By Bill Clemens
What we have today in our society is a failure to communicate. It is sometimes difficult to engage in a conversation with people, other than talking about the weather or telling jokes. Many Americans are becoming more afraid and/or reluctant to have relevant conversations. Talking about religion or politics seems to remain a taboo.
However, two men braved the public head winds to speak their minds about their political beliefs. Reid K. Beveridge’s commentary (“Impeachment can be fraught with politics,” Jan. 24) was rebutted by Daniel Pritchett (“Commentary was alternative facts.” Jan. 26). ‘
Mr. Beveridge, regarding the Capitol riots, rationalized, in his defense of former President Donald Trump, that as president, he was acting within the rule of law and the Constitution to act as he did. Mr. Pritchett, in responding, backed up his opposing point of view with careful research that challenged what he termed Beveridge’s “alternative facts.”
Sad to say, most Americans simply do not do the necessary homework to determine what is fact versus fiction. There are many fact-checking organizations that can assist in determining fact from fiction. Without these vehicles, Americans seem to not know what to believe. As an example, my former neighbor advised me she did not know what to believe anymore. She favors Trump mainly because of his position on immigration policy. Many Trump supporters seem to have one or more wedge issues that he advocates, and their beliefs are often dependent on these wedge issues.
National Rifle Association supporters revered him because he was clever enough to speak to their Second Amendment right. Then, there are followers who revere seemingly “macho men.” Unfortunately, “Making America Great Again,” in my opinion, captured the hearts and minds of many Americans who seemed to have a void in empathy for the economic and social inequities many citizens have been victims of, and lacking in ability to challenge these injustices in constructive ways.
Many fail to take notice that there is extreme poverty and alienation for Americans here and people abroad. Many fail to think about loving their neighbors as themselves, as well realizing human beings really would like to learn how to get along with one another. Is that asking too much of us? “E pluribus unum,” or out of many, one.
Instead, many have indulged in foolish culture wars promoting more division. Many Trump supporters believed that the FDR social safety net programs were giveaway programs for citizens of lesser means. Again, a lack of empathy on their part since – there but for the grace of God – we could have been born into the same poor environment that had to call out for a helping hand from the government. We had no silver spoons.
The belief that may have played the biggest role in catapulting Trump to the of the presidency was his talk of government entities and news media members he referred to in a shadowy “deep-state,” so-called “left-wing radicals” promoting “fake news” and policies against America. Mr. Trump pledged to drain the swamp. Instead, it ended up getting more filled with right-wing radicals during his tenure.
Most Americans do not realize that the wealthiest 10% of Americans own 80% of the stock market funds. Dark money from corporate political action committees to congressional delegates tilt the playing field in favor of plutocratic institutions that wield political power oftentimes to the detriment of the men and women like us. We are continually hoping to get a bigger share of the pie. Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, passed by the Supreme Court, allows for unlimited contributions to elected congressional delegates. It has had strong citizen support to be overturned to level the playing field for the people. We really need more fair representation in Congress.
In closing, I do believe we have capable leaders in the White House who will work diligently across the aisle to get bipartisan legislation passed to help the American people get back on their feet working again after recovering from the pandemic. We lacked public infrastructure to administer the vaccines in every state, and that effort is presently underway with hiring retired doctors, as well as others in the medical field and the military, to assist in vaccinating all citizens.
We must begin to distinguish between truth and fiction if we want to keep pursuing our democratic experiment and hold on to our highest ideals that have, in the past, made us the envy of all the other countries in the world.
Keep the peace. Proud boys need not stand by. Instead, stand up and be counted as agents of goodwill.
Bill Clemens is a resident of Magnolia.
