Notebook: Setting parameters

EDITORIAL MUG: Larry Anderson

Donald Trump recently pushed aside the last of his Republican challengers, and Joe Biden delivered a State of the Union speech. These steps are significant in setting campaign parameters for this year’s presidential election.

With Trump what you see is what you get. We already know he is verbose, overbearing and accustomed to having his way, but he is also a man of his word. Liberals despise him because he instills fear regarding their legitimacy; on the other hand, Trump fears them not. He knows his enemy and has learned from his past. His parameters are defined by his first administration and by his scornful response to Democrats’ hatred and fear.

Joe Biden is another matter, but he is the Democrat incumbent and must be taken seriously despite the pratfalls, his doddering image, and misleading messaging. Uncle Joe is carrying out the left’s work like the old trooper he is, and he knows a chunk of the electorate will still vote for him because he is a Democrat and not Donald Trump. He will encourage everyone to believe all he claims instead of our lying eyes.

Liberals like Biden believe only they can save the world; therefore, stale themes were reiterated in his State of the Union speech. Tax heavily the wealthy and corporations as if they write their own tax code. More laws, regulations and federal hovering will improve life. The right to off the unborn is dandy. Climate change means the end of everything. Racism is everywhere. Everything bad is the Republicans’ fault.

Donald Trump is being described now as a fascist, a Nazi, a potential dictator, and a threat to democracy. Liberals claim he will get us into a war and is a pal to totalitarians everywhere. These are lies but they instill fear and uncertainty, leftist specialties. The Democrats will hammer these points nonstop knowing a percentage of voters will not question the narrative.

You will hear Biden claim Trump will take us backward. I submit Trump took the country farther forward than any president in recent times because he wasn’t hampered by a progressive world view like Uncle Joe. Trump got things done and will again. His production outweigh his personality.

Immigration defines the candidates and parties this cycle. Negatives on an open border and illegal immigration are high, so there must be spin. There’s a labor shortage, we are told, and a low birth rate in America which, somehow, endangers the future. The solution to these is millions of illegal immigrants pouring over the border which will also miraculously preserve democracy.

These are bogus arguments, of course. Labor shortages tend to be temporary and solved by managerial changes from within. Everyone knows the fun way a low birth rate can be resolved, but a partial answer would be to end abortion. Have liberals not realized the role abortion has on the birth rate they are so concerned about? What phonies.

Also, there is nothing written anywhere that says America has to solve every other country’s problems by flinging open our border or blowing up the deficit. Immigrant rights in America are a progressive process, but you can bet they include eventual citizenship and the right to vote for Democrats. The true purpose behind open borders is purely political. Humanitarianism is an obvious cove.

Another Democrat parameter is to scare the bejeebers out of old folks. Trump, they claim, will destroy Social Security and Medicare. This is another lie. Both are the law of the land. Change or repeal would require Congress’s backing which neither Trump nor any president would have. Such a claim is shameless.

We’re not all going to perish due to climate change as liberals insist. The planet isn’t going to burst into flames, the oceans won’t come to a boil, and a change in weather isn’t tantamount to doom. Trump knows this but also understands for a country to thrive there must be a robust economy based on what we have and what we can produce, not what we have stopped building.

America should be booming, but we’re not. This country is stuck axle-deep on the mud road of failed liberal leadership and policies. The good news is we can fix what is broken soon. Only determination is required.

Larry W. Anderson is a retired educator.