A Little Political Talk

It's funny how I will lose contact with someone, such as a classmate or former coworker, over the span of years, and then hear from them again...only to find that they have become very emotionally committed to partisan politics, either on the left or the right.  The motives for their alignment may be some issues important to them or the relative philosophies and priorities of conservatives and liberals, but their outward expression tends to be highly personal, with politicians and media figures on "their" side depicted as noble, principled, pro-freedom heroes and those on the "other" side as villainous, dictatorial, dishonest, corrupt, and stupid.  Since the 2016 presidential election this personalization of politics has greatly intensified due to the controversial winner, who attacked the personalities and integrity of opponents within his own party during the primary season, made hateful remarks about various media figures critical of him, and then called his general election opponent "evil" and "the devil".  And later, after taking office, he had the nerve to bemoan that there was so such hatred!  Given these theatrics, it is understandable that many of us are more inclined to see politics through personalities rather than issues...but reality dictates that we live in the present and are much more likely to be affected by how our elected politicians...whether we like them or not...are making decisions on those issues that affect us a lot more than any impulsive tweets or stump speech assertions.  I've said it before: I personally disliked both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton during last year's campaign, but one of them was going to be elected president.  Now it's a little more than half a year into Trump's term and I like him less than ever...but he is my president and, looking at some of the issues he is facing, I find myself supporting him on some and opposing him on others...

I believe that it is a Constitutional mandate for the president to protect the people of the United States against dangers from abroad.  The ideas of securing our borders and being more careful about admitting others into our country are good, prudent ones...unfortunately, Trump's implementation of these worthy goals have been marked by a lack of preparation and careless speech overgeneralizing different ethnic and religious groups, too much of it aimed at a political base containing many xenophobes.  But the aims are necessary...

Donald Trump wants to wipe out ISIS, a.k.a. "Islamic State".  But since this terrorist organization has planted itself in several countries and has an Internet-based communication and recruitment network, driving them out of Iraq and Syria won't completely eliminate them.  But the people living in Mosul and Raqqa want no part of them and welcome the liberating forces supported by both the present and previous president...a positive continuity of policy.  Good!

I tentatively support President Trump's apparently constructive attitude in favor of funding our space program, especially manned space travel, although the pattern over the years has been for each succeeding president to drastically change the goals...causing disruption, delay, and wasted efforts and money.  The best outcome would be for him to continue the project to go to Mars and to eventually restore George W. Bush's plan to establish a permanent base on the moon...

Well, that's three issues; there are some others that I have mixed feelings about such as energy, infrastructure, and health care...maybe I'll go into them at another date.  And then, on the negative side, there's Trump's desire to squelch criticism of himself and his administration, his conflicts of interest, and the ongoing Russian investigation.  Can I trust this man when dealing with this complicated relationship between America and Putin's Russia?

I don't know what the future will bring, but I know one thing right now, in late July of 2017: for this season in our country's history Donald Trump is the president...and Republicans have majorities in both houses of Congress as well as most state governorships and their legislatures.  They will do some good things...and some not-so-good things.  Let's focus more on the issues at hand and less on the often melodramatic personalities...although the biggest drama queen of them all seems to think the world itself is one big reality TV series, with himself the (only) star and tweeter-in-chief...