How many of you watched cartoons on Saturday mornings when you were a kid and watched Donald Duck trip over his own feet or be pounded down in the ground by an unsuspected adversary?
Mount Rushmore
I couldn’t believe my eyes this morning when I looked at the new poll numbers in Iowa. Trump’s lead is narrowing because of one man – Ben Carson. The retired neurosurgeon has only grass roots support and no huge donor base yet he is continuing to surge in the polling. He follows Trump’s 23% with 18% which is remarkable considering he is a virtual unknown.
Dr. Benjamin Carson. The future for America?
Ben Carson has the highest favorability rating amongst Republicans 79% compared to 69% for Donald Trump. Of course we know that winning in Iowa doesn’t really guarantee the Republican nomination. We have a long way to go before that happens. I am, however, intrigued that again the American people are showing discontent with the establishment Republicans. Who can blame them?
Republicans continue to break their promises, fall short on guts and continually squander opportunity after opportunity to make America better. Democrats drag us further and further down the road towards the welfare state using the poor middle class as a bartering chip yet the middle class never gets any benefits out of any deal. If you are dirt poor or filthy rich you have it made in America. Those people in between pay the price so all of the above can survive and survive well.
What neither party seems to recognize is that Americans are tired of Washington bureaucratic shenanigans coming from both sides of the aisle. Our tax system alone is so unfair that billionaires pay fewer taxes by percentage than hard working middle class people who cannot afford the investments or are unable to utilize other loopholes that make the rich get richer. When I received a lump sum severance payout the government took 46% of it and I still had to pay more at tax time.
Right now the unions in California are arguing they should be exempt from the mandatory minimum wage increase so they can negotiate better wages if necessary. Yet if the minimum wage does increase to $15 then many small business owners would be forced to lay off workers and one person will do the work of two. It’s a vicious circle and seems to end up nowhere.
Immigration is a topic that has been put through the meat grinder over and over but the texture never changes. Illegal immigration is out of control and it didn’t just start with Barack Obama. Granted he didn’t do much to help the problem but neither has any other President of the United States. Immigrants working in America get more money back on their taxes than I do because the government gives them an earned income credit for children who still live in another country. It’s positively absurd.
The Democrats want to make all immigrants legal so they’ll eventually get their citizenship and vote Democrat. That’s any easy one. The one party system seems to be what we’re headed for and that wouldn’t be good. Competition is good. It’s what made America great. Strong healthy work ethics instilled by our forefathers is what will turn around this country and make America great again.
Of course we need welfare for those who cannot possibly help themselves. When my father abandoned his family we were forced to live on welfare for several years. It wasn’t a pretty picture as it is today. There were no food stamps; only $200 per month for a family of six. Granted we were living in the world of Leave it to Beaver but we still ate a lot of rice and wieners. Even my sister’s babysitting money had to be hidden or they would subtract it from Mom’s check. They didn’t encourage people to work. Welfare reform starting in the late 1960’s paved the way for mothers to work and still get help. That’s the way it should be. As soon as we were able to take care of ourselves, my mother went to work as a cleaning lady working for minimum wage. She worked for 25 years and retired at age 80.
Today the system appears to be broken. Mothers have more babies just to stay on welfare; more people than ever are covered under Medicaid and do not pay any medical costs. In fact, the system is so broken that I heard of one instance of a doctor’s office returning money to a Medicaid recipient because the insurance had overpaid the bill. Granted it was a pittance, but still what does it tell us about our system? Right now the government encourages people to stay on welfare rather than get a job. They support dishonesty that keeps people using the system to live.
I wish I knew who had the magic bullet to shoot a hole through the facade of indifference in America today. Frankly, I think everyone needs to start using some elbow grease to work and support themselves. Instead of collecting welfare perhaps a job at Mickey D’s would help. If every American would instill in their children a strong work ethic and teach them to respect others around them, it would be a step in the right direction.
Anyone can succeed if they want to bad enough. Education is a vital part of the process. Grants are available for those you want to learn and better themselves. It’s not an easy road and it’s not necessarily paved with gold. It is, however, leveled with integrity and self-worth. The two go hand and hand.
My fellow Americans. Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. John F. Kennedy