Not Just a Pretty Face

 

Policy matters!

A popularity contest is appropriate to selecting a high school prom queen and king, not for electing the President of the United States. It should not be decided by blind party fealty. It should not be about voting against any particular candidate. Choosing the leader of the free world requires ignoring the window dressing of personality and focusing on policy. Policy decisions made by and supported by the 47^th President of the United States will drive the economy, set foreign policy, dictate how our laws are enforced, who will be appointed to Federal Courts, and influence the social mores for the most powerful nation on the planet. This is not a choice to be made lightly or to be made based upon the propaganda of a biased media. In this election both candidates have a long and clear track record, as both have served one term as President and one term as Vice-President. It will be easy to evaluate and compare the policies they have advocated.

Clear of the misleading political ads, the following will focus on each candidate’s prior stated positions on public policy;

·         On the First Amendment, free speech – The lynchpin upon which all our rights and freedoms depend.

Kamala Harris has voiced support for limiting free speech by censoring what government has deemed as misinformation or disinformation. A Disinformation Governance Board was instituted, but due to public outcry, was paused in May of 2022.

Donald Trump has supported free speech and was himself barred from numerous social platforms.

·         On the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms – Necessary to defend all rights and freedoms.

Harris has consistently advocated for gun control and the abolishment of semi-automatic weapons. She has supported a mandatory government buy-back of AR type rifles and a national registry of all firearms.

Trump has consistently supported the citizen’s right to bear arms and opposes gun control and red-flag laws.

·         On illegal immigration, controlling the border, legal immigration, and a path to citizenship.

Harris supported President Biden’s terminating the previous administration’s executive actions to control illegal border crossings, leading to unprecedented numbers of illegal aliens entering the country, and abandoned continuing to build the border wall. She has consistently advocated for expansion of the Dream Act and a path to citizenship for illegal border crossers.

Trump has consistently supported legal immigration and issued executive orders that reduced illegal border crossings. His administration completed more than 200 miles of border wall.

·         On DEI (Diversity, equity, and inclusion) and ESG (Environmental, social, and governance).

Harris supported Executive Order 13985 requiring all governmental bodies and any entities doing business with the government to accept and implement the administration’s demands. DEI has infiltrated schools, the military, and society. ESG, Executive Order 13807, supports Harris’ stated goal to eliminate all gas-powered vehicles by 2050.

Trump has stated that energy independence is key to maintaining the US position in the world and driving our economy.

·         On transgenderism.

Harris supports minors making their own gender decisions with or without parental consent. Harris supports tax-payer funded transition surgery for inmates and military members.

Trump has stated that he believes there are two genders and that he will not support the mutilation of children.

·         On the economy.

Harris believes that government should use equity to control the equality of outcomes and believes that the expansion of government control is imperative.

Trump believes that government should get out of the way and that government influence and size should be reduced.

·         On foreign policy.

Harris mirrors the failed policies of her administration. Appeasement and deference.

Trump believes that military strength is the greatest deterrence to aggression.

·         On abortion.

Harris advocates a federal law allowing unrestricted abortion until birth.

Trump believes that individual states should determine access to abortion with some limits.

·         Project 2025

Harris continually states that Project 2025 is Trump’s agenda.

Trump has disavowed the Heritage Foundation’s white paper wish list.

Eliminating personality and comparing policy makes it easy to differentiate the candidates. It’s your choice. Elect the person who more closely mirrors your vision of this nation moving forward regardless of the mean tweets or irritating cackle. You decide. The next four years of policy decisions will determine our future.

 

 

A Blaze of Glory

 

Shooters should wallow in a sea of anonymity

According to a 2021 study of mass shooters compiled by the Violence Project, the majority of perpetrators failed to complete high school, had mental health issues with almost half suffering from anger issues, used assault-type weapons in 24% of the acts, in over 80% of school shootings weapons used were stolen from family members and almost half communicated their desire to commit the crime prior to the assault. Mainstream and digital media continue to emphasize their reporting on the criminal and his actions, motives, their family, neighbors and friends while devoting little coverage to the victims. While fame seeking was identified in only 11% of the incidents, almost half of the perpetrators died during the attack, either by suicide, police gunfire or citizen intervention. Unless the perpetrator posted on social media or communicated to friends or family, the true number of those seeking attention for their actions is unknown. The Arlington Park, Illinois shooter told a friend, “You’ll know who I am. You’ll know what I did. You’ll remember my name,”

The phenomena of fans rushing onto the field during sporting events basically came to an end when the television networks decided to ignore the interlopers and refused to broadcast their interruption of the event. No fame, no glory, fewer disruptions. Without publicity, it’s just not worth it! Always looking for internet notoriety with as many “likes” and clicks one can engender. All of us love the camera. Consider those attending sporting events and how they act when their likeness appears on the big screen. It is simply human nature to call attention to oneself. Perhaps, if we concentrated on the victims and their families, ignoring the shooter, but for a description of an evil, disturbed, sick individual, future potential shooters may just decide that it is no longer worth the effort if they are not only left fameless, but reviled anonymously.

Those of you that blame the weapon and not the shooter must come to realize that law-abiding citizens do not commit criminal acts with their guns. Criminals and mentally deranged individuals commit crimes with guns. Taking the guns away from those who obey the law, while criminals remain armed is ludicrous on its’ face. Unless you can get all of the “genies” back in the bottle, criminals will always find a way to obtain the weapons of their choice. Unfortunately, that type of “logic” actually puts law abiding citizens at more risk to be victimized. Red Flag laws may have some merit, but also have the potential to trample on the Constitutional rights of those targeted, so we need to tread lightly here. Afterall, simply removing guns from the possession of those who are potential threats, does nothing to address the individual, nor the mental illness or hypothetical criminality of that individual.

Also lost in the noise are the clues left by the shooter, particularly on social media posts. If vaccine or election misinformation can be tracked and censored, why can’t algorithms identify potentially threatening posts? Why can’t these individuals be reported to police? It would be appropriate for police to make a house call to these types of individuals. Social media posts threatening violence should be properly investigated and are not a violation of the 1^st Amendment rights of those individuals. It should be the responsibility of social media companies to monitor and report any potential threatening posts. As a retired police officer, I always encouraged citizens to contact police about any suspicious behavior they may observe. That type of information may be critical in preventing criminal acts.

“But we need to do something!” This type of haphazard thinking and action leads one to think with their heart and not with their brain. We need to understand the root cause of these random acts of violence and take the necessary action to address those causes and develop real solutions, rather than heartfelt slogans that do nothing to solve the underlying problem. We need to address untreated mental illness. We need to bring engaged fathers back into the family unit. Parents need to be involved in their child’s life, school and social media. We need to understand the dangers in inflating self-esteem and self-worth. God needs to come back to His rightful place in the family to cultivate and instill a solid moral compass in our children. These are all good starting points in an effort to address these and society’s ills.