would either, and yet they dutifully voted for the ACA without ever reading what was in it.
Of course, no Republicans voted for Obamacare because no Republicans had been allowed to participate in the creation of the bill. In fact, when they offered ideas, Republicans in Congress were pretty much told that the Democrats preferred to do this without them. So now we have a failed health care system that is costing Americans astronomical amounts for which they receive nothing, since their deductibles are so high that short of a catastrophic illness they can never reach that amount. Thus, Americans have health care, pay through the teeth for it, and still can’t afford to go to the doctor’s office. That certainly was a step in the right direction, wasn’t it!
Yes, this country has changed for the worse in the last decade. It used to be that common sense governed decisions made by our politicians, not strictly political ideology. But in 2016 under the Obama administration, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), for example, mandated that all individuals be granted access to HUD-funded single sex shelters based upon their self-proclaimed “gender identity” instead of their biological sex. As a result, men have free access to women’s shelters. Even left-wing groups find this beyond the pale, recognizing the inherent danger to children from pedophiles and to battered women from abusers and rapists who have only to claim they identify as women in order to enter what should be safe havens for these vulnerable individuals. A case in point happened in Toronto, Canada, where Christopher Hambrook, 37, entered at least two women’s shelters under the name “Jessica” in 2012, where he sexually assaulted several women. (Toronto Sun). Fortunately, an organization called Hands Across the Aisle Coalition, a group of mothers, feminists, conservative Christians, and lesbian and bisexual women’s rights activists, have joined the American College of Pediatricians in urging President Trump’s HUD Secretary, Dr. Ben Carson, to rescind the Obama Administration directive. At last, some common sense!
Yes, this country has changed for the worse. All through the Obama administration, those who raised their voices in objection to some of his alt-left proposals like the “gender identity” regulations were accused in the press, and often by the press, of being racists, homophobes, or xenophobes, and their ideas were thus summarily dismissed as being without merit. When Republicans who, recognizing the growing trend in public opinion away from abortion upon demand, argued against tax money being used to fund abortions and warned that forcing religious organizations to provide birth control to their employees under Obamacare against their religious beliefs was a violation of their religious freedom under the Constitution, they were accused of “waging a war against women.” And while in the past, disparate ideas and opinions were welcomed on college campuses, now the students themselves, products of the left-wing media, self-proclaimed political gurus from Hollywood, and liberal teachers, shut down any voice that they do not agree with through demonstrations, violence, and sometimes physical attacks on the speakers themselves. Republican lawmakers have found it impossible to conduct the town hall meetings in their districts that have long been a staple of our system, because they are shouted down by Democrats whose purpose for attending the meeting is not to listen and to voice their opinions, but rather to prevent the Republican lawmaker from speaking and listening to those who put him/her in office.
This used to be a civil country. Men took off their hats in buildings and opened doors for women. Children were respectful of their parents, teachers, and policemen. Gutter language was basically kept there, in the gutter, and was not used publicly by any except the lowest in society. People worked together, talked together, argued together. But they respected each other. They might try to change one another’s opinions, but they did so by rational discussion, not through threats of violence. No one would have unfriended anyone on Facebook because that individual disagreed with his or her political views. Yes, the world has changed for the worse in the last decade, and I greatly mourn the passing of the civility and common sense that once was.