Notebook: A new sheriff in town

EDITORIAL MUG: Larry Anderson

In the movies when a new sheriff arrives in town, the bad guys either head for the hills or hunker down in a corner of the Long Branch with a warm beer and a shooter holstered but itchy.

Donald J. Trump is the new sheriff in the sense of being recently elected president, but he is also the old hand at roundup. Indeed, he is only the second president in our history to be elected twice in non-consecutive terms. Experience is one reason he’s coming in strapped this time with jaw clenched and hand low.

Trump isn’t looking for a barroom brawl, but he is ready all the same. He has proven he won’t be pushed around by anyone, and that’s a sign of a good sheriff. America, I think, is ready for a tough guy who knows how to get things done before supper, who is willing to lock up villains, and who is protective of those who hired the sheriff in the first place. He wants a cleaner town and will have it.

You may have a noticed a calm settling on Main Street. Focus has already shifted from the tired old sheriff shuffling about seeking approval to one more dynamic with a plan for growth. It’s quite the change from retreat, confusion and idle threat to one who can hit the saddle from the get-go or crack a noggin if need be. America is ready for law and order, and we’re ready for someone who’s willing to step into the street and make it happen.

Oh, we’ve had a bellyful of nonsensical lectures, victimization and leftist elitism. We’ve overloaded on progressivism without progress. We’ve maxed out on waste, corruption and recklessness. We’ve had enough of a national view that adds up to weakness and failure. This sheriff has rallied the town folk, and we are ready to move forward.

The wheels are already turning, but things will happen much faster in January when Trump at last takes office. We will have a sensible border again. Villains here illegally will be bounced. There will be reform in our immigration policies and a review of how citizenship can be reached. What America needs will be first, not last and not filtered through phoniness or framed by leftist opportunism.

One of our greatest resources is energy. We will be energy independent again with this sheriff. Everything tied to energy—food, transportation, production—will become less expensive and less dominant of our budgets. Housing will become more affordable and jobs more attractive and promising. The overall cost of living will lessen. I predict an economic boom unlike any we have seen since, well, the last time Trump was president. Be ready and be glad.

This sheriff will cut spending, reduce waste, and fight corruption, but it won’t be easy. Big government junkies will resist the change. Those on the left who constantly advocate change will become avid defenders of the status quo. Pretenders will insist real progress is actually the downfall of democracy. Consider the source of these absurdities and rise above it.

After all, you know how this goes because we have already seen it. It needs to end, this attitude that America is a failure, that we owe everything to everybody while our nation slips into mediocrity. Get behind the sheriff and push for something better. Send the hustlers packing before they can empty the safe.

There may be times when Trump will feel alone in the dusty street. It comes with the job, but it is up to us to make sure Trump doesn’t feel

Larry W. Anderson is a

retired educator.