The Democratic presidential hopefuls continue to ignore the good that is currently happening in America. “The economy is not as good as you think,” one touts. “Healthcare is too expensive,” moans another, forgetting conveniently that it was the Democrats’ Obamacare that drove healthcare costs through the ceiling. “Trump hates blacks and other minorities,” is a common charge, and “We can give you the free housing, free healthcare, free college to which you are entitled,” they all agree. “We and only we can remove the yoke of the Republicans from your necks and make you happy again, you poor, downtrodden people,” they all assure us.
But are we poor and downtrodden? Are we struggling under the yoke of heavy government regulations under the Republicans? Do we need to be “made happy again?” and if so, will free stuff from the government do the trick?
First of all, it is important to remember that the Democratic candidates are members of the east and west coast “elites,” with the exception of Pete Buttigieg, and are generally worth hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions or billions in the case of Mike Bloomberg. Their understanding and concern for those who provide the fuel to warm their homes and run their cars, the food that graces their tables, or the manufactured goods that they use is abysmal. They care only for our votes, not for our lives or for what their proposed policies would do to our lives. Joe Biden intends to shut down coal mines and callously told the miners to “learn to code.” Mike Bloomberg explained he could teach anyone to farm (dig a hole, drop in a seed, water it, and corn comes up), whereas technological fields demand “more grey matter.” Sanders said he didn’t care if his Medicare for all cost over two hundred million people their current insurance plans, and besides that, he would immediately close down all fracking, costing states like Pennsylvania thousands upon thousands of jobs. Discussing the murder of Mollie Tibbitts by an illegal alien, Elizabeth Warren said “we need to focus on real problems” like separating illegal immigrant families at the border. Amy Klobuchar attempted to win over the Hispanic vote by informing a crowd that when she was in 4th grade Spanish class, she was called Elena. What? Mayor Pete Buttegieg, whose South Bend, Indiana folk are happy to see the last of him, pandered to the black community by putting out a list of black South Carolinians who support him. Unfortunately, most of the names on the list were of white people, and the pictures published with the ad were taken in Africa.
It is not the happiness or welfare of middle Americans that these individuals yearn for, but the power to control our lives in minute detail. The free “stuff” that they are offering attracts many, especially among the younger voters who have less experience with the realities of life. They are no doubt unaware of the old adage that “He who pays the piper calls the tunes.” In other words, free housing means free housing of the government’s choice, not yours. Free college means free college for those the government deems worthy and then only if they go to the college of the government’s choice. Free healthcare means long waits, inferior care, and rationing of treatment, especially for the elderly. Bloomberg said that a 95 year old with cancer should just be sent home to die because we can’t afford to treat him! No, since Democrats would all have us providing free healthcare for millions of illegal aliens, middle class Americans probably couldn’t afford to care for our own citizens!
Income equality simply means we are all poor, regardless of how hard we might work, while those who run the government enjoy all the perks that are currently available to the hardworking among us. This is socialism at its best. Over time, it destroys the economy and leaves people in bread lines. But, hey! According to Bernie Sanders, bread lines are okay because at least that means people are not starving, right!
The second thing we need to remember is this: Life in America in February of 2020 is good, and Americans know it! Sanders and others would tell us that we are suffering under wage stagnation, but he is wrong. Health care benefits, pensions, family leave and other perks that are a part of most workers’ packages make up about 30% of what a company provides its workers. Added to our salaries, that means that most workers are actually making about 45% more than they did in 1964 when such perks were not available. In addition, over the past 50 years, the share of a family’s income that goes to buy food and clothing has shrunk from about 42% to 17%. In 1975 only 11% of the population was enrolled in college. Among today’s Millennials, however, 65% have at least an Associate’s Degree.
During the Obama administration, countless numbers of people dropped out of the job market because they could find not work. The wage growth never reached 3%, and we were assured that this was the “new norm.” Manufacturing jobs, we were told, would never come back to the U.S. and when then candidate Trump vowed to bring them back, President Obama snidely wondered if he thought he could just wave a magic wand.
But in fact, with the passage of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act, deregulation, and the forging of new trade agreements with many of our trading partners, manufacturing jobs have come back to America. Fracking and the encouragement of fossil fuel industries have made the U.S. both energy independent and an exporter of energy for the first time in decades. Families have more money in their pockets and feel they can go out and buy things that they want when they want to. And a new Gallup poll shows the difference:
90 percent of Americans report feeling “satisfied,” the highest percentage since Gallop began polling. Those who claim to be “very satisfied” hit an all-time high of 65%. Married Americans are 93 percent “satisfied” and 74 percent of them are “very satisfied.” Men are 92 percent “satisfied,” but women, despite the constant negativity from the left, are still 87 percent “satisfied.”
In poll after poll, Americans report their satisfaction with their lives. Sixty-one percent of them say they are better off than they were four years ago under President Obama, a far higher percentage than in any election cycle with an incumbent president running in the past three decades!
Confidence in the U.S. economy hit a 20-year high and optimism about our personal finances also hit an all-time high. Consumer confidence is at a 17-year hig; the number of Americans satisfied with the direction in which the country is going just hit a 15-year high; and 69% of small business owners say that they benefitted from Trump’s tax cuts.
Abroad, new trade deals are helping American workers, NATO countries are paying more of the share of their own defense, North Korea has quieted down, ISIS no longer controls any land and is pretty well dispersed, we are in peace talks with the Taliban, we have moved our embassy to Israel’s capital city of Jerusalem and proposed a peace deal with the Palestinians, ISIS leader al-Bagdadi and Iranian terrorist leader Solemaini, have both been killed by American drones, and the United States has entered no new wars. None of the four preceding presidents could say the same.
In 1864, in the midst of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln remarked to a group that came to congratulate him on his run for reelection that they must have decided it wasn’t wise to swap horses in midstream. The Democrats grabbed the slogan for their own, using it for FDR in 1940 and 1944, and again for Barack Obama in 2012. It is more true today than it was during the Obama run. Why would we, in the midst of a booming economy, possibly want to switch horses and risk the loss of all that we have gained? Surely we would not.