While Republicans work hard to get elected to offices they decry as useless and impediments to success, I am taking a moment to remember the sarcastic critique of the federal government by former president Ronald Reagan,”I'm from the government and I'm here to help.” Reagan was almost right, except he left out a keyword ‘bad’ Government. Let me start by saying I am a big supporter of good government. Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt saved America, if not the world, from rack and ruin. Democratic President John Kennedy averted a world war with his good governmental decisions over the Bay of Pigs. Recently former President Barack Obama pulled America from the jaws of the abyss before it bit down and gobbled up our lives.
Do not be fooled by the lie that all of government is bad as the GOP would have you believe. I suppose a party that gave us Nixon, Reagan, Bush—Bush and Trump would believe that government is corrupt, senile, ineffectual and full of liars. Done right, the government is a tool, done wrong, the government is run by tools. Obviously, the glaring example of years of the Republican dismantling of government has aggregated in the current President, as evidenced by the retreat and retrenchment of not only the Supreme Court but District Courts. Having our vaunted intelligence agencies being looked upon with suspicion, egged on by a President who wants to operate in the dark, is a precursor for fascism.
For all the President’s talk of rebuilding the military, he has forced the resignation of Generals and the Navy Secretary, replacing him with Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly who unnecessarily insulted decorated career Navy Capt. Brett Crozier. These men were not accused of working with foreign governments, violating campaign laws, or even adultery; they simply obeyed the demands and allegiance to their oaths of office and command, to the dismay of their commander-in-chief and his cronies. Modly seduced by the aura of Trump, flew 8,000 miles to deliver a scathing rebuke to Capt. Crozier because he dared put the life of his men ahead of the political maneuvering of the President. After the dismissal of Capt. Crozier the Acting Secretary told his crew that he was “too naive, or too stupid, to be the commanding officer of a ship like this” said Modly.
Once the audio became public as well as the enraged crew’s response, Mr. Trump assumed his deflecting finger-pointing posture. Modly, I would wager, believed he would be rewarded by the President for his cruelty but was forced out once Mr. Trump threw him under the frigate.
What would make Modly feel the President did not have his back; after all, he was replacing a man, Richard Spencer, who stood by the military's court murder conviction of Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher and was later fired because he resisted a presidential pardon of Gallagher. Presidential friend and pseudo-adviser and convicted felon Roger Stone is sitting patiently awaiting his predicted pardon. Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn is seeking to withdraw his guilty plea in anticipation of a pardon. While former Trump lawyer and enforcer Michael Cohen’s refusal to continue to lie leave him no hope of a pardon. The government is not the enemy, but bad politicians are…
Vote in 2020 for Change.