Tom in Iraq as a Military Observer

Tom in Iraq as a Military Observer
They sent me here just to watch...

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

The time has come

It’s been a while since I did more than like a stop hating Trump or Love America more than you hate the President post, but the time has come.

I love this nation and love having served as an officer of this most blessed country as a United States Marine, and I would truly love for the goodness that I have known for over half a century to continue to my children’s children and beyond.

But we are facing a national identity crisis.  Who are we?  Who are these people who hold elected office?  Will we continue as a nation that has long been a light unto the world?

To answer these questions, I have to proffer what might seem to be politically motivated, but it is not.  It is motivated by patriotism and mercy.  What is?

This November, we must vote Republican at the federal level.  The Democratic Party must be decimated at the polls. 

Whoa!  That sounds very political.  I’m not reading any farther.  Let’s think this through first. 

I like the Democratic Party.  This was the party of my parents.  It was considered the party of the people.  Sadly, that party is dead.  It does not exist anymore.

It has become a party governed by a destroy Trump agenda.  It is a party that looks to its past failures instead of ahead to a good future for our nation.  It is a party that has abandoned the truth in search of overturning a legal election in which the outcome went contrary to the hopes of the party.

In previous years, a lost election was cause for self-examination, revision, and revitalization.  “Hey, we lost this one but will get them next time.”  It is a healthy model.

Sadly, today the Democratic Party seeks to overturn the constitutionally elected administration by any means necessary.  This is not healthy.  This is not American.  This is a third world model!

The Democrats must lose and lose big in November.  This does two main things.  It gives the country a chance to receive the benefits of the 2016 election results, something the Democratic Party has attempted to thwart by hook or crook, or both.

Here’s the kicker.  This will be good for the Democratic Party.  At least it will be an opportunity to reset.  Do most Democrats want socialism?  I doubt it.  They may want more government involvement in programs and problem solving than the Republicans, but I seriously doubt that more than a very vocal few want socialism.

The Democratic Party must take its November defeat and remake itself, much more in the image of the traditional party that was known as the Party of the People, not the party of things anti-Trump or anti- American.  Democrats are Americans!  I don’t know any who want to see our country dissolved by some of the current party’s agenda. 

The reformed Democratic Party needs to resume its place somewhat left of center and serve as a balance to the right-leaning Republicans.  This is healthy!  This is needed!  This is completely absent from the current party.

A huge Republican victory in November will preserve our republic for a bit longer and give cause to reform the Democratic Party closer to those who are tired of hating President Trump more than they love America. 

Sadly, the Republican victory will put the Republican Party on the slow track for reform, for this party has lost its way as well.  Fiscal responsibility was once a given for those leaning to the right.  That is no longer the case.  Smaller government and lower taxes have been the ideals of this party in past years, but even those goals are compromised. 

Republicans need to win in November because Democrats are seeking to destroy Trump and don’t care if they take down the country in the process; but Republicans had better get their act together and live faithful to the model which elected them.

Both parties have failed.  Elected officials grow wealthy in office instead of serving the people.  Bureaucracy thwarts the will of the people and rejects the rule of law.  We have taken a wonderful model of representative government, grown lazy, and let it mutate into a modern-day tyrant. 

Can it be fixed?  I pray it is possible, but we must be willing to put forth sustained effort at the electorate level to do this.  Here are my steps to returning to a government of the people, by the people, and most certainly for the people.

1.        Republicans must win in a landslide in November.

2.       Democrats must reform their party based upon a solid left of center vision.  All destroy Trump efforts must cease and be replaced by positive objectives.

3.       If Democrats lose and reform, Republicans will take significant losses in 2020.

4.       Republicans must reform into a solid right of center, fiscally responsible, strong national defense party once again.

5.       The American electorate must vote out career politicians for the next century. 

6.       The power of the American bureaucracy must be obliterated.  Amateur politicians—let’s use the term statesmen or representatives—are needed but must not be consumed by entrenched bureaucrats.
7.       All must be Americans first, and their party affiliation second.  Yes, this applies even and especially when you candidate did not win.

Balance is a good thing.  We seldom achieve it, but we witness the pendulum of political leanings sway back and forth so that we don’t go too far either way.  That is at risk today.  The Democratic Party—yes the party of my parents that perhaps was once truly the party of the people—is on a course to destroy things good and moral and patriotic.

Our liberty that we say we cherish will go next.  I am not willing to see what God has blessed for almost two and one-half centuries go down without a fight.

We need to return to a mindset where the good of the country took precedence over winning at all costs.

Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.
John F. Kennedy


We must get back to this sort of patriotism.  I wish that we could do it overnight but believe it will be tougher course.  I pray that we will stay the course and preserve this Republic.  I want my children’s children to know its blessings and have their own opportunities to preserve them for their posterity.