I know that you have Core Values
After all, I grew up in the 1960s, and I have heard and read the Republican motto my entire life:
Smaller Government, Lower Taxes, Strong Defense
To be honest, for a long, long time I agreed with the those things. But I got older and learned more and my view of that motto changed with time, too.
Today, I would prefer to have a more efficient government over a smaller government. Because let’s be honest, you don’t really care how big the government is or how many people work for the government — what you want is for the government to spend YOUR tax dollars wisely, and not waste them. Guess what, me too! It’s why I don’t care if it’s big or small, I want it to be the right size to do the job it needs to do, in the most fiscally efficient manner possible. Wise use of resources is a good and respectable American Value.
I’ve grown to loathe the term “lower taxes”, because much like “smaller government” it stands there unconnected to any of the factors which affect taxes and makes no sense in any realistic way. How can you continue to demand lower taxes when the Congress cannot pass a budget bill each year because they fear the Raise the Debt Ceiling bill which follows it. Which is always getting higher and has been for nearly 40 years. Lower taxes are not the cure for that problem — they exacerbate it.
What if we seek a tax base necessary to pay the Budget Bill the Congress writes? If THEY want the debt to decrease, they don’t have to get the voters shrieking “LOWER TAXES”, all they have to do is write a Budget Bill which spends less money. Maybe leave out a couple of new generation, Ford Class, battlegroup aircraft carriers ($13 billion apiece according to Cnet.com) or finally kill that F35 program which is a Money Pit and boondoogle of historic proportions ($1.45 Trillion according to Time.com) and just can’t fly right, no matter what they do. The fleet so far constructed? This article from Scientific American covers it pretty well:
The F-35 was billed as a fighter jet that could do almost everything the U.S. military desired but has turned out to be one of the greatest boondoggles in recent military purchasing history.
Officially begun in 2001, with roots extending back to the late 1980s, the F-35 program is nearly a decade behind schedule, and has failed to meet many of its original design requirements. It’s also become the most expensive defense program in world history, at around US$1.5 trillion before the fighter is phased out in 2070.
The unit cost per airplane, above $100 million, is roughly twice what was promised early on. Even after President Trump lambasted the cost of the program in February, the price per plane dropped just $7 million – less than 7 percent.
And yet, the U.S. is still throwing huge sums of money at the project. Essentially, the Pentagon has declared the F-35 “too big to fail.” As a retired member of the U.S. Air Force and current university professor of finance who has been involved in and studied military aviation and acquisitions, I find the F-35 to be one of the greatest boondoggles in recent military purchasing history.
So there are some things in your Republican core values on which we can find agreement.
But this new Republican President and #AllThePresidentsMen in his immedate circle, in the highest and most powerful positions in our federal government, are not following any of the core American Values which I find very troubling.
The most troublesome problem this president and his Administration (and even his family members whom he has brought right into the government) have today?
They are profligate liars of the highest order. They lie about everything. I wouldn’t be surprised one day to awaken and find out that president Trump had gotten up at 3:42 am one fine day and tweeted something like:
The moon IS made of cheese. Those Astronauts just pretended it was rocks. #FakeNews!!!
Why does it matter? Because there is Kim Jong Un, a man brought up to become the Dear Leader of a closed border nation which has propagandized it’s citizenry to believe that the Kim Family are gods on Earth. You put that sort of mindset up against the bravada and bullshit being slung by Donald Trump and what do you get? TWO test launches of ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missiles) towards the east from North Korea (which is towards America, fyi) … in a single week.
Why should you care?
Because some day, Trump et al will be gone. Now, whether that is in another six months (which could happen, the Special Counsel is hiring a lot of people with experience in prosecuting — and winning — int’l money laundering and business fraud cases) or another 3 and a half long, dreary years doesn’t matter all that much in the bigger scheme of things.
But gone, he will be. What will you do with your Party then? He’s deconstructing every single bit of propaganda your wealthy donor class have paid so well to create the illusion of over the last half century. He lets his staff send out messaging only to go on Twitter in the middle of the night to say the exact opposite of what Sean Spicer Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at the Presser at 3 pm EST.
He is a LOSER of historic proportions and he’s dragging your Party down, down, down with every passing day.
Congressional Republicans ran on “Repeal and Replace Obamacare” for seven long years. But they get the Congress and the Oval and they can’t get it passed. Uh oh. Turns out they were lying all those years, knowing full well Obama would (and did) veto every bill to do so, which they sent to his desk. Because if they truly meant what they said all those years? They would have written a replacement plan years ago and had it ready to put in place on DAY ONE of the Trump term.
But they are LIARS. Inveterate, unmitigated liars.
Now that you know how much and how long and how badly they’ve all been lying — not just to Democrats, but to you, the Republican Base of Voters? How are you ever going to be able to trust them to be honest with you about anything, going forward?
If you have a family friend who turns out to be a scheming liar, don’t you finally have a discussion about the person and then you all just cut the person off and out of your lives? Don’t you feel terrible having to do it, but so relieved about it afterward?
I think you all need to have a serious discussion about the future of your Party. Will you continue to vote for the people who lie as easily as they breathe with the future of the nation and our families at stake? Or will you finally start paying attention and cut those people out of your lives and look for new and better people to represent you in our government?
I’d love to have that conversation with you
Because I think that there are some new faces out there in the political world looking for your support whom you would find very interesting.
Like retired USMC Lt Col Amy McGrath of Kentucky. She seems like a no-nonsense type of person who would have your family’s best interests at heart if you send her to Congress in 2018. A dedicated, honorable and TRUTHFUL defender of our nation and your family, too, if you’ll help her win. Keep in mind — this woman flew 89 combat missions in a fighter jet wearing the Uniform of the United States Marines. She knows what a real fight looks like and she won’t back down from any of them!
Don’t be alarmed if you find that a lot of progressive Democrats vote for Amy, too. She’s such a great candidate, it’s going to be tough to find anyone who won’t support her.
If that appeals to your view of what real American Values looks like in action?
Please choose to support Amy McGrath for Congress in the Kentucky District 6 seat.
Campaign website: www.amymcgrathforcongress.com
Campaign Facebook page: www.facebook.com/AmyMcGrathKY
Campaign Twitter: @AmyMcGrathKY
ActBlue Donations: Amy McGrath for Congress