Opinion Piece By Samuel Strait – April 12, 2017 –
Something at the local level that one would think citizens, Democrats in particular, would at least try to avoid, or rather make a greater effort to appear somewhat more tolerant, but that is clearly not the case. As we have seen Nationally, Progressive Democrats have taken to the streets, the news media, to the courts, and every where in between in an effort to forecast the future and right imaginary wrongs. What is unfortunate for them, is that most of what they appear to be complaining about, has yet to take place. Here in California, at the State level, Democratic legislators who appear to have the talents of a crystal ball fortune teller are busily passing legislation that clearly does more harm to its citizens than protecting the illegal aliens as SB 54 intends. Another bill SB 1 whose harm rests squarely on the shoulders of middle and lower class Californians will no doubt supply billions of dollars of new tax money to the State’s coffers, which likely will be spent on other ill conceived progressive nonsense, rather than the transportation projects as it has been advertised. That is not speculation, but a given born out by how our State’s government has operated over the last several years.
We here locally will pay dearly for the aberrant behavior of our State government, particularly those that can least afford it. But even more disturbing is a particularly insidious malady, no doubt contracted by listening to lurid tales at the National and State levels, where local Democrats in large numbers have contracted that alarming condition known as “the Chicken Little Syndrome” with reported symptoms such as “the sky is falling” often to be on display in public meetings and at the one and only “town hall meeting” most recently held at Crescent Elk Auditorium.
Some of the most obvious signs of the dreaded Syndrome are the Chairman of the local Democratic Party pleading with County Supervisors to address the failing Affordable Care Act, (ACA) which according to Chairman Kevin Hendrick would create a crisis of health care in the County. But wait a minute, the ACA is still in place and the new administration can do little to change that as it is largely a cheering section for what desperately needs to happen to avoid a large scale health care disaster. For Kevin’s information, your angst is misplaced, and you can relax, as the Affordable Care Act will likely fail of its own economic weight, before Congress has the good sense to simply repeal it.
Other symptoms can be found in the various presentations made by local non profits and federally grant funded projects and operations where forecasts of doom and gloom by various providers are rife with finger pointing at the new administration before a budget is even discussed let alone passed. These poor souls often point gleefully to the Trump administration’s activities as if it were some how different from previous administrations. It would seem that identical processes found in the Obama administration by the droves are suddenly out of bounds for President Trump. Cries of horror over policy reversals and and budget trimming in bloated Federal Bureaucracies in an effort to aid the Taxpayer and generate a real world economy are further signs of this dreaded illness.
It is beyond comprehension that educated adults can succumb to such lunacy without pausing to reflect on more than sixteen years of bitter political gamesmanship. In the same vein, when will the grown ups return to the table and stop the fascination with a political ideology that historically has no up side. Chairman Hendricks has no workable scheme for solving any of the problems that beset us here locally, let alone at the National level. Part of the “Chicken Little Syndrome” is the inability to understand just why Progressive ideas do not work. They do not work in the National sense and are even less effective at the local level. We simply do not have the financial resources to even make this philosophy marginally successful. The people that tend to pay the greatest price are those that are in the greatest need.
One should be able to count on rational thinking by educated adults, but it is clear from the abysmal coverage in the local newspaper, the Triplicate, that the Syndrome has affected most Democrats and some Republicans as well. Only a few “letters to the editor,” Robin Fornoff was embarrassed into publishing seem to have some idea that the United States, and us here locally are in for some rather tough sledding due to the arrogance of some local leaders and most leaders at the State level. It is difficult to imagine some sanity returning any time soon, yet to not do anything is just as bad. If local government officials and representatives cannot be “cured,” and soon, our situation can only become grimmer. I have no expectations of any immediate changes in direction, but at some point the voters locally and at State in general will experience such hardship that the ballot box will have be a vehicle of change. Last November’s election was a clear sign that the past many years have not produced much in the way of solutions. Time for a change in direction, something that progressive Democrats cannot seem to grasp. Must be a byproduct of the dreaded “Chicken Little Syndrome”. I fervently hope for a cure sooner rather than later.
Once again Lin, nice try, I don’t think any legitimate analyst of the ACA will give it more than a few years before it dies of its own economic weight. As more and more insurance providers bow out, and further ACA mandates reach full impact, the cost for more and more people will become unaffordable. As more and more people revert to the government subsidized faux insurance, the cost will not be sustainable. To grasp at Rubio’s rider is a sign of desperation and you should know better. Rubio’s rider has very little to do with the fact that the ACA was not economically feasible in the first place and has devastated the health care insurance industry as well as crippled many regular American’s ability to continue to have affordable health insurance. Shame on you for swallowing progressive cant about an indefensible Federal nightmare. The best thing that could ever come about for 320,000,000 people is its immediate repeal!
As far as the foreign agent myth that you seem to be suffering under, the FBI has arrested no one in the Trump administration or during the campaign because they were a foreign agent. Get over it Lin, it didn’t happen as you seem to think. The only difference between a LOBBYIST and a FOREIGN AGENT in the two cases that you refer to is nothing, zip, nadda, except instead of representing some one in the United States they represent a foreign country. We are not talking about a spy here. We are talking about an open and registered lobbyist for the interests of a foreign country. Neither person that you refer to was connected to the Trump administration or campaign. They were both employed as a foreign agent after the fact. No treason as you allude, and no criminal conspiracy to be found. Up to the present time the ONLY criminal activity to date will likely come out of revelations coming from criminal activity in the final months of the Obama administration. Thus far all of the accusations of Russian tampering and connections to the Trump administration have not born fruit. I.e., no crimes were committed.
Sorry that you can’t seem to get your head around the fact that the past eight years of a Democratic administration has so disenfranchised a large enough segment of the electorate that even Santa Claus in the White House, 2008 to 2016 couldn’t keep a Democratic administration in Washington, let alone change the composition of the legislators. Apparently too many Americans were left off Santa’s list. But do not despair, I am fairly certain that the Republicans will manage to muck it up, hopefully just not to the degree we have labored under during the Obama administration.
As far as propaganda, I can’t seem to find anything much that I have written that you don’t have great difficulty rebutting. While I do not seem to have much trouble countering your efforts. Your serve? Besides, as long as you remain civil, it is a delight to cross swords. Hopefully you will get better at it.
ACA is not failing. It was made to apppear so due to Rubio of Florida inserting a rider into a US budget bill of Fall 2016 that eliminated the ACA risk corridors. You right wingies are such scheming zealots. As to Trump’s parade~IT IS RAINING AND THE SKY IS ABOUT TO FALL~ not one, but two, probably several more, Foreign Agents active in Trump’s Campaign and Administration. FBI just gained custody of a major criminal hacker with ties to the 2016 Trump campaign, the 2016 election, and employment by Russia. He was arrested in Spain on international FBI warrants ~ Leshalov! So let me get this straight: Treason is okay, as is anything that wins an election, hypocracy encourged. One last thing, Samuel~your thoughts and language are so prolific that you should consider being a newspaper editor, maybe similar to Bill Kristol; then you could access a propaganda service~ as ALEC when it provides legislative proposals and authors bills to legislators who can’t.