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I lived that part of my life when I was working and building a family with what I thought was a healthy skepticism of government at all levels. As retirement approached at the end of the century and my children finished college and started their own families and/or work careers, my focus became more introspective and in some ways I began to consider the big picture surrounding life in greater detail. That shift was also in some ways a reversion to a mode experienced in my early life as I entered adulthood but with the refinements of more than thirty years of life experience.
For that period covering almost four decades my family needs and development consumed my attention almost entirely and as I reflect now on what I did and how I did it, I'm almost shocked at how well I managed considering the obvious value system within which I accomplished that. I grew up in a family and community environment operating on mostly Christian values, not replete with the strongest of adherence and performance in daily living, but with the foundation. Later that was strengthened as my own family grew stronger in our Christian-oriented beliefs and behaviors with time.
What surprises me today regarding my relatively successful work career is the fact that I am not extroverted in my behavior and not accomplished in networking. None of my career moves depended on access to people and information that is so obviously prevalent and useful today. My first major employment move was to test for systems and programming aptitude in 1964 that moved me within the bank where I worked from having managed various bank manual operations to computer automation. All subsequent moves were based almost solely on experience and others' awareness of that experience.
Now we see a federal government managed almost entirely by people who have reached those positions through a system of networking information and access having little dependence on talent, education, skill, and experience. I don't know if this is a cause or an effect of the total loss of moral integrity in our federal government.
I began to see the seeds of this when Bill Clinton became POTUS. I suspect the presence of Hillary Clinton in the White House had an effect. Bill Clinton's execution of presidential responsibilities was not bad but marred by his personal behavior. Then came George W. Bush and his "compassionate conservatism". His had to be the period of weakest performance of any Republican POTUS in living memory. The Patriot Act and the resultant status of the intelligence and law enforcement agencies gave us truly deplorable conditions of Constitutional conflict.
This was when I realized that maybe I was missing some vital detailed information about the big picture and I started to get more concerned about the direction of America and what the future looked like for my growing family. After 2005 I bounced around between Virginia, Utah, and Arizona until I settled in Utah in 2010 until 2018 when I moved to Arizona. I supported Mike Lee for Senate in 2010 and Mitt Romney for POTUS in 2012. I really started to think things were out of control with the Benghazi fiasco. I joined Ricochet in Oct. 2013 and really thought I found the proper form.
I am now a committed Trump supporter who believes Trump's Presidency revealed to America what the professional political class, led by the Clintons, Bushes, Congress along with organized socialists, globalists, lobbyists and Wall St have done to the federal government bureaucracy.
Trump is now under attack for what he did during his first term and the attack is all out because he has called for accountability.
I have not wavered in my support for Trump essentially because I have not seen others whose commitment will keep us on that path to accountability and other necessary corrective action. I hope and pray we get there.
Watch Tucker Carlson's interview of Congressman Clay Higgins of Louisiana for a picture of where we are:
Discussion (26)
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Something I failed to include in the post.
The system used by these people whose behavior I am lamenting is one of access and information that essentially opens the road for those who successfully navigate the proper networks to accumulate personal wealth. This has destroyed the commitment of the federal government to serve the people. Trump saw this and has worked to expose it to the voters.
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Yes, it was bad.
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Frankly, I don't think Trump changed many minds. So that means he didn't reveal anything really. As for the Bushes, leave out the socialist part, and I'll agree with the above.
Anyway, I knew all that before going into the 2016 election, so nothing was revealed to me.
It looks like Trump is going to get the nomination, and if he does, I'll vote for him. But I'm not happy about it. Given that - like any president serving a second term, consecutive or non-consecutive - it puts him in a lame duck status.
Presidents traditionally have bad second terms. And to be more successful than he was, he needs to pass legislation, not just sign executive orders that will be deleted when the next Democrat administration comes in. He hasn't displayed the skill to convince difficult people, (i.e. senators) to vote his way. It includes flattering people you don't like.
In any case, the issue goes deeper. You start by asking about self serving behaviors, corruption, etc. The reason we have that in government is because the voters vote for it.
And the reasons the voters vote the way they do is a combination of self serving behavior, and a willingness to vote for politicians who make promises they can't keep.
And when it comes down to it, Trump does just that. It's not that he didn't keep all of his promises, he clearly kept some of them, but not all of them.
The retroactive taxation of 1993 must cast a whole lot of shade over any claims of responsible presidenting. Just sayin'...
And don't forget the mother of all lawless switcheroos... T A R P ! ! !
I will stop the useless snark now...excellent post.
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I guess I always will compare him to the last two Democrats before him. As a matter of fact Clinton might have been the best of all the Democrat Presidents of my adult life except for Kennedy.
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