Why we need to be able to trust our President

For 200 years, our country has built a reputation of trust.  When we committed to support our allies, they could take that to the bank.  This week, President Trump abandoned our Kurdish Allies and left them to die unprotected.   AND TODAY, SOME OF THEM DIED.  This is not a petty tweet insulting someone.   This is not “Trump being Trump”.   These Kurds put everything on the line to help us defeat ISIS.  AND WE LEFT THEM TO DIE when we no longer needed them.   200 years of our hard-earned reputation of trust – trust earned with the blood of millions of Americans – has been shattered by the disgraceful act of a despicable man.

The situation in Syria between the Kurds and Turkey appears to be more complicated than most people realize.   Both Turkey and the Kurds have worked with us to defeat ISIS.  There are many factions in the middle east that hate each other, and allegiances seem to shift often.  The presence of U.S. forces in the area not only helps in the fight against ISIS, but helps keep the peace between our allies as well.  In this case, it appears that the presence of only around 100 U.S. troops was what was preventing Turkey from attacking the Kurds.

Perhaps there was a good reason for his actions. Maybe some top-secret intelligence that we, the public, do not have access to made this decision necessary. This is why it is so important to have a President that we can trust.  Because he has access to the intelligence, we depend on him to properly understand it and make the correct decisions.   Ordinary U.S. citizens do not have access to the intelligence needed to fully understand the situation, let alone be able to make the proper decisions on how to deploy our military and/or diplomatic corps. 

But Donald Trump has proven himself to be untrustworthy and unfit.  While many of his lies, tweets, and actions are petty and relatively harmless, or even designed just to troll the media and his distractors, their cumulative effect is to destroy the public’s trust that we must have in our president. 

If we can’t believe what he says about easily verifiable facts, how can we be expected to believe him about matters of grave concern, such as this week’s decision to abandon our allies in Syria?

LOST: Accountability & Integrity in the GOP

I am a proud Republican. I have been a Republican all of my life. I voted for Reagan and both Bushes. I have never donated a single penny to a Democratic Candidate. 

The Republican Party was founded on a set of values and principles which are expounded in our Republican Creed, and exemplified by our greatest leaders, including Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Eisenhower. 

“Our great President Dwight D. Eisenhower has counseled us further: "In all those things which deal with people, be liberal, be human. In all those things which deal with people's money, or their economy, or their form of government, be conservative."
--- 1956 Republican Party Platform

I will wholeheartedly support any Republican candidate whose actions and words reflect the values on which our party was founded.  In the past two years, I have made financial donations to most of our local representatives, including Dickie Bell, Emmet Hanger, Ben Cline, and Steve Landes. I have marched in parades. I joined the local Augusta County Republican Committee in an effort to make a difference.

But my honor and integrity are not for sale.  Period.

I feel that it is our duty, as Republicans, not only to support our elected officials while they govern using the values and principles of our party, it is also our duty as Republicans to call them out and hold them accountable when they fail to live up to our values and principles.

Sadly, there are very few TRUE Republicans left in leadership positions in the Republican Party today. 

Today’s GOP party leaders and elected officials are failing us miserably. Corruption is running rampant at every level of our party. Our GOP leaders speak often of our Republican Creed, but their words ring hollow. Their actions do not even come close to what our creed requires. 

What’s worse, when anyone speaks out against what they want to hear, they are immediately labeled as “liberals”, “closet Democrats”, or RINO’s.  The real irony is that it’s today's GOP leaders that are the real RINO's.   And they have the gall to call us true Republicans RINO's!

This week was just another example of the corruption that pervades our party. There can be no defense when a sitting President calls the leader of another country and asks them to investigate his chief political rival, and to coordinate that investigation with his personal attorney. 

The transcript released by the White House itself reveals our President doing just that.

This disgraceful action cannot be blamed on the Democrats. It cannot be blamed on the media. It cannot be blamed on the whistleblower. It cannot be blamed on Adam Schiff. It cannot be dismissed because of “all the things he has accomplished as President.” 

Richard Nixon accomplished much during his presidency. He established trade with China. He created the Environmental Protection Agency. He signed into law both the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act. He started the process of getting us out of the Vietnam War. He balanced the budget. He established OSHA. Voting age was lowered by Constitutional Amendment during his watch, and he supported the ERA amendment. He won re-election by one of the widest margins ever: 520 electoral votes to McGovern’s 17 votes.  He carried FORTY-NINE states!

But when it was revealed he obstructed justice, our own Republican Leaders did their duty and held him accountable..

It’s time for our current party leaders and elected officials to step up and DO THEIR DUTY as well.  

OH, YEAH:  Our Republican Party Platform used to say this as well: 

“We believe that basic to governmental integrity are unimpeachable ethical standards and irreproachable personal conduct by all people in government. We shall continue our insistence on honesty as an indispensable requirement of public service. We shall continue to root out corruption whenever and wherever it appears.”

The Wall

This entire “Build the Wall” nonsense could be eliminated if both sides would just relax and actually communicate with each other.

First, let’s look at what President Trump is actually asking for.  He wants $5.7 billion dollars.  But how is it to be used exactly?  I have not seen any details, although I have heard some reports say that not all of that is for actual construction.   I have read that this is to cover 230 miles of the border.  Exactly where is this portion of the wall to be built?  Will this replace an existing fence or wall, or will it be constructed where there is currently no barrier at all?   Will we need to use eminent domain to get the land needed for any portion of this 230 miles of wall?

I would be more inclined to support the $5.7 billion dollar funding request if I knew what I was buying.  We all ridiculed Pelosi for saying we had to pass the law to know what was in the law.  This sounds like the same thing.  Mr. President, please just provide the details on the exact breakdown and time frame you are talking about.

I would also be more inclined to support the $5.7 billion if the wall construction was just part of a project that would include the use of modern technology and an increased number of border agents as well.

We also need to look at how much of the border actually needs a physical, man-made barrier.  Take 20 minutes and use Google Maps and Google Satellite to zoom all the way in on the actual border and look at it all. 

It’s plain to see that there are vast sections of the border that not only do not need a wall, but where physical construction of any type of barrier would be impractical.  There are hundreds of miles of border that are so isolated that a wall would serve no purpose.  If someone did manage to even reach the wall, they would have days to get over it before any law enforcement would arrive to stop them.  And then they would have hundreds of more miles to go to reach civilization.  Other parts of the border are mountainous and just as isolated.

Then there is the Rio Grande river.  Parts of it have carved out a canyon that has steep cliff hundreds of feet tall on each side, rendering crossing impossible for anybody not named Evil Knievel.  Other parts of the river are flatter, but any wall, or even a fence, constructed there would dam up the river.  Any wall there would eventually be washed away, and if it wasn’t, would violate water rights treaties we have with Mexico that prevents either country from interfering with the flow of the river.

But what is pretty clear from looking at the Google Satellite is that where the border is anywhere near a town or road, there is already either a wall, fence, river, or impassable terrain already in place.

The truth is no reasonable person can think that a wall across the entire southern border is even feasible.  But no one wants a border that can be easily crossed at will, either. 

The solution is to make sure adequate security is used all along our border.  Key crossing areas, such as those near major highways and large cities, need a physical wall.  In other locations, a strong fence would suffice.  But the terrain itself is all that is needed along vast parts of the border.

But the most aggravating part of this issue is the fact that wall is a solution in search of a problem.  Illegal border crossings have been declining for the past ten or fifteen years, and are at their lowest levels in decades.  Most of the drugs entering our country come across through legal ports or from the ocean.  While this does not mean we can relax our border security, there is no reason that this border issue should be a major issue at this time, and it certainly does not even come close to being any type of emergency.

Both sides should work together to come up with a solution that address all aspects of our immigration system.  Remember, illegal border crossings are just a symptom indicating a much large issue.  Addressing real immigration reform is the answer.