Notebook: What will happen

EDITORIAL MUG: Larry Anderson

I recommend everyone read Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance, the Republican VP nominee who is an accomplished writer as well as able politician. The book is about Vance’s dysfunctional upbringing in the Rust Belt where opportunity has been shrinking for decades due to the loss of sustaining industry. There are other life factors vividly described too.

Hillbilly Elegy was a best seller when initially released and was recently number one again in hardback and paperback sales. This is testimony to the book’s realism but also the degree of interest stirred by Vance’s political emergence.

Vance came up hard, broke out of the economic trap he was in, and found a path forward. His success makes it clear bootstrapping is still possible even when opportunity is limited by circumstances and denigrated by liberals. Give it a read and take it to heart.

I hope everyone paid attention to the election in Venezuela. The socialist president, Nicolas Maduro, was reportedly defeated by rising opposition; therefore, he refused to release election results. Instead his opponents were forced into hiding, arrests were being made last I heard, and Maduro is still in power. Elections in Venezuela only have one result no matter the vote count or what citizens want. That’s the reality of socialism.

What does Venezuela have to do with America? Well, the ultimate goal of the far left arm of the Democrat party is permanent electoral control of the government and a progressive shift to socialism. That becomes plainer and more likely every day as we witness the behavior of the Democrat party, the open arrogance of its candidates, and their phony declaration that they are the true protectors of democracy. They have to be stopped this election.

Say, has anyone seen ol’ Joe? You remember Joe, don’t you? Joe Biden, president of the United States until next January. It seems Joe is under wraps while Kamala Harris heartily campaigns with her new best bud, the China-loving, wonderfully woke, BLM surrogate Tim Walz.

Perhaps absent Biden is still recovering from the shiv shoved in his back by Harris, Pelosi, Obama and Schumer. Joe, I suspect, is bitter and hurt at how he was treated by the same party that was swearing his greatness pre-debate, but it’s also possible he is just playing out a complicated role long agreed to. If so, he should be ashamed, but is he?

At least Biden got a good look at who runs the show. It sure wasn’t Joe, even though he has been the consummate party guy. If Joe’s big fade is not obvious to everyone by now, then the left may very well fool enough independents to win the next election. What will happen if they do?

Well, on day one Harris/Walz will drop their façade of moderation. In its place will be who they truly are, hard line leftists bent on turning America into Venezuela or a facsimile thereof. These candidates are the final progression to a socialist government. They will revel in their roles, and they will not be nice, especially to anyone who challenges their awesomeness and egos.

Taxes will rise when the Trump tax cuts expire in December 2025, but there will be other increases as well. Raising taxes when inflation is still too high is an economic disaster in the making, but the left will not be impeded. They’re on a mission.

Inflation will continue and the cost of living will still rise. We will pay more and more for food, housing, energy, and all things connected to a decent way of life. Harris/Walz will counter public dismay with more dependency-building government programs and empty expressions of empathy.

The environment will continue to be used to gain more control of production and consumption, two fundamental tenets of socialism. Even though the Green New Deal wasn’t legislated, the left put it in place anyway through the agencies they control. Said agencies will grow exponentially.

The border will be permanently open. Amnesty will be pushed for illegals. With amnesty comes the right to vote and a diminishing of the importance of citizenship for everyone else. Permanent power for the left could follow the influx. You didn’t really think an open border was about humanitarianism, did you? No, illegal immigration is nothing more than cold, calculated progressive politics, and they’re achieving their goal of domination.

A Harris/Walz administration would further a nation in decline much like the Rust Belt of JD Vance’s youth. Why would anyone want that?

Larry W. Anderson is a retired educator.