Have you noticed?

LARRY ANDERSON
Larry Anderson

Everyone is busy in these final traces of summer with the kids back in school, football blessedly returned, and the charcoal burning everywhere. In these pleasant autumn circumstances it is easy to stop noticing changes within the country that are subtle and often underreported.

It seems the country and the world are beginning to adjust to the idea of Donald Trump. Maybe he isn’t the devil incarnate as the left has imagined him for months; it’s just he won’t be pushed around by a steady stream of petty commentary. Trump is a fighter.

Americans like a president who is aware of his power. When Trump declares his intentions, there is no question whether he means it or not.

There is no meaningless line in the sand.

Have you noticed the decline in terrorist acts in this country? I’m asking because when there is nothing to report, we sometimes stop noticing changes due to the lack of tragic reminders.

Could it be this decline is because of who is in the Oval Office? Is it possible leading from behind, policies of conciliation, and lectures about tolerating the beliefs of those who have killed us is not the only way to go?

Is it possible that tough enforcement of existing immigration laws is having a positive effect on our national security?

It’s also likely that governments who export terrorism have been told in no uncertain terms that they will be held accountable.

Purposeful deterrence means more on the world stage than preachments interpreted correctly as weakness. Have you noticed ISIS, on the rise during the last administration, is in decline in number, recruitment, territory and reach? That is due to action, not words.

Perhaps doing the right thing for America is replacing the idea that only the left knows what is correct.

President Trump is politically incorrect, but that is not a bad thing. The value of one idea over another should be demonstrated, not forced down our collective throat by stern social discipline. There is room for more than one set of ideas now although Trump has taken heat for this principle.

Have you noticed the politics of negativity is in decline? While the left has sought power by telling us over and over how awful we are as a nation, the message is shifting gradually toward the positive. Work is good. Doing good things for oneself is not the same as selfishness. There is morality again in support of country as opposed to the shame we are supposed to have for a painful past made so by others long gone.

Trump realizes the great equalizer within a diverse culture is jobs, opportunity and training, not the redistribution of existing resources. You may have noticed how well this works in our now expanding economy and declining unemployment.

The politics of victimization is failing you may have noticed. In its place is the new/old notion of paying your own way, planning for the future, and working hard to achieve the goals that lead to success. Like Trump himself.

Have you noticed the Russian connection story that was tied to the left’s attempts to discredit Trump has become a non-story?

How come?

Have you noticed the fake news Trump talks about regularly? I have. Have you paid attention to the politics of snark within the liberal commentary? I have.

Are you aware Trump donates his presidential salary to charities?

Do you know he donated a million dollars of his own money to hurricane relief in Texas?

Now, before a person can write a check for a charitable million bucks said person has to have the acumen to produce said resource. No millionaire, no million bucks. No capitalism, no generous millionaires.

This society benefits by more millionaires, not fewer. If you haven’t noticed that due to philosophical hindrances, perhaps you will soon. Maybe you will be a millionaire if you want. If not, it’s all good. This is America.

Trump is a builder and a changer. That is what we need at this point in our history. Builders make the best social engineers.

Nancy Pelosi, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders are as obsolete as a bobsled. You may have observed that already. I think they noticed a few months ago. That is why they are so pitiful.

Have you noticed a thin line of sweat on the left’s stiff upper lip?

Trump put it there.

Larry W. Anderson is a retired educator, author and Bearcat.